West Bengal: Swapan Dasgupta Tables BJP Govt's First Budget

Kolkata: West Bengal finance minister Swapan Dasgupta on Monday tabled a ₹4,38,775.29 crore budget, the first of the BJP government here, in the Assembly, offering lucrative sops, jobs and investment-friendly proposals in the infrastructure sector to bring the state's economy back on track.

He announced a 20% dearness allowance (DA) hike for the state government employees from October this year, financial assistance schemes for the unorganised sector, construction of four new airports, a deep sea port at Dadanpatrabar in East Midnapore and land for two key airbases' expansion.

With the monthly DA hike, the total amount emolument will rise to 38%. Other promises include one lakh government jobs in phases for 2026-27 financial year. Among them, 50,000 vacancies will be filled up at teaching and non-teaching posts in schools and colleges while around 20,000 vacancies will be in the police.

33% of these one lakh jobs would be reserved for women while 10% for Agniveers. A fund of ₹36,000 crores has been allocated for direct cash transfer under ‘Annapurna Bhandar’ scheme which is dedicated to women.

The four new airports will come up in Purulia, Balurghat (South Dinajpur) and Malda under UDAN scheme of the Centre and another at Kalyani in Nadia which will be a greenfield one, aimed at reducing the pressure on Kolkata Airport. The state government will identify 1000-1500 acres of land for Kalyani Airport.

Besides, the Coochbehar Airport will be expanded for ₹10 crores. The government will also provide 25 acres of land for Hasimara Air Force Station and 37 acres of land at Kalaikunda Air Force Station for their expansion.

Mr Dasgupta then proposed a monthly pension of Rs 5,000 for retired journalists before saying, “₹10,000 per month will be provided to those who had suffered incarceration during emergency. Sangrami Bhata would be provided to those who have suffered false and frivolous cases due to their political beliefs. The details will be worked out for this.”

He however pointed out a monumental debt left by the previous government of Trinamool Congress, observing, “Our Government has inherited a massive debt of ₹8,15,891 crore as a legacy. This is potentially a crippling debt. However, with the support of the Government of India and fiscal reforms, we will try to put it on a sustainable path.”

He also noted, “In this Budget, the revenue deficit as a percentage of GSDP is projected to be 1.02 per cent (down from the revised 2025-26 figure of 2.07 per cent); the fiscal deficit as a percentage of GSDP will be 2.91 per cent (down from 3.40 per cent); and the debt stock as percentage of GSDP is projected to be 37.98 per cent (down from 38.29).”

While the women and child development and social welfare department received the highest allocations of ₹52,308.50 crores, the panchayat department came second with ₹51,836.55 crores followed by ₹44,948.21 crores for the school education department.