Kolkata: West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta, a journalist-turned-politician, on Saturday, tabled 28 crucial Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reports on income and expenditure from the state exchequer during the period from 2021 to 2025 when the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government was in power in the state.
Tabling the reports on the last day of the ongoing extended budget session of the House, the state Finance Minister said that since the previous Trinamool Congress government did not table these crucial reports on the floor of the House during their tenure, the new Bharatiya Janata Party government decided to table them all at a time on Saturday.
After tabling the 28 crucial CAG reports, Dasgupta said on the floor of the House that the non-presentation of the CAG reports for a long time was a major constitutional lapse.
“The reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India have constitutional importance in the Constitution. It is the responsibility of all governments to table such reports on the floor of the House in the Legislative Assembly. I am surprised why these reports were not tabled for some known and unknown reasons during the last few years,” he added.
The 28 CAG reports, all during the period between 2021 and 2025 included those on important areas like Panchayati Raj institutions, public health infrastructure and health services, land management in tribal areas, Anganwadi and ICDS services, government’s steps to prevent water pollution and the entire education campaign.
Multiple audit reports related to various public sector undertakings and the finance department were also tabled on Saturday.
After tabling the reports, the State Finance Minister said that from the study of the 28 CAG reports, it would be clear why the state finance was currently reeling under an accumulated debt burden of more than Rs 8,00,000 crore, which had been inherited by the current state government.
He also said that in the coming days there will be detailed discussions on the floor of the House on these reports.
“We would like to have an entire special session of the House in the near future when these CAG reports will be discussed. This is extremely crucial,” Minister Dasgupta added.
Speaking on the occasion, the State Finance Minister highlighted how the previous Trinamool Congress government misled people about the development of the MSME sector in the state.
“According to the data provided by the previous Trinamool Congress government, there were 93 lakh MSMEs in West Bengal. However, it was later found that only 22 lakh MSMEs were registered on the ‘Udyam’ portal. Out of these, 4.5 lakh PAN cards do not exist! Ultimately, only 99 thousand MSMEs are actually functional in the state. This is why businessmen were deserting West Bengal,” Minister Dasgupta added.
(IANS)
