Mamata presents vote on account for Rs 2.99 lakh cr in House, oppn parties boycott speech

With state elections round thecorner, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Fridaypresented a vote-on-account for Rs 2.99 lakh crore in theAssembly, and made a slew of announcements, including a hikein the annual aid of farmers.

The estimates for the first few months of the newfiscal, starting April, would be taken up for discussion overthe next two days, before it is passed by the House.

Banerjee, during the assembly session, said hergovernment has worked tirelessly for the state's overalldevelopment, despite not getting necessary help from thecentral government.

''We have decided to build 20 lakh houses for the SCand ST communities and upgrade mud houses into pucca ones. Weare allocating Rs 1,500 crore for the project. We have alsodecided to provide aid to government-recognized unaidedmadrasas, and Rs 50 crore has been allotted for the same.'' The chief minister also said that the budget, underthe government's 'Krishak Bandhu' scheme, has been increasedto Rs 6,000 crore from Rs 5,000 crore, keeping in mind theinterest of farmers.

''We will build 100 new schools in tea garden areas.

Additionally, 100 new English-medium schools would also comeup in areas dominated by SC and ST communities. For this, weplan to recruit at least 300 para teachers,'' she said.

The feisty TMC boss further stated that her governmenthas agreed to implement the centrally funded PM Kisan SammanNidhi scheme in Bengal.

Stressing the need to develop infrastructure, Banerjeesaid rural roads, spanning 46,000 km, would be built in thestate in the next five years.

''By next year, we plan to build 10,000 km of ruralroads, all of which will be connected with state highways...

We will also build four new flyovers in the city, includingone stretching from E M Bypass to Newtown and the other fromPaikpara to Sealdah station,'' she said.

She said her government plans to generate 1.5 crorenew jobs in Bengal, and vacancies in government offices wouldbe filled as part of the initiative.

''We also propose to waive road tax from January 1 toJune 30 this year,'' Banerjee said.

The CM, during the presentation, said the stategovernment plans to build a state-level planning commission asa mark of tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

''We will build Jai Hind Bhawan in every district andAzad Hind Smaark at Newtown,'' she said.

She maintained that 'Duare Sarkar' camps, where peopleget to enrol their names to avail benefits of state-runschemes, would be set up twice every year.

Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who is currently unwell,skipped Friday's assembly session, which was marked by unrulyscenes during the day.

BJP legislators trooped into the Well of the Assembly,demanding that Mitra, and not Banerjee, should be reading outthe vote-on-account. Later, they walked out of the House.

Left Front and the Congress MLAs also boycotted thesession.