TMC slams Suvendu over his ‘fund diversion’ remark
KOLKATA: With the Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, accusing the state government of diverting funds from the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (BOCWWB) to pay compensation to victims of the Balasore train accident, Trinamool accused Adhikari of “politicising deaths” and reminded him that priority of the state government is to urgently disburse funds to help the victims.
Adhikari accused the state government of diverting funds from BOCWWB. He wrote: “I would request the State Govt to pay the additional compensation to the victims; which they would be paying alongside the Railways, from The WB State Emergency Relief Fund & The CM’s Relief Fund. Why are they time & again unethically diverting the funds meant for others? I believe this act of the WB Govt would result in depriving lakhs
of Building & Other Construction Workers of WB.”
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that Adhikari must not try to “please his masters” at the cost of those who are grieving. He said that the state gov
ernment’s sole priority at this moment is to help the Coromandel Express accident victims.
“Given the urgency of the issue at hand, funds have to be provided instantly,” he opined.
Kunal assured that the state government has “already clarified that the Finance Department will settle the Construction Workers’ Welfare Board’s funds in due time”. Criticising the Bengal BJP leaders, he wrote on his Twitter handle: “First, @BJP4Bengal leaders request the Centre to halt Bengal’s MGNREGS funds. Now, Mr. Adhikari is trying to politicise the deaths of hundreds by questioning the financial assistance provided to their families. On a side note, what does he think about the Rs. 2,913 Cr. that PM Cares received from Government firms?”
State government sources said that there have been instances in the past where the state government used funds under a particular scheme for a different purpose in times of an emergency but the state finance department reimburses the fund to that scheme in due course of time. This has been an established practice over ages, it was pointed out.