Centre stalling 3 proposed new airports in Bengal: CM

“Three new airports are proposed to be set up at Balurghat, Cooch Behar, and Malda, all in north Bengal. The state government has also earmarked land for the projects. But the process is stuck as the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation is not providing us with the necessary permission,” she said.

Banerjee also reiterated that the Narendra Modi-led government is deliberately not releasing funds to the state under different centrally sponsored schemes. “West Bengal is on the top when it comes to implementation of different centrally sponsored schemes. This has made the Union government jealous and it deliberately stopped funds under various schemes,” she said.

“When 40% of the workforce was rendered unemployed in the country during the pandemic, Bengal created 40% more jobs during the same period. Employment generation is my main target now,” she said.

Distributing certificates and offer letters to those who completed the ‘Utkarsh Bangla’ skill development programme, Banerjee said the state has given offer letters to more than 10,000 persons before the Durga Puja.

“I will not wait for the mercy of the Union government any more. We will complete our pending projects from development funds allotted to MPs and MLAs,” she said.

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Reacting to the CM’s remarks, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said the central funds were stopped due to “blatant misuse” and the state government’s failure to provide utilisation certificates of past expenditure.

“In many cases, the names of the central projects were changed so that the state government could show them as state’s own. “As usual, the CM is trying to mislead people through disinformation,” he alleged.