Bengal Govt tables Rs 4.06 lakh cr interim Budget

The West Bengal Government on Thursday tabled a Rs 4.06 lakh crore interim Budget in the State Assembly for the 2026-27 financial year, rolling out cash support and allowance hike measures targeting women, youths and frontline workers ahead of the polls due in less than three months.

In the heart of the budget lies a renewed push to consolidate women voters, nearly half of the state’s electorate and the Trinamool Congress’s most dependable electoral base. The State Government proposed to hike the monthly grant in the ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme by Rs 500 from February this year, allocating a hefty Rs 15,000 crore. The allowance is at present Rs 1,000 for general category women and Rs 1,200 for SC/ ST women.

Tabling the Budget, State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya also announced that the state government will launch a scheme — ‘Banglar Yuva Sathi’ — to provide Rs 1,500 monthly allowance to unemployed people in the 21-40 years age group till they get jobs or for a period of up to five years. The scheme will be launched from August 15 if the Trinamool Congress returns to power.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said her government had managed to prioritise welfare and development despite what she called “sustained financial deprivation” by the Centre.

 “Our Budget is pro-people, not directionless and rudderless like the Union Budget,” she said at a post-budget press conference, maintaining that the state had adhered to fiscal discipline even while expanding social sector spending.

The interim Budget also cast a wide net over politically influential grassroots worker.

Anganwadi and ASHA workers, civic volunteers, Green Police personnel and village police — all key touch-points of the state’s welfare delivery machinery — were granted monthly allowance hikes, along with death compensation in the case of Anganwadi staffers.

Together, these measures signal a deliberate effort to secure the loyalty of a vast informal workforce that often shapes electoral mobilisation at the booth level.

Government employees, a constituency that has frequently expressed discontent over dearness allowance arrears, were offered a four per cent DA hike, even as the State reiterated its intent to work towards implementing the 7th Pay Commission — a move aimed at tempering staff union resentment ahead of polling.

Alleging that the Centre owed West Bengal nearly Rs 2 lakh crore in legitimate dues, Banerjee said funds for key schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, rural housing, rural roads and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan had been blocked for years.

Suvendu Adhikari calls Bengal’s vote-on-account false document

Kolkata: Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday slammed the West Bengal Government’s vote-on-account, calling it a “false and aimless document” filled with election-oriented promises that are legally impossible to implement.

Reacting to the interim Budget, the leader of the opposition in the State Assembly said that most announcements were misleading as they could not be executed once the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force.

The West Bengal Government on Thursday tabled a Rs 4.06 lakh crore interim Budget in the State Assembly for the 2026-27 financial year, rolling out cash support and allowance hike measures targeting women, youths and frontline workers ahead of the Assembly polls due in less than three months.

“After publication of the final voter list (on February 14), the MCC can be enforced at any moment. Under the MCC, the Government cannot increase financial benefits or expand the number of beneficiaries,” Adhikari said. He described the vote-on-account as merely a four-month arrangement meant to meet routine expenditure such as salaries, and asserted that promises slated for implementation from April were “nothing but deception”.

The BJP leader termed the budget “anti-unemployed”, alleging that it lacked any concrete employment targets.

He criticised the rebranding of the ‘Yuvashree’ scheme as ‘Yuva Sathi’, which offers a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500, calling it “jugglery and deception”. Adhikari said earlier promises of job portals and youth allowances had been effectively abandoned through repeated renaming without delivery.