Centre not providing funds that are due to WB: Mamata

News Network
November 15, 2019

Kolkata, Nov 15: Alleging that the central government was not providing the funds which were due to the state, West Bengal Chief Minister on Thursday said the sum would have helped in carrying out relief work in areas hit by cyclone 'Bulbul'.

Reiterating that no one should play politics over such issues, Banerjee expressed hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would keep his promise of assisting the state in the relief and rehabilitation efforts.

"Around Rs 17,000 crore is due to us from the Centre. If they had given us that due amount, we could have used that to carry out relief work," Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat here.

The CM said she would write to the central government in connection with the dues.

The Trinamool Congress supremo said the Centre was urged to send a team to take stock of the situation in the three affected districts - North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore.

"I would also request the Centre to help us in this situation. We will send them our report after the central team completes their survey. The PM had earlier said he will help us. Let's hope (that he will keep his promise)," she said.

Banerjee claimed that the state government has incurred a loss of Rs 640 crore after the government failed to provide its due share of the central revenue.

Apparently referring to Union minister Babul Supriyo's visit to the cyclone-ravaged areas in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday that led to protests there, Banerjee asked people to refrain from playing politics in relief distribution.

"Instead of standing by the affected people, some are playing politics and indulging in vandalism. I would urge them to refrain from it. This is not the time for politics," the chief minister said.

Without naming Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who earlier in the day shared the views of Banerjee that there should not be politics over the distribution of relief materials, she said some individuals were acting as the "BJP mouthpiece" and playing "a dirty game".

"I generally do not comment on constitutional posts, but a few people (governors) are acting just like BJP mouthpieces. In my state, too, you have seen what is going on - they want to run a parallel administration," Banerjee said.

She also stressed that the central and the state governments have specific roles to play and the two should work together when the situation demands so.

"The Centre and the state should work in a federal spirit to tackle the situation caused by the severe cyclone in the state. And no individual politician, or some people, who are BJP supporters, should play a dirty game," she said in an apparent reference to Supriyo's visit on Wednesday.

Reacting to her remarks, Supriyo said it is the TMC which has been playing politics over distribution of relief materials.

"We have extended every kind of support. Both the prime minister and the home minister had called the CM and assured of all possible help. She should keep aside her ego and seek more central aid if needed.

"But, TMC is engaged in dirty politics over my visit, as they are trying to hide the real ground situation. Several locals have complained about lack of relief material and food for the last four days," he alleged.

Six lakh people have been affected and over five lakh houses damaged due to the cyclone, which made landfall late on Saturday between Sagar Islands in West Bengal and Khepupara in Bangladesh. Altogether 14 people, including fishermen of a capsized trawler, died in the calamity.

The chief minister said the administration is able to provide lanterns and kerosene to only 40,000 families, and asked the Centre for more lanterns.

Banerjee had on Wednesday announced one lantern and 5 litres of kerosene for each affected family in the state.

Relief kits are also being prepared and would soon be delivered to them, she added.

In the three affected districts, school examinations would be held in early December instead of late November.

"Several schools are still submerged. How will the students go and appear for examinations? That is why the dates need to be rescheduled," she said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 9,2020

New Delhi, Feb 8: Arvind Kejriwal is set to return as Delhi chief minister and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will virtually sweep the assembly elections, exit polls predicted Saturday.

As polling came to a close at 6 pm, with the Election Commission of India (ECI) projecting a voter turnout at 60.24% (as of 9:50 pm), a poll of polls covering 10 exit polls gave 52 seats to AAP, 17 to the Bharatiya Janata Party and one to the Indian National Congress.

The polls, which are sample surveys conducted among voters exiting polling booths, signalled that the Delhi voter responded to AAP’s campaign that focused on “kaam”, or getting work done.

Kejriwal, a former civil servant and activist who stormed into electoral politics with an anti-corruption campaign in 2013, led a campaign focusing on the development work his government did in Delhi, especially in education and healthcare, as well as sops such as lower electricity bills and free bus rides for women.

