West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday wrote to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, expressing displeasure over her government not implementing the Centre's PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, which, he said, would have benefited at least 70 lakh farmers in the state.
Alleging that the state has cracked a "cruel joke" on the farmers, Dhankhar, who has crossed swords with the TMC government over a host of issues in the past one year, said that it was "distressing to note" that beneficiaries in West Bengal were being deprived of central aid under the scheme.
"Farmers in the state have already lost benefits of Rs 8,200 crore... While farmers all over the country have received Rs 12,000 each, our farmers have been denied this legitimate right on account of insensitivity and confrontational stance of the state government," Dhankhar said in his letter to the chief minister.
In the past, too, the governor had on several occasions flayed the TMC dispensation for its decision to not implement the scheme.
The government, on its part, said it has introduced several pro-farmer projects in the state.
"I fail to understand why this (implementation) has not been done by the state government. This is an unfortunate lapse, painfully harmful to the interest of the farmers. The cruel joke and historic injustice on the farmers should make us realise that governance has to be for the benefit of the people at large," he wrote.
Farmers across the country have received about Rs 92,000 crore so far, and those in Bengal got nothing, he rued.
"This calls for soul searching and immediate amends," Dhankhar added.
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