On the eve of completing two years in office, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said here on Sunday that the State had grown at a higher rate than the national average in key sectors such as agriculture, industries and services.
Reflecting on the challenges before her government, she said “two years is not a big time to evaluate a new government.”
“In 2012-13, [West] Bengal outperformed national average in key performance indicators. In GDP, agriculture and allied sectors, industry and services, the State grew faster than India,” she posted on a social networking site. “While India grew by 4.96 per cent, 1.79 per cent, 3.12 per cent, and 6.59 per cent (respectively), Bengal clinched 7.6 per cent, 2.56 per cent, 6.24 per cent and 9.48 per cent growth rates in these sectors,” she said.
She pointed out that the revenue collection of Rs. 32,000 crore for the fiscal 2012-13 was a record. In terms of expenditure incurred in the MGNREGA scheme, the State occupied the first position in the country.
Among the other achievements of the Trinamool Congress government, Ms. Banerjee referred to the government support for the rapid socio-economic transformation of women, children, students, backward sections, including minority communities. Her government “had on its head the legacy of a long 34-year regime, a huge debt burden of more than Rs. 2 lakh crore, and a completely crippled and demoralised government machinery,” she said.
Of the revenue generated by the State, Rs. 26,000 crore was being deducted by the Centre “directly from our accounts towards repayment of debts of the previous Left Front government. We could have ploughed back the entire money into development work.”
She also referred to loss of mandays from strikes and bandhs.
