As of now, there are a few pointers available as broad indicators of the kind of sums that could have been involved. Remarkably, there has been no state government initiative so far to set up a high power inquiry commission to affix responsibility for the scam, or to recommend ways to bring those responsible to book for their crime. Opposition leaders say this is understandable, as only ruling TMC leaders, whether in the state legislature or in the panchayats, are directly answerable to the people.

They also recall the reluctance of the west Bengal Government earlier to deny the fact of massive corruption in the Rs 15000 crore (estimated) Sarada chit fund scam in 2012-13. The Chief Minister had first denied her knowledge of the matter until her own party MPs Kunal Ghosh and Mukul Roy said categorically that she attended two meetings in north Bengal with chit fund sponsor Sudipta Sen as he launched his fraudulent scheme.

In a total turnaround in 2019, scores of TMC leaders all over the state stand accused by their own leader, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, of taking bribes or speed money (now described as cut money) from common people. According to some accounts, they may have been charging between Rs 150,00/200,000 for ensuring a school teacher’s job to a normally eligible applicant---or Rs 50,000 to recommend a Rs 250,000 official grant for each individual to build a basic rural house( one longish room, roof overhead plus veranda , small kitchen and toilet).

Ms Banerjee deserves some credit this time for taking the lid of yet another major financial scam involving her party members with less than two years left for the next Assembly polls. At Nazul Manch in Kolkata some days ago, at a party meeting she declared that TMC people involved with the Awas Yojana project had taken 20% of illegal commission(cut money) from the prescribed allotment for each individual recipient. Her sensational disclosure was followed up on June 10 by the establishment of an official grievance cell. Initially, over 1500 complaints from all over the state were recorded. By now many more complaints have been received, say officials.

The main reference in this context is to the Pradhanmantri Awas Yojana for rural and urban areas, launched by the Modi Government in 2014. Its objective: to provide a pucca house for all without a shelter by 2022. However, from 2016 onwards, Ms Banerjee, claiming that the central scheme was part financed by the states, launched a new parallel Bangla Awas Yojana, controlled by the state government.

Local media reports suggest that the state authorities have so far completed 153266 units out of an approved target of 351358 units. The ratio of implementation to target is 43.62% for the state and 29% for the centre.

According to these reports, official grants range from a minimum of Rs 3,43,000 to Rs 4,16,000 per individual housing unit, depending on its location in the plains or hills. To date Rs 5257.02 crore have been spent in Bengal, out of which the centre contributed Rs 2702.19 crore. At present, over 150,000 persons have started living in their new homes, according to reports sent from Kolkata to Delhi. There is as yet no official estimate as to how many units are currently under construction.

A left wing Bengali daily reports by the Chief Minister’s own admission , at a flat rate of 20% commission illegally taken from the beneficiaries, TMC leaders have earned over a cool Rs 1051 crore — even more, as they charged commission at the same rate even for the units under construction, too ! The bulk of this came from the pockets of the urban poor people of the state.

Bad enough, but this could be only the tip of a massive iceberg, say observers. By way of a preliminary estimate of the ‘dirty’ money lining TMC pockets, an economist currently working with the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has come up with some truly staggering numbers.

Long story short, his finding now gone viral on social media, is that in ONE YEAR only, TMC leaders might have earned nearly Rs 30,000 crore through their cut money racket and other unsavoury means. His break up is as follow: out of total budget provisions of Rs 240,000 crore for Bengal in 2019-20, around Rs 110,000/120,000 crore is available for maintaining/expanding infrastructure, social subsidies, essential urban/ rural civic and related expenses etc.

There are a dozen social welfare projects, like Rupasree, Kanyasree, Sabujsathi etc meant to run monthly financial assistance programmes for needy girl students, distributions of free cycles etc.
The economist argues that even a minimum 10 to15% commission from the millions of beneficiaries of all such schemes should ensure a hefty kickback of Rs 10/15,000 crore for the ruling party leaders — in a single year !

Turning next to the phenomenon of TMC-sponsored ‘Syndicates’ — TMC-backed local goons extorting ‘protection money’ from housing promoters which are forced to overcharge the average flat buyer 30 to 40% of the cost to stay in business — he says around Rs 40,000 crore is the average annual real estate spend in the state. It constitutes around 10% of the state’s GSDP.

If even half of this market, that is an investment of Rs 20,000 crore is targeted by the syndicates, an annual black income of Rs 2500/3000 crore is assured. Add to this the daily kickbacks earned from around 600,000 legal and illegal auto drivers(Rs 30 to 50) 100,000 toto drivers, over 900,000 hawkers (Rs 30 to 70), thousands of vegetable sellers and others in the urban and rural markets, main roads, railway stations, 30,000 taxi operators, etc. A figure of Rs 5000 crore annually should not be an overestimation.

By way of comparison, the economist points out that the profits made by Reliance Industry in a good year amounts to Rs 40,000 crore or so.

Kolkata-based economist Shounak Mukherjee broadly agrees with the main thrust of the theoretical formulation. . ‘The figures may not be acceptable in their totality, but certainly they are not fanciful either. Given the kind of situation that prevails in Bengal, generating a black income of this magnitude annually is entirely possible, provided that as experienced here, the ruling party and the administration , through their involvement and inaction respectively, are in effect complicit to the loot of public money.’

No wonder, says a Kolkata-based analyst, the assets officially declared by most trade union and political leaders contesting elections in Bengal have shown a remarkable increase in recent years, generating much trolling and sarcasm in the social media. (IPA Service)