Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw for a year the conditions for raising the borrowing limit to 5 per cent of a state’s GDP to ensure that Bengal can fight the Covid pandemic more efficiently.
The appeal came at a time officials have said the Bengal government is spending around Rs 2,000 crore a month on the Covid battle while revenues are languishing around Rs 1,200 crore a month because of the lockdown restrictions.
Sources said on Tuesday that during a videoconference between the Prime Minister and the chief ministers of 10 states, Mamata said the Centre should consider the proposal as it would help the states arrange funds to fight the pandemic at a time the states’ own revenue generation has dried up and the Centre has failed to transfer the GST compensation to the states.
“It is good that the borrowing limit has been increased to 5 per cent of the state’s GDP. But only 0.5 per cent could be availed of unconditionally. I request you to withdraw the conditions attached to the remaining borrowing opportunity,” a source quoted the chief minister as saying.
In May, the Centre had increased the borrowing limit of the states to 5 per cent from 3 per cent under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.
The Centre had linked the increased borrowing limits to participation in the “one nation, one ration card” scheme, ease of doing business and reforms in power distribution and urban local bodies. As the ruling party in Bengal is principally opposed to some of the reforms, the state has not got the full benefits.
The sources said Mamata pointed out that the Centre was yet to clear a tranche of dues of Rs 4,135 crore in GST compensation. The total amount due to Bengal from the Centre is Rs 53,000 crore.
“In a situation like this, an unconditional increase in the borrowing limit for a period of one year could help the state battle the pandemic more efficiently,” the chief minister was quoted as saying.
The sources said that the chief minister raised the issue as the state government was struggling to arrange funds to fight the pandemic.
“In brief, we are spending more than Rs 2,000 crore a month to battle the pandemic. But we are not getting financial assistance from the Centre,” said an official.
Sources in the finance department said the state was generating a revenue of about Rs 1,200 crore a month since July — far short of the usual average monthly revenue of Rs 5,000 crore.
Mamata urged the Prime Minister to send more ventilators to the state. “We have so far received 100-odd ventilators under the PM CARES Fund. More ventilators will help the serious patients,” said a health department official.
The chief minister requested Modi to issue guidelines on which vaccine should be procured and used by the states when it is available in India.
Modi said 10 states, including Bengal, should test more and trace the contacts of positive patients.