Basu meets PM Makes out state's case Tiger Dimming counts New Governor Viren Shah is new governor for Bengal

West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu has asked for more Central aid for the state. At a meeting with the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, his first after the new Lok Sabha took office, Basu also said that the Centre should take greater and efficient steps to stop laundering of money and blackmarketeering. The meeting, which lasted for more than 75 minutes, focussed mainly on the incomplete projects of West Bengal and Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta helped the chief minister during the talks with figures and statistics which went on to prove that the state was being crippled because of Central negligence.

Basu said that he had asked the Prime Minister to hold periodic meetings to resolve the problems of the states and not take short-term steps. He said that he had tried to impress upon the Prime Minister that there was an acute need to solve the problem of blackmarketeering and thus mop up resources so that the dependence on foreign funds is minimised. He said that it was pertinent to come up with solutions fast so that these could be included in the plans and the Budget and thus the results maximised. Later, the state finance minister also held a separate meeting with Sinha.