Lamenting the Centre's financial non-cooperation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday charged the Narendra Modi government with double standards over providing flood relief.
"We have been pleading for release of relief funds for the floods, but the Centre, ignoring our pleas, has preferred to sit over the issue for months. On the other hand, they were happy to help out Tamil Nadu immediately," Banerjee said at an event in Hooghly district's Arambagh.
"Why do they make us feel that Tamil Nadu is dear to them and not West Bengal?" asked Banerjee, who in August had met Modi and sought Rs.21,000 crore for relief and reconstruction work for 12 flood-ravaged Bengal districts.
She subsequently wrote a letter to Modi pleading for release of the funds.
Enumerating the various developmental schemes undertaken by her government, Banerjee yet again lambasted the erstwhile Left Front government for putting the state in a debt trap.
"If the Centre did not take away Rs.28,000 crore towards servicing the debts, we could have done far more for the people. Not only is the Centre taking away the funds, they are also not giving funds for schemes like ICDS, Sarva Siksha Mission and other important projects," she said.
"A true government of the people views public purpose more importantly than political purpose. But the good work we are doing is not publicised. A few media houses and opposition are spreading canards against our government," she said.