The exit polls gave AAP between 47 and 68 seats in the 70-member Assembly.

They predicted an absolute rout for Congress, which ruled Delhi for three terms between 1998 and 2013. The maximum seats to AAP were given by India Today TV-Axis exit poll, which predicted 59-68 seats for the party, while giving 2-11 for the BJP and none to the Congress.

If these figures hold, the results will come as a disappointment for the BJP, which had hoped its sweep in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 would reflect in the assembly polls.

Delhi’s voter turnout saw a sharp fall over the 2015 elections. According to the Election Commission of India, voter turnout till 9 pm was projected at 60.24% — lower than 67.12% in 2015.

Traditionally, a lower voter turnout is read as a vote for the incumbent.

The voter turnout in Delhi has been similar during the Congress regime under Sheila Dikshit, when she won consecutive terms. In 2003, when Delhi voted a second time for the Dikshit government, the voter turnout was 53.42%, and a comparable 57.58% was the turnout in 2008.

Later, in two consecutive elections — 2013 and 2015 — voters turned out in big numbers to vote Dikshit out of power. In 2013, 65.63% of Delhi turned out and the percentage increased further to 67.12% in 2015.

Across constituencies, Matia Mahal in Central Delhi registered the highest voter turnout of 68.36%, whereas Bawana assembly constituency in North district saw the lowest turnout at 41.95%. Among districts, North East district registered the highest (62.75%) voter turnout, while the lowest turnout was recorded in South East district (54.15%), according to the ECI app.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 22,2020

New Delhi, Jan 22: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said Indian values consider all religions equal, and that is why the country is secular and never became a theocratic state like Pakistan.

Speaking at the NCC Republic Day Camp in Delhi, Singh said: "We (India) said we would not discriminate among religions. Why did we do that? Our neighbouring country has declared that their state has a religion. They have declared themselves a theocratic state. We didn't declare so."

"Even America is a theocratic country. India is not a theocratic country. Why? Because our saints and seers did not just consider the people living within our borders as part of the family, but called everyone living in the world as one family," the minister said.

Singh underlined that India had never declared its religion would be Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist and people of all religions could live here.

"They gave the slogan of 'Vasudev Kutumbakam' -- the whole world is one family. This message has gone to the whole world from here only," he added.

Comments

A Member of Va…
 - 
Thursday, 23 Jan 2020

 

Very thoughtful and eye-catching statement by Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh.

Sir, I kindly request you to convey this beautiful message to your Party’s comrades, who are deprived of this dosage for long times and are badly need of this.  

Also, for those from your Party, who are, time and again, spitting the venomous rhetoric against Dalits, Muslims, Christians and others alike.

Yashwant Sinhaji is now doing a wonderful job in this regard.

You will also follow his suit for sure in the days to come; that’s what your honest statement indicates.

    

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: The best economic tonic for the coronavirus shock is to contain its spread and worry about stimulus later, said Raghuram Rajan, former head of the Reserve Bank of India.

There’s little central banks can do, and while more government spending would help, the priority should be on convincing companies and households that the virus is under control, he said.

“People want to have a sense that there is a limit to the spread of this virus perhaps because of containment measures or because there is hope that some kind of viral solution can be found,” Rajan told Bloomberg Television’s Haidi Stroud Watts and Shery Ahn.

“At this point I would say the best thing that governments can do is to really fight the epidemic rather than worry about stimulus measures that comes later,” said Rajan, who is currently a professor at the Chicago Booth School of Business.

The spread of coronavirus is pushing the world economy toward its worst performance since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

Bank of America Corp. economists warned clients Thursday that they now expect 2.8% global growth this year, the weakest since 2009.

“We have moved from extreme confidence in markets to extreme panic, all in the space of one week,” said Rajan, who previously was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.

The virus outbreak will force companies to rethink supply chains and overseas production facilities, he said.

“I think we will see a lot of rethinking on this, coming on the back of the trade disruption, now we have this,” Rajan said. “Globalization in production is going to be hit quite badly.”

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.