File photo of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (Press Trust of India photo)
Seeking his personal intervention, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give the state a complete waiver of its Rs 2.74 lakh crore debt burden.
"For the sake of growth, development and empowerment of the common people of the state, I again urge you to kindly give the state a complete debt waiver for it to escape from the veritable debt trap," Ms Banerjee said in a letter to the Prime Minister during a meeting at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata this evening.
"The total debt by the end of the financial year 2014-15 will be around Rs 2,74,800.12 crore," the Chief Minister said in the letter which she personally handed over to PM Modi during a half-an-hour meeting.
"The present government after coming to power has taken a debt of Rs 82,964.5 crore, out of which Rs 76,346.78 crore was taken only to service the debt obligations of debt taken by the previous government.
"In view of the highly debt-stressed condition of the state, West Bengal is caught in a vicious debt trap due to debt burden left by the previous Left Front government," she said.
Ms Banerjee also demanded restoration of funds for centrally-sponsored schemes which she said have been curtailed drastically.
She sought the "personal intervention" of the Prime Minister in the issues raised by her and requested "for early action in the interest of the common people of our state and the country at large."