By IANS,
Kolkata: West Bengal’s Left Front government Monday proposed closer cooperation and sharing of information between the central government and the state for unearthing black money.
Speaking to mediapersons here, state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said: “If data at the state level and the information with the income tax department at the central level can be brought together and there is complete cooperation between the two, then definitely recovery of black money will be more easy.”
He added that this will be helpful for both state and central government.
The minister’s comments came hours after union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee underlined a five-prong strategy to deal with black money problem in his budget speech in parliament.
Expressing “serious concern” over the generation and circulation of black money, Mukherjee said: “To deal with this problem effectively, government has put into operation a five-fold strategy which consists of joining the global crusade against ‘black money’, creating an appropriate legislative framework, setting up institutions for dealing with illicit funds, developing systems for implementation and imparting skills to the manpower for effective action”.
The issue of black money has been dominating the headlines in recent times. The matter has also reached the Supreme Court with noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani moving a petition seeking direction to the government to take steps to bring back ill-gotten money stashed in foreign banks by Indian citizens.