The Mamata Banerjee government has relaxed its austerity measures that were initiated in the backdrop of pandemic in April to the extent of allowing some departments to start new schemes.

The move, sources said, meant that the chief minister is likely to announce some new schemes ahead of the state polls in 2021 summer.

According to a notification issued by the finance department recently, departments such as PWD, irrigation, PHE, urban development and municipal affairs were allowed to initiate new schemes worth up to Rs 3 crore. All other departments were allowed to start new schemes up to Rs 50 lakh.

“This gives us a hint that the chief minister wants to go ahead with new and pending projects before elections. Pending road, water supply and urban services projects have direct link with the day to day lives of people,” said a senior government official.

The state government had issued a blanket ban on all new projects since April this year citing Covid. The state government’s revenue generation had also dried up significantly in the lockdown.

Now, the state’s own revenue generation has improved and Covid costs have reduced too. “We are generating nearly Rs 3,000 crore a month, almost double of what we did in July-August,” said a senior official.

Initially, the state was spending nearly Rs 1,000 crore a month on Covid-related costs for patients and safety gear for health workers. “In addition, the state was also spending a huge amount to beef up Covid-related infrastructure in hospitals. Now, once infrastructure is ready and the number of active patients fewer, we are spending about Rs 80 crore that includes running safe homes,” said a bureaucrat.

So projects such as restoration and renovation of state highways, repairing of damaged embankments, renovation of Durgapur Barrage, household connections of pipeline-based water supply and solid waste management projects in urban areas are some that the state government has decided to focus on.

“It will be a tough election and we cannot just sit back and let people accuse us for their plights,” a minister said, adding that many projects could not be complete because the Centre did not give funds. “The Centre has not given us Rs 54,000 crore,” he said.

He added they would try to make people understand that the Trinamul-led state government was doing its best despite being “deprived by the Centre”.