Bengal govt seeks Rs 350 cr from Centre as expenses

MP | 14 July 2023 | Kolkata: The State Election Commission has written to the Union Home ministry urging it to clear an amount of around Rs 350 crore that has been spent for the Central forces deployed across Bengal to smoothly conduct the Panchayat elections. Central forces are in the state following the orders of the Calcutta High Court. Under the same order, they are supposed to remain here till July 22. Thus, there is every possibility of the amount going up further. 

There was a court ruling that the Centre would have to send Central forces for peacefully conducting the three-tier Panchayat elections in the state and it would not be able to ask for any amount from the state. Following the High Court’s order, nearly 700 companies of Central forces arrived in the state. 

The Calcutta High Court directed the Commission to extend their deployment for 10 more days. The state government had to pay a huge amount of money to provide logistic support, accommodation, food, vehicles availed by the jawans. 

The cost has reached around Rs 350 crore. The figure may further go up as there is still a deployment of forces across the state. The Bengal government had earlier directed all the district administrations to prepare the bills without any errors. After the election ended, the SEC sent the bills to the Union Home ministry. 

The ruling party Trinamool Congress had earlier alleged that the Centre did not clear previous dues. Meanwhile, State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha has submitted a detailed report about the election to Governor CV Ananda Bose. 

In the report, the Commission mentioned that sensitive booths were identified on the basis of reports of the observers. It also stated that steps have been taken on the basis of complaints received from the Raj Bhavan. 

The report submitted to the Governor also mentioned that Central and state police forces were deployed in 4,838 sensitive booths. The state seeking the amount from the MHA comes amid a case pending at the Calcutta High Court on charges of “ineffective” deployment and utilisation of Central armed forces, with the court seeking reports both from the State Election Commission and the West Bengal government on this count. 

After some stray incidents of violence were reported during the elections, the BSF DIG had alleged that the SEC did not give a list of the sensitive booths. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/bengal-govt-seeks-rs-350-cr-from-centre-as-expenses-525638