With a financial package of `16,000 crores, to be released in four phases over three years, hamme-red out for West Bengal, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wedne-sday.
West Bengal is expected to get liberal financial allocations und-er various Central sche-mes to enable it to speed up development activity.
It is learnt that the states of Punjab and Kerala will be given similar packages. But the Centre could face a tricky situation as similar demands will certainly be made by several other Opposition-ruled states, including Bihar and Orissa. Some weeks back Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa had asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “under what constitutional provision were West Bengal’s demands being considered?”
Ms Banerjee, who met Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav soon after reaching New Delhi Tuesday evening, is believed to have discussed special packages for their states. UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had recently sought a package similar to West Bengal’s.
A senior Trinamul leader and UPA minister confirmed to this newspaper: “We have come to know West Bengal will get `16,000 crores in four phases spread over three years. This will be cleared at a Cabinet meeting.”
West Bengal got `8,750 crores last year under the special Backward Region Grants Fund. The state had sought a moratorium on interest payments, while claiming the state had over `2 lakh crores in debt, which includes a large chunk from small savings borrowings. The state recently got approval for a slew of proposals under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna to the tune of `2,000 crores, and additional NREGS allocations despite not spending `1,000 crores allocated last year.