India News | TMC Failed to Bring About Bengal's Economic Growth, Materialise 28 Lakh Job Promise: BJP

Kolkata, Jul 24 (PTI) West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh on Saturday alleged that the TMC government has failed to bring about all-round economic development of the state and materialise its promise to create 28 lakh jobs.

Referring to the Singur land agitation, he alleged that the TMC had forced the Tatas to leave the state and is now welcoming them with folded hands, but the conglomerate is wary of the situation in the state.

Dismissing the allegations, the TMC said that the employment scenario in West Bengal is better than other states and the party was not against Tatas but against the forcible acquisition of fertile farmland in Singur.

"The TMC government has been holding Bengal global business summits. It had said that it spent Rs 12.8 lakh crores to attract investments. I wonder how many industries have come to the state after these events.

"The TMC had forced Tatas to leave West Bengal years ago but now, they are inviting the Tatas to come and invest in the state. However, the conglomerate is wary of the situation here," Ghosh told reporters here.

Wondering what happened to the TMC's promise to create 28 lakh jobs and how many employment opportunities were actually created, the senior BJP leader claimed that, on the other hand, the unemployment rate in the state has increased to 26 per cent.

"West Bengal's unemployment rate is highest among all our neighbouring states. Our youths are going to Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and even Uttar Pradesh in search of jobs.

"The TMC government had declared that a second Silicon Valley would be set up in Rajarhat area in the northeastern fringes of Kolkata but cows are grazing on vast stretches of the land there," he said.

On the inoculation drive in West Bengal, the state BJP chief alleged that common people are not getting vaccines due to black-marketing by some ruling party activists despite a regular supply of doses by the Centre.

"Despite the Centre dispatching 90,700 vaccines to the state every month, why is there a crisis? Why are there cases of administering fake vaccines? Such things don't happen in other states," Ghosh said.

"People are having to shell out amounts between Rs 300 and Rs 1,250 for a jab as some ruling party members are duping people in connivance with Health Department workers. The vaccines should have been made available to the people for free," he said.

Dismissing the allegations, TMC spokesperson and the party's state general secretary Kunal Ghosh accused the senior BJP leader of levelling baseless charges against the ruling party in the state without checking the facts.

"The present economic crisis is being faced by every state, not only West Bengal. But our state fares better in the employment scenario.

"The Singur land movement was not against Tatas, it was against the forcible acquisition of fertile farmland. The conglomerate is investing in many projects in West Bengal and it already has a big presence in the state," the TMC leader told PTI.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, on the other hand, alleged that the Centre is not giving even half of the vaccines allotted to West Bengal's quota which is why there is a crisis in the state, but the "BJP leaders are making wild accusations against the state government without checking the facts".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)