West Bengal Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee today accused the Centre of curtailing funds for the development of rural Bengal.
"Earlier the Centre used to give the entire amount for construction of rural roads. Now they have curtailed them. The state government, which is facing severe economic crisis, has to pay nearly 50 per cent of the cost for construction of rural roads," Mukherjee told the Assembly while participating in a discussion on budgetary demands for the state Panchayat department.
The minister also accused the Centre of making "false and fabricated" claims on increase in the funds for MNREGA.
"They are making false claims that they have increased the budget for MNREGA. Nothing of that sort has been done. What do they mean by increasing the budget? It is our duty to provide the poor sections of the society with 100 days of work," he said.
Mukherjee lauded the initiatives of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for giving top priority to the development of rural areas of Bengal.
"Our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stresses on rural development. On various occasions she has said rural Bengal has been deprived for the last three decades. We need to provide them with basic amenities," the minister said.
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