Chandrima Bhattacharya, the minister of state for finance, presented the third Trinamool Congress (TMC) government’s final full budget on Wednesday as West Bengal heads for next year’s assembly polls.
The minister claimed that the state GDP has crossed over Rs 18 lakh crore.
She announced a 4% increase in the Dearness Allowance (DA) for state government employees, raising it to 18 per cent. It will be effective from April 1, 2025. The state employees have long been demanding parity in DA with central government employees.
Although the state has gradually increased the DA, a 35 per cent difference would still be there in comparison to the central government workers after today's budget.
The budget allocated Rs 44,000 crore for the panchayat and rural development department, Rs 41,153 crore for school education, Rs 6,593 for higher education and Rs 1,500 crore for the ‘Pathashree’ road repair scheme.
Bhattacharya also addressed two areas where the state has criticised the central government for a lack of financial support: housing and river embankments.
She allocated Rs 9,600 crore for the Banglar Bari scheme, a state-run housing programme. Additionally, the government launched a new initiative called ‘Nadi Bandhan’ to combat river erosion, with Rs 200 crore set aside for the project.
The budget also witnessed the fulfilment of a promise made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the inauguration of Ganga Sagar Mela last month. Rs 500 crore was allocated for the construction of a bridge linking Ganga Sagar Mela’s venue to the mainland.
The minister also announced that the state government will distribute smartphones to 70,000 Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers across West Bengal.
The BJP MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, opposed the budget from the outset, chanting slogans like "We want jobs". They also highlighted the disparity in the DA between state and central government employees. The opposition party MLAs later staged a walkout.
"This budget showed that the government has become bankrupt," LoP Adhikari said. "In 2011, Mamata Banerjee had promised jobs for everyone. This budget did not provide any jobs. It betrayed 2.15 crore jobless youth in the state."
