“No fund” from Centre on 100-days’ job scheme in 6 months, Mamata Banerjee forms “Crisis Management Fund”

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday ordered the formation of a “Crisis Management Fund” to fund the poor working under the 100-days’ job guarantee scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Banerjee said that unless an alternative payment scheme is worked out, the poor working under the scheme won’t be able to feed themselves as “the Centre has not paid its share in the scheme for several months”.

At a programme in West Midnapore for the government’s administrative review meeting, Banerjee said that since December, Centre is not paying its share for the scheme. She said: “The Centre takes funds from here and pays a part from it to the people working for the project. But if the poor don’t get paid for the work they do, what will they eat? With the price of cooking gas increasing, what will people eat?”

Banerjee formed a committee under chief secretary HK Dwivedi, that will work out a solution. For the time being, the Crisis Management Fund will pool in funds from public works department, agriculture, irrigation, animal resources welfare departments. The non-technical work of these departments will be done through the 100-days’ employment guarantee programme and will fund the work done by the poor.