Bengal FM accuses Amit Shah of spreading misinformation on fund disbursement

    Kolkata, Feb 21 (PTI) West Bengal Finance Minister
Amit Mitra on Sunday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of
giving misinformation about disbursement of funds by the
Centre to the state during a political rally and challenged
him for a debate.
    He said the state government had received Rs 1.13 lakh
crore from the Centre in the last six years, which is "nothing
more than one-third of what the Union minister claimed".
    Shah, in his recent visit to the poll-bound West
Bengal, had reportedly said the Centre provided Rs 3.59 lakh
crore to the state.
    "He has given wrong, misleading and
politically-motivated information. The Centre, as a part of
the federal structure, collects taxes from states and shares.
We had received only Rs 1.13 lakh crore in the last 6 years
(FY14 to FY20)," Mitra told reporters.
    Referring to his estimate, Mitra said the Centre might
have collected around Rs 5 lakh crore in these years in the
form of direct and indirect taxes from West Bengal and sent
only Rs 1.13 lakh crore through central schemes.
    Mitra said the West Bengal government had spent Rs 3.1
lakh crore in these six years in different projects, which are
fully sponsored by the state, apart from expenditures like
salary, pension and other administrative expenses. PTI BSM
BDC BDC

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)