Amit Shah says bonanza for state government employees and fishermen if BJP is elected in Bengal

• Follow

Kolkata: Union Home Minister Amit Shah took his poll pitch in Bengal a notch higher and promised financial benefits for the state government employees and fishermen if Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is elected to power in the state in the impending assembly elections.

“When BJP comes in power, all state government employees would get paid according to the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations,” said Shah in a public meeting in Namkhana in South 24 Parganas district, about 102 kms away from Kolkata.

There are about 3.5 lakh government employees in West Bengal who are paid according to the Sixth Pay Commission.

The Mamata Banerjee administration has been criticised by a large section of the employees for its tardy implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. Notified in 2019, their pay was revised with effect from January 1, 2016.

The Seventh Pay Commission is applicable to the central government employees. State government employees said if the 7th pay commission is implemented, it would mean a substantial pay rise for them but could not quantify it right now since it involved detailed calculations at each level of pay.

A high level enquiry committee will also be set up to look into the grievances of a section of teachers in the state, said Shah.

West Bengal is a fiscally-stressed state with the government’s wage bill of Rs 59,166 crore set to consume as much as 78% of its own tax revenue of Rs 75,415 crore in 2020-21.

Shah also promised an annual largesse for about 6 lakh fishermen of the state. “A scheme similar to the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PMKSNY) would be implemented for the fishing community whereby each fishermen would be paid Rs 6,000 a year,” said Shah.

Responding to the minister’s announcement, Trinamool Congress MP and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew said in a public meeting in the same district, “They are promising financial assistance for the fishermen. Let them first give it.”

“There is no income support programme for the fishermen in Bengal right now. Before 2014, there was a scheme for lean periods (mid-April to mid-June) when a fisherman was supposed to deposit Rs 1,500 in his bank account and both the Centre and state would give matching grants, But that was applicable only for those who fished in brackish waters. It benefitted only about 10,000 fishermen in the state,” Debasis Shyamal, vice president of Dakshinbanga Matsajibi Forum (South Bengal Fishermen Forum).

Shah also said that if their party forms the new government, a department that would ensure fair price for their produce would also be set up.

The PMKSNY was launched in December 2018 and turned into a subject of heated political debate in Bengal when chief minister Mamata Banerjee refused to implement it in her state and floated a similar scheme for the state’s farmers.

The Union home ministers also said a seafood processing hub will be set up in South 24 Parganas district.

The district is also the venue for the Gangasagar pilgrimage where a fair is held in mid-January with lakhs congregating at the spot for a holy dip in the confluence of the Hooghly river and the Bay of Bengal. This fair is second to the Kumbh Mela going by the count of the attending pilgrims.

The Home Minister said that Gangasagar will be developed and showcased so as to include it in an international pilgrimage circuit.

Lashing out at the alleged siphoning of cyclone Amphan relief funds in the state by the leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress, Shah assured the audience that if a BJP government comes in power, it would not spare anyone and would dig them out from anywhere they might be hiding and send them to jail.

“While the Congress government gave Rs 1.32 lakh crore to West Bengal in five years, the Narendra Modi government sent Rs 3.59 lakh crore to the state,” said Shah.