The Mamata Banerjee government on Thursday made a budgetary allocation of ₹2,000 crore for its own 100-day job scheme, Mahatma-Shree, making it clear that Nabanna was not interested in the funds from the Centre, which laid several conditions for Bengal to receive the same.
“You are well aware that as a form of protest against the deprivation of West Bengal by the Union government, the state government launched the Karmashree scheme, which has now been rechristened in the name of the father of the nation as Mahatma-Shree... I propose an allocation of ₹2,000 crore for this scheme in the budget of the next financial year 2026-27,” Chandrima Bhattacharya, the minister of state (independent charge) of the finance department, said in her speech while presenting the vote-on-account on Thursday.
The state government had started a scheme called Karmashree after the Centre, alleging irregularities, had stopped the release of funds under the 100-day job scheme three years ago. But the state hadn’t allocated funds for the scheme.
Different departments used to engage job card holders of MGNREGA in their development projects to employ the rural populace in the absence of central funds.
But recently, the Supreme Court ordered the Union government to disburse MGNREGA funds to Bengal. But the Centre set a series of conditions, like sending a labour budget every three months to Delhi to get vetted, for the release of funds. The state would also have to submit utilisation certificates every three months to get the next allotment.
“The state government felt insulted, as no such condition was set for other states, even though complaints of irregularities remain a common feature. As Bengal decided to allocate a sum of ₹2,000 for the scheme, it is clear that it would not send the labour budget to Delhi every three months and submit utilisation certificates in each quarter to get the next allotment,” said an official.
Sources also said the Trinamool Congress would use the budgetary allocation of ₹2,000 crore as a weapon against the BJP during the campaign of the upcoming Assembly polls.
“Now, the ruling party in Bengal could easily claim that, as the BJP-led Centre did not release funds, it is running the scheme to give jobs to the rural populace. On the other hand, the BJP would not be able to counter the ruling party in Bengal as the state would run the scheme on its own,” said a source.
Hundreds of rural people used to depend on the 100-day job scheme to earn their livelihood. Since the scheme was stopped because of the non-availability of funds from Delhi, the state tried to employ job card holders through different departments, but it did not yield much result.
“Now, with a significant amount of funds allocated for the scheme, it seems that the rural populace would get work ahead of the polls. This will definitely help the ruling party ahead of the polls,” said an official.