Amit Mitra, Asim Dasgupta fight over Bengal data

Number crunching continued between present and former finance ministers of West Bengal, with the present office bearer, Amit Mitra responding sternly to the allegations of presenting misleading numbers for getting more funds from the Centre,

Mitra said that Asim Dasgupta, former finance minister of West Bengal ,had confused between gross and net figures, while accusing the state of presenting higher than actual outgo in committed expenditure of the state.

Yesterday, Dasgupta had said that according to the financial statement (Abstract of the Annual Financial Statement 2011-12 and Trends of Expenditure and Growth Trajectories) tabled by the presnt government, the state’s outgo on salaries, pension and interest payment constituted 74 per cent of the revenue receipts.

Recently, state chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said that committed expenses like salaries, pension and interest payment comprised about 94 per cent of the state's total receipt.

“Out of one rupee, 94 paise are spent on salary and other responsibilities of the state. Only 6 paise are left for development. How will we do with such little money? The Centre has to think,” Banerjee had said in Delhi.

Mitra said that gross receipt of Rs 65847 crore by the West Bengal government comprised non plan grant by the Centre, grant for Central plans and schemes and grant for centrally-sponsored schemes—all of which could not be used for committed expenditure of the state. Thus the state was left with Rs 59,462 crore, which could be spent for the committed expenses. With state's committed expenses at Rs 56,031 crore, 94 per cent was spent for the same, said Mitra.

“I don't know what is his (Asim Dasgupta's) problem, if the state gets more funds. I challenge no one can question the numbers,” said Mitra.

Yesterday, Dasgupta had also said that state's revenue collection so far was much below the target.

“This government had set a target of 30 per cent growth in tax revenue collection, but till now the growth has been only around 19 per cent. In the corresponding period, we had achieved a growth of around 29 per cent last year,” Dasgupta had said.

Mitra said that the state's revenue had increased from 16.40 per cent in June to 19.79 per cent in August, without finance bill being presented in the Assembly.

MARKET BORROWING

Mitra also accused the earlier state government of burdening the state with huge debt, by borrowing as much as Rs 5213 crore in the first two months of the financial year.

In stipulation with the FRBM act, the state can borrow Rs 17,828 crore for the whole year. The state has already borrowed Rs 15173 crore so far, much on which was account of market borrowing by the earlier government.

While the earlier government had borrowed more than Rs 5000 crore in April and May, it had left bills worth Rs 3000 crore unpaid, adding to the debt burden of the state.

While the present government's monthly average of borrowing was Rs 1,400 crore, it was Rs 2,600 crore for the earlier one, said Mitra.