West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar today shot-off a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, informing the latter that state government has played a “cruel joke” and done “historic injustice” to atleast 70 lakh farmers in West Bengal by denying them the benefit of Prime Minister-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme and due to which, the farmers have lost Rs 8,400 crores. Dhankhar, in his letter, asserted that it is the due and right of the farmers to receive the benefit of the PM scheme.
He mentioned that while each farmer all over the country has so far received Rs 12000, the ones in West Bengal were denied of this “legitimate right” on account of “insensitivity” and “confrontational stance” of the state government. Dhankhar reminded Miss Banerjee that he has highlighted the issue to her and the administration, severally.
Arguing for adoption of the central government scheme, he said the scheme is completely funded by the Government of India and operational since 2018. The amount is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the farmers, cutting off middlemen and commissions.
The Governor said that the state government was only required to identify the farmer families to avail the benefit of the scheme. Dhankhar said he failed to understand why this was not done by the state government.
Criticising the Mamata ruled state government, he wrote, “This is an unfortunate lapse, painfully harmful of the interests of the farmers. This cruel joke and historic injustice on the farmers should make us realise that governance has to be for the benefit of the people at large.”
Dhankhar noted that under the PM-Kisan scheme, so far the farmers in the country have received about Rs 92000 crores and no amount has come to West Bengal. “This calls for soul searching and immediate amends.” He urged Miss Banerjee to take steps to undo this justice to farmers of the state.
It may be noted that at present, the Governor Dhankhar has been building up pressure on the state government. He sought to know from Miss Banerjee and state finance minister Dr Amit Mitra, the year-wise expenditure amount spent since 2016 in holding Bengal Global Business Summit(BGBS) and the agency/agencies involved through which the spending have been made for organising the event.
He demanded to know what benefit the BGBS has yielded for the state till date, which include jobs created as per the promises made in the summits.