West Bengal reels under bankruptcy

 Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacherjee may deny that a mounting debt burden close to Rs 2 lakh crore has been staring at the face of his government. But the voters will not take it at face value, for only the last week Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta admitted  to paying Rs 16,651 crore per annum towards debt interest.

With the state government having surpassed the 14-day overdraft limit, as stipulated by the RBI in February itself, all the essential development work across the state has been stalled on the eve of the elections, courtesy outstanding bills to the contractors.

“It is baseless to claim that the government has become bankrupt,” Bhattacherjee said.
But he chose to skirt a vital question—why his FM had to send state Finance Secretary to the Union department of expenditure in New Delhi to obtain a nod for a market borrowing of Rs 3,000 crore for April alone.

The government which passed a vote-on-account last week, admitted that the state is entitled to borrow a maximum of Rs 15,390.64 crore during the entire fiscal (2011-12). Finance secretary’s mission is to garner a mandatory approval from the Centre.

However, chances of obtaining the Centre’s nod is quite remote as it amounts to violation of the model code of conduct.