KOLKATA:  Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, will attent a conference of chief ministers of all states called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 5 to talk about the preparations for the nation hosting the G20 Summit in 2023.

State secretariat sources claim that the chief minister may take advantage of her trip to New Delhi to meet separately with the prime minister and reiterate her demands on unpaid central taxes owed to the West Bengal government. The state secretariat has however not heard anything definitive about whether or not the separate meeting will take place.

When Mamata Banerjee visited New Delhi a few months ago, she met separately with her counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and asked him to pay the outstanding central debt under two headings: the state's portion of the goods and services tax and the outstanding funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
In the meantime, The state's obligations under MGNREGA are still unpaid, despite the fact that the Centre has released monies via centrally sponsored initiatives.. The chief minister recently voiced his displeasure on this subject at a public forum and questioned whether she would now have to touch the Prime Minister's feet for the outstanding central monies.

According to state secretariat sources, the West Bengal government had certain concerns about the methodology for the state's portion of the GST that it was unable to address because of the lengthy wait for the GST Council meeting. Amit Mitra, a former state finance minister who is now the state government's main economic advisor, has addressed a letter to Nirmala Sitharaman, the union finance minister, regarding this issue.

The chief minister might bring up this subject during the meeting if she is given the chance to speak with the prime minister alone. She is also anticipated to brief the Prime Minister on the Ganges River's erosion, which is wreaking havoc in some West Bengali areas.

In a recent letter to the prime minister, the chief minister asked for his help in finding a long-term solution to the matter.

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