Kolkata, May 17: West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee led government Thursday released a performance report, claiming the state has clocked a growth rate higher than that of the overall country during the nearly two years it has been in power.
The performance report showcasing the achievements of the state government was released at the state secretariat, four days before the regime completes two years in office.
Making public the report titled " Powering Progress Empowering People", Finance Minister Amit Mitra said the document highlights the initiatives taken by all the 63 departments under the state since the Banerjee regime began its stint May 20, 2011.
"It is due to the efforts of the state government that our gross domestic product (GDP) in various sectors have been far better than the national average," Mitra told reporters.
He said while the overall growth rate in the country in 2012-13 was 4.96 percent, the corresponding figure for the state was 7.06 percent during the same time.
The expenditure in the rural employment guarantee programme has gone up by a whopping 107 percent during the Trinamool government, while 10 lakh farmers have been equipped with Kisan Credit Cards to help them access credit facilities.
Mitra said the state government has passed a bill reserving half the seats in local bodies for women, while the Kanyashree scheme aims to promote women's education.
Regarding the Saradha Group chit fund scam, Mitra said the state government has constituted a Rs.500 crore fund for compensating small and medium depositors who have lost their hard earned money by parking it with chit funds run by the Group.
However, he refused to answer questions on the chit fund scam.