Lack of funds for NCC camps in West Bengal sparks political row
The Hindu
Due to this, nearly 41,000 NCC cadets who were enrolled may not appear for ‘B’ and ‘C’ certificate examinations next year
Citing lack of funds the National Cadet Corps (NCC) decided to cease the enrolment of fresh candidates in West Bengal for the financial year 2022-23. Officials of the West Bengal and Sikkim directorate said that due to lack of funds from the State Government nearly 41,000 NCC cadets who were enrolled might not appear for ‘B’ and ‘C’ certificate examinations next year. The officials also said that annual camps could not be held and cadets would not be able to complete their certification programme.
Major B.B. Singh, the spokesperson for NCC’s West Bengal and Sikkim directorate, said on Wednesday that the West Bengal government had allocated ₹80 lakh in 2022-23, while there was a requirement of another ₹3 crore. Major Singh expressed hope that the Chief Minister would soon release the funds so that the cadets did not have to suffer.
The development evoked a fresh war of words between the State’s ruling party and the Opposition. State’s Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said that on October 21, about ₹20 lakh was released by the State government and more funds would be released once the money being spent was accounted for by the agency.
The leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) targeted the State government alleging that it had the money for fairs, games and other activities but not for NCC camps. CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that NCC training was aimed at youth for character-building and nation-building and denying funds would have an adverse impact on the career of students who had enrolled in the voluntary service. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that the State was going towards bankruptcy and soon it would have no money for payment of salaries and pensions.
According to NCC officials, State governments funded 25% for the camps, while the Centre provided 75%.
The NCC Additional Director General in charge of West Bengal and Sikkim directorate, Major General Uday Sankar Sengupta, in a letter to the Director General of NCC said that despite relentless efforts and correspondence at various levels of the State government, the budget allocation to West Bengal NCC by the State government had remained unchanged. “Enrolment of cadets in this training year is being ceased till additional funds as projected by this directorate to the state government are made available,” Major General Sengupta said in the letter dated October 6.
A section of Trinamool Congress leaders including the State’s Finance Minister also highlighted that the Centre had not paid dues amounting to ₹1.97 lakh crore to the State, including wages for lakhs of MGNREGA workers.