Mamata Banerjee urges PM Modi to call meet of CMs

Tearing into the Centre for imposing levy on the states for its Swachchh Bharat mission and curtailing funds for various welfare schemes, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately convene a meeting of chief ministers of all states. She also asked all the states to unitedly press for their demands.

Ms Banerjee also expressed her strong displeasure over the rapid withdrawal of subsidies, which she feared would leave the country reeling. Speaking at the Anandadhara Sammelan, 2015, at Netaji Indoor Stadium, Ms Banerjee said, “Roti kapra makaan are the minimum needs of the people. But the Centre is now saying that they should take up brooms in their hands and pay the cess to us.”

She lamented that the Modi government had stopped the flow of funds for various schemes, including NREGA, ICDS, mid-day meal, Sarva Shiksha Mission and police modernisation programme. “This cannot continue. We think the Prime Minister should convene a meeting at the earliest with all the chief ministers so that we can put across our grievances. After all, there should be some platform where we can convey (to the Centre) our difficulties.” Ms Banerjee pointed out while the National Development Council and Planning Commission had ceased to exist, the Niti Aayog appeared to be without any direction in the absence of a roadmap. “I am a person of constructive ideas. The states and the Centre should get their respective dues. All the states should get united in pressing for their demands and getting their dues,” she added.

She criticised the Centre for imposing a Swachchh Bharat cess. “The state governments will not get any share in this additional revenue because they are not entitled,” she said. She pointed out that her government had launched Nirmal Bangla earlier and implemented it successfully across the state. She wanted to know why the state should be burdened with this levy by the Centre.