West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Monday wrote to the Centre, seeking immediate release of funds to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which, he said,
has dealt a blow to the state's exchequer and hit hard the unorganised sector workers.
In a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Mitra expressed disappointment over the fact that the Centre has sanctioned only Rs 417 crore for April, despite requests for an advance release of revenue deficit grants provided by the 15th Finance Commission.
"We urged you to release the full amount of the grant during the months of April, May and June, 2020.
"Incase of West Bengal, which would have amounted to Rs 5,013 crores in three instalments of Rs 1,671 crores each. But we are dismayed that the Centre has released only an amount of Rs 417 crores for the month of April, without taking into cognisance the COVID-19 crisis. This is disappointing, if not shocking, at this critical hour," Mitra wrote.
He also referred to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's letter to the prime minister, requesting him to raise the fiscal responsibility and budget management limit from 3 per cent to 5 per cent, for this financial year 2021.
Mitra reminded Sitharaman about one of his earlier letters, urging the Union government to "release pending GST compensation", besides allowing the government "to use the accumulated interest on the consolidated sinking fund".
"May I urge that the above proposals may be urgently put in place so that the state has some resources to fight the menace of COVID-19 and implement welfare measures for the people, especially poor farmers, the unorganised workers and micro and small enterprises, who among others have been badly impacted," Mitra added.
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