WHY EXCLUDE WEST BENGAL FROM SCHEME: CONG, TMC
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to PM Modi and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to include the name of West Bengal in the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana.
Chowdhury said the Congress had repeatedly appealed to PM Modi for financial aid for migrant workers. Based on the request, the PM has announced the scheme. “I wrote to the PM and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Our party has been requesting aid for migrant workers as they don’t have money in their pocket, nor do they have employment opportunities to look forward to. They have returned to their villages thirsty and hungry. The government should provide some aid for them,” said Chowdhury.
He questioned why West Bengal has been excluded from the project and there is special interest in Bihar with the upcoming election.
“Where will the cost of Rs50,000 crore be utilised over 125 days. 116 districts will be chosen in 6 states of India. There are lakhs of migrant workers who had gone outside to work and have returned hungry by bus, cycle
and train. The West Bengal CM herself said over 10 lakh migrants have returned, I want to ask you, when only 25,000 migrants will get this facility, why should West Bengal be excluded?” Questioned the Congress MP.
Meanwhile, the letter Chowdhury has written to Banerjee reads, “May I propose to you you should underscore the need of this programme and press to the Centre for the inclusion of Bengal under this programme immediately or else the poor returnee workers are destined to be deprived
and that would be great injustice to those nearly poverty stricken migrants.”
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee has questioned the PM in his tweet. “Shri @narendramodi Ji, why have you blatantly ignored the concerns of 11 Lakh migrant workers from #Bengal who’ve recently returned to their homes. Why has WB been left out of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan? Why this apathy towards the people of Bengal?”
Mamata has been vocal about the plight of migrant workers from Bengal who were stuck across the country during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID19 pandemic. The CM had written to her counterparts in 18 states asking for food and shelter to be arranged for stranded migrant workers. The state also bore the expenses of the migrants travelling back to Bengal in the Shramik special trains for migrant workers. With the battle for the 2021 Assembly election heating up, the tacit war between the Centre and the state is more than evident.