Governor Bose asks TMC govt to issue white paper on West Bengal's financial situation

KOLKATA: Claiming that West Bengal was facing a financial breakdown, Governor CV Ananda Bose called upon the Mamata Banerjee government to table a white paper on the state's financial situation.

Bose's statement came on a day he met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.

"The fiscal situation of West Bengal is confronting multiple fiscal risks and public finance management issues exposing serious lapses on the part of the (state) government. It is very disturbing, shocking, and shattering to see that West Bengal is facing a financial breakdown. Its public finance is in the doldrums," he claimed in a statement issued by the Raj Bhavan on Saturday.

"Considering the grave nature of the economic scenario, the Governor calls upon the CM upon the authority vested in him under Article 167 of the Constitution read with Rule 30 of the Rules of Business for West Bengal framed under Article 166 of the Constitution, to place a comprehensive report on the state's financial situation before the council of ministers and issue a White Paper for the information of the people of the state," the statement said.

During his meeting with Sitharaman, Bose emphasised the need to implement income-generating economic development programmes for those dependent on the fisheries sector, Raj Bhavan officials said.

The governor handed the minister a detailed action plan for the development of the fisheries sector, they said.