Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee on Monday criticised the West Bengal government for the inordinate delay in the implementation of the vital Teesta irrigation project for which the Centre had sanctioned Rs 701 crores.
Inspite of the Centre according it a national status and agreeing to share 90 per cent of the total cost, the project had been hanging fire for an unusually long time, Mukherjee told a gathering of Congress workers at Lataguri near here.
''Not only the Teesta project, money sanctioned for other projects like 100 days work programme and Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme has been returned,'' the Union finance minister said.
Describing the state-of-affairs prevailing in West Bengal as 'depressing', Mukherjee said the state had performed very poorly in education, health and employment during the 34 years of left front rule.
Out of the eight crore population in the state, there is an army of 70 lakh registered unemployed, which indicted the 'utterly dismal' employment situation, he said.
The veteran leader, who is touring north Bengal to campaign for five Congress candidates fielded in north Bengal, regretted the inability to reach out to voters as loudspeakers have been banned because of examination-related restrictions and blamed the state government for it.
Turning to the Maoist problem bedevilling the state, Mukherjee wondered what led some people to turn Maoists.
''We have to see why in the first place some people became Maoist activists in the state and the state government has to answer,'' he said.