West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday she would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow to seek moratorium on interest paid by the State Government.
According to Banerjee, the State Government has been asking the Centre repeatedly for a “moratorium” on the “huge amount of interest annually, but it did not pay any heed to the request.
“The Centre is taking away Rs 40,000 crore as interest, more than the revenue earned by the State, every year. The Reserve Bank of India is cutting the money unilaterally. We are going to meet Prime Minister and Finance Minister,” she told the reporters at the Writers’ Building, the state secretariat.
The Chief Minister pointed out that West Bengal was deprived by the Centre, unlike two other “debt-stressed” states – Punjab and Kerala. “There are three debt-stressed states – West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab. If Punjab and Kerala can restructure their debts, why not Bengal,” Banerjee asked.
She would also meet with the Planning Commission and show them a report on the state’s performance during her tenure as a chief minister.