Mamata's 30-hour dharna leads to a 1000 Crore fund release by Centre

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently staged a 30-hour dharna at Red Road on March 29-30, sending a clear message to the Central Government that Bengal would hold a dharna in Delhi if it did not receive its rightful share.

The move paid off as within 24 hours of the dharna, the central government announced a sum of 600 crore rupees for mid-day meals in the state. After another 24-hours a fresh release of 575 crore was announced by the Central Government towards Samagra Shiksha fund for the state. Mamata's protest was aimed at highlighting the state's grievances with the central government, and it appears to have had the desired effect.

Banerjee's 30hr. dharna was accompanied by senior party leaders Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Subrata Bakshi and Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, reached the venue in front of Dr B R Ambedkar's statue on Red Road around noon and started her protest against the Centre's alleged stoppage of funds to the state for MGNREGA and other schemes of the housing and road departments.

Earlier, she had alleged that West Bengal had not received its due from the Centre and even in this year's budget, there was nothing for the eastern state. "Hence, in protest against the Centre's discrimination against West Bengal, I, as the chief minister, will stage a sit-in demonstration in front of the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar in Kolkata from March 29 and continue it till the evening of March 30," she had said.