Suvendu meets Nirmala Sitharaman, warns of impending financial crisis in Bengal

Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday meets Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, expressing fears that development and welfare funds intended for the people of West Bengal might be diverted and mismanaged to “delay” an impending financial crisis.

He submitted a letter to Sitharaman as well highlighting the issues. Suvendu referenced an alleged communication from the state’s finance department to district magistrates. The communication reportedly requested bank account details, including closing balances, from all levels of state government offices, ostensibly to “enhance the management of the state’s financial resources.”

He warned that following the decline of industrialization, “West Bengal is on the brink of financial collapse amid a pandemic-induced job crisis.” “Now the fear is that the development and welfare funds meant for the people might get either unethically diverted, delayed, mismanaged, or misappropriated to somehow delay the ensuing financial meltdown in the state,” he informed Sitharaman.

Highlighting central funds such as PMGSY, MDM (PM Poshan), ICDS, and MSDP (for minority development), he stressed the need for “rigorous financial oversight and scrutiny in the public interest,” to prevent the state government from misusing funds.