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The Left Front government in West Bengal is against taking any loan from the World Bank with additional conditions. If need be, it will borrow from indigenous financial institutions for implementing projects. The State's Finance Minister, Dr. Ashim Dasgupta in Calcutta, made this clear early this week when he referred to the World Bank’s proposal for slapping additional conditions on projects scheduled to be funded in the State.

According to Dr. Dasgupta, the Left Front government has a good record of repayment of the principal amount of loan as well as interest / service charges. So under no circumstances, the State Government will take any loan from the Bank accepting these new conditions even if that means losing a line of credit from the World Bank. There are a number of projects that have been funded by the World Bank in West Bengal and the Bank has been funding them being satisfied with successful implementation reports. The Left Front government has also suggested the inclusion of panchayat Sabhadhipatis in committees in charge of executing projects, if the World Bank at all agrees to fund them.