Asim data duel with Mamata

Asim data duel with Mamata OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Calcutta, Oct. 24: Former finance minister Asim Dasgupta today opened a war of numbers with Mamata Banerjee by calling into question the data used by the chief minister to seek special assistance from the Centre to overcome Bengal's financial woes. During her meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week, Mamata had highlighted that the state government was left with only 6 paise from every rupee it earned to fund development and blamed the crisis on the Left's 34 years of "misrule". "Out of one rupee, 94 paise are spent on salary and other responsibilities of the state. Only 6 paise are left for development. How will we do with such little money? The Centre has to think," she had said in Delhi. Dasgupta said that according to the financial statement (Abstract of the Annual Financial Statement 2011-12 and Trends of Expenditure and Growth Trajectories) tabled by his successor Amit Mitra, the state's outgo on salaries, pension and interest payment constituted 74 per cent of the revenue receipts. No one from the government was available to explain the accounting Mamata had used to arrive at the 94-paise figure. "I don't know how the figure of 94 was arrived at," Dasgupta said. "If the Centre extends help to the state government, it will be good. But what was said while seeking extra assistance was misleading and incomplete," he added. Dasgupta has held several news conferences in the past five months to rebut Mamata's claim that the Left's misrule had plunged Bengal into bankruptcy. On all such occasions, the attempt was to defend the Left record and its policies by rolling out economic data. Today, he went on the attack, first questioning the numbers that form the basis of Mamata's strident demand for special central assistance, the absence of which even after five months in power appears to be frustrating her. Non-Congress states have opposed a special package for Bengal, alleging this would amount to discrimination against them. "This government had set a target of 30 per cent growth in tax revenue collection, but till now the growth has been only around 19 per cent. In the corresponding period, we had achieved a growth of around 29 per cent last year," said Dasgupta. The former finance minister also mentioned that the new government's market borrowing had touched Rs 10,000 crore — the highest among all states — in the five months of the current fiscal year while the Left Front had restricted it to Rs 9,500 crore for all of 2010-11. "Government employees have not received even one instalment of the dearness allowance this year," he said. The issue of arrears and DA for government staff is sensitive as the state employs over 10 lakh people.

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