West Bengal Assembly passes Appropriation Bill

The West Bengal Appropriation Bill was passed by the state Assembly today with the House approving Rs 14,708 crore as additional expenditure for social infrastructure projects.
Moving the Appropriation Bill 2017, state Finance minister Amit Mitra said a sum of Rs 14,708 crore would be spent for social infrastructure projects like housing, rural electrification and supply of rice to APL and BPL families.
A sum of Rs 3,137 crore would be spent on supplying rice to families belonging to the APL and BPL categories, Mitra said, adding Rs 1,022 crore was proposed to be spent for rural electrification.
The state government would provide Rs 1,609 crore as its contribution for the Indira Awas Yojana, while another Rs 1,183 crore was proposed to be spent for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) as the state's supplement, he said.

The Finance minister also sought the allocation of a sum of Rs 456 crore for Green City Mission, Rs 133 crore for rural drinking water projects and Rs 141 crore for crop insurance.
The Appropriation Bill 2017 was passed in the House by voice vote.
Presenting the Bill, Mitra also said West Bengal was the only state in the country where all government salaries and pensions were paid through electronic transfer.
"There is a lot of talk about cashless transactions, but West Bengal is the only state in the country to have achieved it fully with all payments from treasury to beneficiaries being made through electronic transfer," he said.