West Bengal cannot afford TMC shenanigans anymore

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) 2022 report on West Bengal finances has observed that in the FY2020-21, the Trinamool Congress government in the state had understated their revenue deficit by Rs 3,440 crore, and fiscal deficit by Rs 2,249 crore. In what can be considered as a stinging indictment of West Bengal government ‘account cooking’ scam, CAG has observed that, “there was persistent understatement of revenue and fiscal deficit by the state during 2017-21.

In their report, the CAG has warned that “excessive focus on short-term objectives for overcoming budget deficit, encourages creative accounting and recourse to one-off deficit-reducing measures.”

The Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal ended the FY2022-23 with a per capita debt of around Rs 60,000 each, in 2010-11 this figure stood at Rs 20,530, which had been arrived at after 34-year long disastrous Left Front rule in the state. In all likelihood, the actual debt incurred by TMC ruled government in West Bengal may have already crossed Rs 6 lakh crores, because the CAG has noted, “…there were some borrowings by the Government for meeting its own commitments on various schemes which were not routed through the budget as well as the accounts and thus remained outside legislative control. These borrowings were raised, on behalf of the State Government, through Government owned or controlled public sector enterprises or societies.”

It is evident that the TMC government is not only borrowing from the market directly, but they are also using state corporations, societies etc to rake up debt, most of which is hidden from the public eye. As a result, the total state debt which stood at Rs 1.97 lakh crore as on March 31, 2011, has now crossed Rs 6 lakh crore. What’s alarming is that majority of the funds borrowed from the market are being used to pay off the debt taken earlier. As the CAG report highlights, “during 2020-21, an alarming 89.06 per cent (Rs 44,688 crore) was financed from Net Market borrowings.”

What all these point out to is that, the West Bengal government has been faking budget figures, and the state of economic decline facing West Bengal under TMC may be far worse than what most of us have perceived it to be till now.

Recently, the Central Government shared data on the amount of Central Funding to the state of West Bengal. Despite TMC leaders spreading misinformation, it has now come to fore that between the financial years 2018-19 to 2020-21 the Central Government allocation was around 125 per cent of West Bengal’s own revenues. In 2022-23 this leaped to 145 per cent with the Central Government providing Rs 105,387 crore, whereas West Bengal’s own revenue collection was only Rs 72,772 crores. This further rose to Rs 113,230 crore in FY 2022-23, whereas the state government could only collect Rs 81,383 crores.

It is evident that the state economy is to a great extent being supported by the Central contribution, and that the West Bengal economy under TMC would have completely collapsed otherwise.

TMC government is using funds borrowed from the market, not for assets creation of any kind, but for meeting revenue expenditure. This jeopardizes the economic future of the state.
The negative impact of TMC’s reckless use of public exchequer has resulted in massive financial problems for the citizens of the state. The West Bengal government has not been able to raise the Dearness Allowance (DA) of the government workers for the past 12-years, which stands at a paltry 3 per cent. In comparison, the Central Government employees are paid DA at the rate of 42 per cent, which is expected to rise to 45 per cent from July 1, 2023.

Thousands of pensioners in the states have not been able to receive their pensions on time. Majority of the infrastructure projects in the state are either running behind schedule, or put on halt due to fund crunch.

The West Bengal government has failed to provide for basics like provisioning of drinking water, health, hygiene and education. Such is the state of economy that the Bengal government is contemplating shutting down over 8200 schools in the state, citing one reason or the other.

The healthcare facilities in the state is in shambles, facing acute shortage of doctors, nurses, staff, equipment, infrastructure. There is no future for the youths here as no new investments are coming into the state. There is barely any employment opportunity for the youths, majority of whom are forced to migrate to distant cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad for earning a living, and what’s worse is that the ruling party in the state continues to indulge in rampant corruption.

It is thus logical to ask, for how long can this “beg, borrow, spend on frivolous things” TMC model of economics be sustained? How long can the tax payers continue to discount the TMC financial misadventures, and reckless spending sprees. West Bengal cannot afford TMC shenanigans anymore, it is high time the state government is held accountable for their financial misappropriations.

Raju Bista is the Member of Parliament from Darjeeling, and National Spokesperson BJP

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