West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that the Centre’s “huge dues” to the state will not be released till 2024, but asserted she would not beg in front of the Union government for clearance of the amount. ? ?

"We have a lot of dues, which are yet to be released by Delhi. I have heard that funds will not be released till 2024. But, despite that I will not beg in front of them. I will try to move forward with the blessings of people," she said.

The CM was speaking at the inauguration of the ‘Dhanadhanyo’ auditorium, a modern Rs 440-crore indoor facility in the southern part of the city's Alipore area.?

Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have been pressing for the immediate release of dues to the state under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and other centrally sponsored projects.

She had recently taken part in a two-day demonstration here, demanding the central government release the dues.

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had last Saturday said “one crore letters” from the people of Bengal will be sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking clearance of the pending amount. ?

The chief minister also took a dig at the Centre over the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) removing certain chapters from Class 12 history textbooks.

"History is history, we do not have the power or strength to change it. India's history is our asset," Banerjee said.

As part of its "syllabus rationalisation" exercise last year, the NCERT, citing "overlapping" and "irrelevant" as reasons, dropped certain portions from the course including lessons on Gujarat riots, Mughal courts, Emergency, Cold War, Naxalite movement, among others from its textbooks.