TMC to hold protests against Centre's 'non-payment of dues' to Bengal: Mamata

Party will organise protests on June 5 and 6

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday said her party, the TMC, will organise protests on June 5 and 6 in various blocks, seeking an explanation from the Centre for the alleged non-payment of funds that it owed to the state.

Banerjee, who will be attending administrative meetings in Bankura and Purulia districts on Monday and Tuesday, was talking to reporters on her arrival at Durgapur in Paschim Bardhaman district.

"The Centre is playing a dirty political game. For the past five months, poor people employed through 100-day work scheme are having trouble getting their payments. The Centre is not releasing Rs 6,000 crore that it owes to the state under the scheme," the CM said.

She maintained that the "state wasn't asking for favours from the Centre".

"All we want is the money that has already been allocated to us. The Centre is not releasing our dues under Bangla Awas Yojana.

"Members of our students' wing, women's unit and the tribal arm will hold protests on June 5 and 6 in various blocks of the state, seeking an explanation from the Narendra Modi government for this indifference," Banerjee stated.

Bengal has topped the country in providing jobs to labourers under the 100-day scheme, and "yet we are being discriminated against", the CM said, iterating that the Centre, in all, owed Rs 96,000 crore to Bengal under various programmes.