Budget of 44 departments passed in West Bengal Assembly through guillotine process, approved without debate

Kolkata. The West Bengal Assembly on Friday passed the demands for budget grants of 44 departments of the state government by voice vote without any detailed discussion under the guillotine process.

These include many important departments like Finance, Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing, Backward Class Welfare, Consumer Affairs, Environment, Forest, Food and Consumer Protection, Public Works (PWD), Irrigation and Waterways, Jail, Housing and Information and Culture.

Apart from this, micro, small and medium industries and textiles, madrassa education and library service, food processing and horticulture, information technology and electronics, law, labour, minority welfare, parliamentary affairs.

Demands for budget grants of Sundarban Development, Water Resources Investigation and Development, Paschimanchal Upgradation, Tribal Development, Land and Land Reforms, Women and Child Development and Disaster Management and Civil Defense departments were also passed through guillotine process without discussion.

In the second phase of the current budget session, from July 20 to July 24, only the budget of 13 departments was discussed in detail in the Assembly. These included the budget of the Home Department.

The new BJP government held a detailed discussion in the House on the budget of the Home Department after almost 14 years, which the government described as an important step towards transparency and accountability.

However, the budget of the remaining 44 departments was not discussed and after the stipulated time limit was reached, their grant demands were passed together by voice vote adopting the guillotine process.

It is noteworthy that even during the tenure of the previous Trinamool Congress government, the budgets of many important departments including the Home Department were not discussed in detail and they were passed in the Assembly only through the guillotine process.