‘North Bengal highly important’: Swapan Dasgupta in Siliguri for pre-budget outreach

Ahead of the new West Bengal government’s first budget, newly appointed Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta arrived in North Bengal on Thursday morning for crucial pre-budget consultations with local stakeholders.

“North Bengal has been deprived for a long time. But North Bengal is highly important to the BJP government. Ahead of the state budget, we are interacting with people in various places to look into what their expectations are,” Dasgupta told reporters at Bagdogra Airport, where he arrived accompanied by a delegation including the secretary and other top bureaucrats of the finance department.

“The purpose of the visit is to elicit views of all the important stakeholders in North Bengal on the forthcoming state budget—to see what exactly they have in mind, what are the demands, what are the problems, and to see how much we can try and meet some of their expectations. It’s purely for that purpose. It’s a very short visit, and it has a single purpose: a pre-budget consultation,” he said.