The public works department may be forced to drop several road projects as the state development fund (SDF) is likely to be cut drastically in the backdrop of the government’s plan to reduce expenditures heavily to finance the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme which would cost the exchequer Rs 17,000 crore annually.

The south zone of the PWD that looks after roads and bridges in districts like Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Howrah and Calcutta has already been asked to keep its expenditure within Rs 140 crore under the SDF this year.

“It is now clear the SDF would be cut drastically throughout the state. The south zone has already been informed about the cut and remaining two zones, North and West, would be intimated soon about the slash,” said a senior government official.

Last year, a sum of Rs 640 crore was allotted to the south zone and there are hints that allotment for two other zones — which also used to get Rs 600-odd crore each —would be cut heavily, said officials.

“The south zone will now only carry out strengthening and patchwork of the stretches that need urgent repairs,” said a source.

The sources said an instruction in the regard had already been sent to the engineers in the districts that fall under the jurisdiction of the south zone.

The sources said the cut in the SDF could deal a blow to the PWD’s plan to widen nearly 1,000km of road across the state and work on at least 20 bridges.

The chief minister had recently told officials during meetings that no new development project could be taken up as the state did not have enough money.

However, Mamata Banerjee has laid stress on maintaining the infrastructure projects set up in the past 10 years.

According to the sources, the state is facing difficulty in approving new infrastructure projects as the government’s revenue generation has been hit badly in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Moreover, the state government would be forced to cough up at least Rs 17,000 crore annually to run Lakshmir Bhandar scheme which is set to be launched from September 1.

“Initially, it had been estimated that a sum of Rs 11,000 crore would be needed to run the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. But as a huge number of women is registering their names for the scheme, the estimated expenditure has been revised to Rs 17,000 crore a year,” said a source.

The additional Rs 6,000 crore is being considered to be huge as the government was yet to generate enough revenue even if Covid-related restrictions were relaxed to some extent.

“We were generating about Rs 2,500 crore monthly between May and July this year. In August, the revenue would increase to some extent but it would be nowhere near the Rs 5,000 crore mark that was used to be generated before the Covid-19 pandemic,” said a source.