Centre cannot interfere in law and order matters of states: Mamata Banerjee

New Delhi, July 16 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday asserted that the Centre cannot interfere in the State Government's internal affairs over law and order problem, adding that it is an internal matters and a prerogative of the state. The Chief Minister brought the issue up during the Inter-State Council Meet here, which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Centre cannot interfere in the matters of security and law and order on the pretext of exterminating terrorism. It is a state subject, if there is any information related subject or border related subject, we are ready to share with you, but with regards to law and order we are not ready," she told the media here. Earlier today, Prime Minister Modi at the 11th Inter -State Council meet held at Delhi, asked the states to be vigilant and focus on intelligence sharing for strengthening the internal security of the nation. Banerjee further said that states like Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal are in a debt trap and asked for Central government's intervention, adding that if the problem was not solved then even the Centre would be in crisis. "States like Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal are in a debt trap, I contended that PM should form a new committee and within three months and hold talks with state CMs, otherwise it would be difficult to clear debts and if that happens, even the Centre will be in crisis," she said. She lashed out at Central government for not providing appropriate platform to states to put forth their opinions, adding that even the agenda for Inter-state meeting was not discussed with states. "They do not even listen to states in NITI AYOG, they convene meeting with four to five people, hence there is no platform for the states to put forth their opinions there is no mechanism at all. Even in the Inter-state meeting the agenda was made without holding discussions with us," she said. She further stated that most of the people in West Bengal don't have Aadhar cards and there are no banks or post offices in the state, which makes it difficult to avail benefits under the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme. "They chalked out the Jan Dhan Yojana and I asked them, if they knew that there are around 800 Panchayat but there are no banks, nor post office. If there are no banks or post office, how can one avail Direct Benefit Transfer as there are lots of SC ST people who don't have Aadhar card," Banerjee said. The Inter-State Council meeting was convened after a gap of 10 years to discuss internal security, economic and social planning, and inter-State relations among other issues. Last time it was held in 2006 under the erstwhile Congress regime. (ANI)