British MPs showed 'keen interest' in Bengal girl child scheme: Mamata

Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said a delegation of British parliamentarians have expressed a "keen interest" in the state government's 'Kanyashree' scheme for girls and other developmental projects.

"Today (Tuesday), I received a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Delegation of eight MPs of the United Kingdom representing various political parties and officials led by Baroness D'Souza CMG, Lord Speaker, at state secretariat Nabanna.

"We had a very useful discussion on wide range of topics," Banerjee said in a post on her Facebook page.

The Trinamool Congress supremo said the delegates were apprised on initiatives pertaining to women's empowerment in the state.

"They wanted to know about the priorities of the state government like empowerment of women, paid maternity leave for women employees, reservation of seats for women in local bodies and urban and rural development initiatives.

"The delegation expressed keen interest about our 'Kanyashree' scheme. I am so happy that 'Kanyashree' scheme for our girl child has evoked so much of interest all over the world. They also wanted to know about the constraints we face in carrying out development work.

"I mentioned to them about the legacy of huge debt left over by the previous government and our repayment burden as the major hurdle to development work and how hard we are working to overcome this obstacle," she added.