Raising the issue of rise in the prices of diesel and petroleum products, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday pinned her hopes on the new government at the Centre to do something in this regard.
“The price of diesel and petrol is increasing and you (people) are facing a lot of problems. It is not that I am not aware of it. There is a new government at the Centre. Let’s see what steps they take,” she said while inaugurating a number of buses at the State Secretariat.
Debt burdenThe Chief Minister also referred to the increasing debt burden on the State government and said that the Centre is deducting money from the State’s exchequer.
“We are waiting for the 14th Finance Commission. We have aired our views to them,” Ms. Banerjee, who has been demanding the moratorium on the interest on loan payment, said.
The Chief Minister pressed to bring all the State transport corporations under ‘one umbrella’. There are five transport corporations under the State government for which it has to provide Rs. 600 crore in subsidy every year.
“There is need for saving money by cutting wasteful expenditure,” Ms. Banerjee asked referring to the problem of loan repayment to the Centre by her government.
She acknowledged that compared to the rise in the population, public transport in the city has not increased. “I notice a large number of people waiting for buses,” she said, adding that her government had made provisions in the State Budget to give soft loans to unemployed youth to take out buses.
