Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha on Friday said the state had received “inappreciable” funds from Delhi during the battle against Covid-19 though the chief minister had written two letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to clear the state’s dues under various heads.

“We received some funds for cyclone Bulbul and some funds for disaster management. I will share the details of the amount (we received) tomorrow (Saturday). The state has a due of about Rs 50,000 crore... But we received inappreciable amount of funds compared to our dues,” said the chief secretary during a news conference at Nabanna on Friday.

Sinha mentioned that the state was yet to get a handsome amount of GST compensation, devolution of central taxes and under the head of centrally sponsored schemes. He made it clear that the state was depending heavily on the dues to fight against the spread of Covid in the state.

“The Centre is running short of revenues, so do we. But still, if the centre clears our dues as early as possible, we will be able to fight against Covid properly,” said the chief secretary.

Earlier, the chief minister had written two letters to Prime Minister saying Bengal was yet to get Rs 11,000 crore under the devolution of central taxes in addition to a sum of Rs 36,000 under various central schemes.

The chief secretary, sources said, pointed out the issue again as the state was struggling to meet the huge expenses for battling the spread of Covid-19. “Revenue generation has come to almost nil in the past two months due to the lockdown. In such a situation, it is getting tough to spend on the infrastructure to battle the spread of the disease,” said a source.

Initially, the state had set up a fund of Rs 200 crore to fight the spread of coronavirus. But the funds proved to be too meagre as the state had to spend on developing infrastructure in the hospitals, buying safety kits for health professionals, setting up quarantine centres and setting up several other facilities like community kitchens to provide food to workers from other states during the lockdown.

“As assistance from the centre is almost nil, the entire burden is on the struggling state exchequers. If the central aid does not come soon, it would be tough for the state to continue the battle,” said a finance department official.

The state government, however, has done its bit by going for an austerity drive to ensure flow of funds to meet the requirements for fighting Covid.

“All projects are stalled. Payments through the treasuries have been restricted. Despite all these, it is getting tough for the state to shoulder the burden alone,” said a finance department official.

Sources said that the chief minister had also urged Delhi to grant a sum of Rs 25,000 crore urgently to carry on the battle against the spread of Covid. “But we are yet to get any grant so far. The centre should consider the state of finances of the states during the crisis,” said an official.