Union Budget 2021-22: Rs 25,000cr for Bengal economic corridor

BJP just woke up from slumber, says Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra

Amit Mitra: File picture

TT   |   Calcutta   |    02.02.21 : An economic corridor linking Calcutta to Siliguri with an investment of Rs 25,000 crore was among several projects announced for the poll-bound Bengal by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the budget on Monday. 

The Rs 25,000 crore investment will be used to upgrade the existing 675km road between the two major urban centre in the state. 

This was one of the four economic road corridors announced in the budget. Sitharaman’s own state Tamil Nadu, which is also heading for  Assembly polls along with Bengal, bagged the largest pie of Rs 1.03 lakh crore under the allocation for the road corridors. 

The budget document shows that two more dedicated railway freight corridors will connect Bengal, apart from the ongoing eastern dedicated freight corridor project which will be commissioned by June 2022.

“We will undertake future dedicated freight corridor projects namely East Coast corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada, East-West Corridor from Bhusaval to Kharagpur to Dankuni and North-South corridor from Itarsi to Vijayawada. Detailed Project Reports will be undertaken in the first phase,” Sitharaman said in her speech.

She also announced that a fishing harbour would come up at Petuaghat in East Midnapore. It will be among the five such infrastructure projects announced in the budget for the development of modern fishing harbours in India.

The budget also proposed a welfare scheme of Rs 1,000 crore for tea garden workers, especially women, in Bengal and Assam, which will also go to the polls in the summer.

While Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh hailed the budget announcements, especially the Siliguri-Calcutta economic corridor, state finance minister Amit Mitra accused the Centre of doing too little too late.

Describing the budget as “confused and directionless”, Mitra reeled off the Mamata Banerjee government’s achievements in building rural and state roads over the past 10 years.

“The BJP just woke up from the slumber and announced a road project of 675km. However, we have built and expanded 88,841 kilometres of rural roads and 5,111 kilometres of state roads in the last decade. Another 1,165 kilometres of state roads are under construction,” Mitra said.

He said the Centre didn’t do enough to stimulate the demand by leaving extra money at the hands of taxpayers. “The budget had nothing to offer to revive the (Covid-19) pandemic-hit small and medium scale industries, which are the backbone of the economy,” said Mitra.

He also explained how the Centre had held back financial allocation for states under various heads. Bengal has received only Rs 27,943 crore under central tax devolution to the states, instead of Rs 37,904 crore, up to December. The estimate for Bengal is Rs 58,962 crore for the full financial year.

With the introduction of the agri infra cess, the states’ share of the gross tax collection by the Centre is set to go down further as the Union government keeps levies received under this head.

In contrast, duties amassed under direct and indirect taxes are shared with the states according to the Finance Commission formula of devolution of funds. At present, 41 per cent of the central tax goes to the states.

Mitra also lashed out at the BJP-led Centre for allegedly providing Bengal with “a pittance” to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan.

Dilip Ghosh said the budget reflected the government’s will to include the marginal people — tribals, farmers — in the sphere of development. “Rs 25000 Crore will be spent for a highway between Calcutta and Siliguri. Bengal will also benefit from the Vijayawada-Kharagpur and Bombay-Dankuni frieght corridors. Additionally, the government has also kept in mind the tea workers and allocated Rs 1,000 crore for them,” said Ghosh.