Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021 in Parliament on Monday. In this context, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista reverenced the Finance Minister for the “forward thinking, growth inducing budget, based on the six core pillars of development – Health, Infrastructure, Inclusive Development, Human Capital, Innovation and Governance.”
Bista, on behalf of the people from Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars and the rest of West Bengal, acknowledged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for making special provisions for the region and state in this budget.
The Union Government has announced a special financial package worth Rs 1000 crores towards ensuring the welfare of the tea garden workers from West Bengal and Assam. In this context, the MP’s press release stated, “The tea garden workers from Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars have faced innumerable discrimination by the West Bengal Govt…In accommodating the needs of the tea garden workers, the Union Govt has shown deepest of care towards our brother and sisters from the tea gardens, and this will go a long way in ensuring justice for them. Especially women and children from the tea gardens, who have been relegated to the margins due to the continued apathy and indifference of the West Bengal government, are set to benefit from this major announcement.”
In the first paperless Union Budget, FM Nirmala Sitharaman has allocated a budget of Rs 25,000 crores for roads in West Bengal and up-gradation of the existing Kolkata-Siliguri road. Bista also praised this decision stating, “This will be the infrastructural spinal-cord for our state, and will become the first step towards transforming West Bengal to a modern state with world class infrastructure.”