Kolkata, Dec 18 (IANS) As the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Thursday, highlighted how the state had reportedly become an ideal investment destination during the last 15 years of the Trinamool Congress government, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Assembly and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Suvendu Adhikari, had reminded her of the huge accumulated debt of the state government that had piled during the same period.

Soon after the Chief Minister Banerjee addressed the inaugural session of the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS)-2025, the annual event of the state government to showcase West Bengal as an ideal business destination, LoP Adhikari issued a statement claiming that Mamata Banerjee has burdened West Bengal under Rs 7.71 lakh crore of accumulated debt.

The LoP had also claimed that the figure is a 305 per cent increase since Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister for the first time in West Bengal in 2011, thus burdening every newborn in the state with a per capita debt of Rs 76,766 before they are born.

LoP Adhikari had also claimed that for every Rs 100 that West Bengal government earns, Rs 38 vanishes into repayment, which is double the limit set under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003.

According to the Leader of Opposition, the departments related to infrastructure such as roads (2.2 per cent budget allocation), energy (1.2 per cent budget allocation), and irrigation (1.7 per cent budget allocation) crumble.

“She (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) squanders Rs 1.07 lakh crore on vote-bank handouts in three years, starving real growth,” he had claimed.

He also gave detailed statistics on the flight of capital from West Bengal during the last 15 years of the Trinamool Congress government.

According to LoP Adhikari, during that period, 6,688 companies from West Bengal shifted to Maharashtra and Gujarat, among others.

“Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS)? A Rs 24 lakh crore mirage with just three per cent delivered. Singur’s ghosts continue to haunt us — barren land, jobs lost, while she (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) parades fake memorandums of understanding (MoUs),” he claimed in his statement.

He also said that in its report, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had exposed a “loot” through understated deficits, hidden borrowings and scams galore.

“Our (West Bengal’s) youth migrate as “Parijayi Shramik” while Mamata Banerjee’s London & Spanish trips yield ZERO results. West Bengal deserves economic turnaround, employment, factories, not fiscal fraud,” LoP Adhikari added.

–IANS

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