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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's public speeches are hardly complete without a reference to the debt burden of Rs 2 lakh crore left by the earlier government. However, this election, an interesting addition to the CM's speeches is the mention of nearly a 35% rise in planned expenditure of the state, despite a fund crunch.
According to the last Budget document presented by the state government, its planned expenditure increased by nearly a 43% between 2012-13 (actual) and 2013-14 (revised).
A look at the pattern of expenditure shows a well-crafted poll strategy aimed at rural and minority welfare, streaked with efforts on city beautification. Moreover, much of the expenditure by the state have been a part of centrally sponsored schemes. Between 2012-13 and 2013-14, grant-in-aid from the central government for West Bengal increased by nearly 29%, according to the Budget document.
Nevertheless, an effective implementation of the scheme has scored a brownie point with TMC.
One of the achievements of the state government has been a marked improvement in rural roads. In January 2014, the state government announced a project to connect all the 3,349 gram panchayats of the state through road network, covering a length of 16,000 KM. The work for the scheme will be carried under the NREGA.
In his 2013-14 Budget speech, West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra had said that the state for the first time in 2012-13 could spend 109 per cent of available funds, which was the highest utilization among states. According to data available with the NREGA website, in 2012-13, the state spent 94% of total fund availability.
West Bengal's planned expenditure on panchayat and rural development increased by nearly 24% between 2012-13 and 2013-14.
Similarly, on the agriculture front, the state government has initiated a reform for agriculture marketing by building mandis, which will act as a marketplace to eliminate middlemen through direct interface of buyers and sellers.
"The work on creation of infrastructure for agri marketing is complete in many areas. However, implementation remains a concern. The state needs to find out a mechanism to benefit all the stakeholders," said Patit Paban De, member, West Bengal Cold Storage Association.
In the last Budget, departments which got highest allocation includes Minority Affairs and Madrasa Education, which got 102 per cent higher allocation over the previous budget. From housing, scholarships, schools, Haj House, minority Bhavans to graveyards-the list of infrastructure for minority development have been a long one. In addition, the state has extended the benefit of reservation to Muslim minorities under the OBC quota. The percentage of Muslim population to the total population was 25.2% in West Bengal, or one fourth of the population, according to the last census.
However, if rural development has a success, municipal affairs have remained a blotch for the TMC government. Soon after coming to power, the TMC government initiated a drive to install CFL illuminated trident lights in city and districts. Aimed at reducing electricity bill, the trident lights on the contrary added to the deficit of the municipal budget. Last year, KMC presented a Rs 210 crore deficit budget. Construction of Kolkata Eye, modeled after London Eye, and river front beatification are some of the other pet projects of the chief minister, expected to cost huge amount of money for the state government.
