Jamboree proves Jaitley's point - Proposed spending on 4-year celebrations indicates flow of central funds

Pranesh Sarkar, TT, Calcutta, June 20: The Mamata Banerjee government will spend around Rs 50 crore to celebrate four years in power, the proposed spending willy-nilly reinforcing Union finance minister Arun Jaitley's claim that the Centre is transferring enough funds to the state.

The state and central governments have been locked in an argument in recent months on whether Bengal is benefiting from the new funds devolution formula of the 14th Finance Commission, which the Narendra Modi government has adopted.

Last week, the ruling establishment had moved a motion in the Assembly accusing the Centre of discrimination and demanding more funds. A day after the motion was passed, Jaitley had produced a set of numbers to contest Trinamul's claim and argue that the flow of funds had increased.

"The state government has already done one round of celebrations at Princep Ghat in Calcutta between May 19 and 22 to mark its four years in power. Now, the chief minister wants to hold such programmes across the state with each of them costing around Rs 2.5 crore. If the government doesn't have funds, can they plan something like this?" a senior state government official asked.

Jaitley had said the central tax devolution for Bengal for 2015-16 would be around Rs 14,000 crore more than what the state had received in the last fiscal. The grant from the Finance Commission would also witness a four-fold jump, according to Jaitley's arithmetic.

Although the state government has been highlighting how fund flow under central schemes would drop by around Rs 2,000 crore this fiscal, Bengal officials conceded that the overall flow would be more than last year's.

They said the state had reason to be happy as most of the central funds would be untied, which means the Bengal government would be free to spend them as it wants.

"Spending on celebrating four years of the government is an example of the freedom the state will enjoy in spending money," an official said.

According to a source at Nabanna, the first of the programmes since the Princep Ghat event will be held in Asansol between June 26 and 30. The next one will be at Salt Lake though the dates are yet to be decided.

"Asansol and Salt Lake would go to the polls soon after their municipalities are merged with others and turned into corporations. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, we were not in an advantageous position in these areas. That's why these two places have been selected for the first two celebrations," a Trinamul leader said.

While the civic bodies in Raniganj, Kulti and Jamuria will be merged with that in Asansol, the New Town-Rajarhat municipality will be merged with the Bidhannagar municipality. The two civic bodies will go to the polls in a few months.

In both these areas, Trinamul had trailed the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. While BJP candidate Babul Supriyo had defeated Mamata's handpicked nominee Dola Sen in Asansol, the Trinamul candidate from Barasat, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, had trailed the BJP nominee from Salt Lake.

"The chief minister wants to create a celebratory environment ahead of the civic polls. A celebratory mood can help suppress questions on the lack of jobs and deteriorating law and order," said a retired IAS officer who once worked in the information and cultural affairs department.

Organising fairs and festivals has been the cornerstone of Mamata's reach-out initiatives. She has started several events such as Jangal Mahal Utsav, Vivek Utsav, Mati Utsav and Uttar Banga Utsav.

Pragati Utsav, organised by the government in 2012 to celebrate one year in power, did not draw enough footfall either in Calcutta or in the districts as the focus had been on highlighting the administration's achievements through charts and graphs.

Learning its lessons from that flop show, the government has decided to keep facts and figures out of the festival this time and lay stress on cultural programmes to attract people. The budget has therefore been liberally pegged at Rs 2.5 crore for each event, officials said.