Congress fooling people on food security bill: Mamata

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the central government was talking about the food security bill to hoodwink people before next year’s general elections.
“In the budget before the elections there will be more such promises, but their intention is not to implement their promises. Everybody is not as transparent as us,” she added.

On criticism by some union ministers from the state that the projects being highlighted as success stories by the Trinamool Congress government were all funded by the union government, she said: “Whose money is it anyway?”

The chief minister said the state government generates Rs. 21000 crore as revenue, but the Center takes away Rs. 26000 crore as repayment of central loans and payment of interest.

“Let them allow the state governments to collect all the taxes instead of the center. We will show you what rural development is,” she said.

Conceding that the state government does not have enough funds to pay salaries to its employees, she said: “We are dipping into the non-plan budgetary accounts for this.”