Asked Centre to transfer fund under farmers' scheme 3 months ago, Mamata rebuts Shah

KOLKATA: Barely 24 hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused Mamata Banerjee of barring the Centre’s ‘PM Kisan Samman Nidhi’ scheme for farmers, West Bengal Chief Minister countered saying she had communicated with the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare three months ago expressing the state’s interest to implement the scheme.  

"I wrote a letter on September 9 to Narendra Singh Tomar requesting him to transfer the requisite fund to the state government. I also mentioned in the letter that after disbursing the fund among the farmers, I will send the list of beneficiaries. So the allegation that we are barring the central scheme in West Bengal is not true," said Mamata on Monday at the state secretariat.

Mamata government has always been at loggerheads with the Narandra Modi’s government over the peasants’ beneficial scheme extended by the Centre at a time when Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress protesting for farmers’ rights. In the beneficial scheme, the central government transfers the fund directly to the accounts of farmers, but Mamata wants to disburse the financial grant through the state machinery.

During his two-day Bengal visit, Shah alleged that Mamata was supporting farmers’ movement but not allowing the central scheme in her own state. He also said that more than 10 crore farmers were already covered under the scheme when the peasants in Bengal were deprived of it due to Mamata’s decision. The scheme provides financial support of Rs 6,000 per year to small and marginal farmers.

"In the name of giving farmers financial aid, the Centre will use it for the publicity of the BJP. I will not allow it. I am ready to implement the scheme in Bengal, but we will do it and give the Centre the list of beneficiaries," Mamata said. "The state government already implemented its own beneficial scheme for farmers and we are providing financial support for small farmers who own small pieces of land. But the Centre’s scheme is for those who have at least two acres of land."