Suvendu-cabinet Okays Top BJP Manifesto Promises' Roll-out in WB
On the land transfer to BSF, Mr Adhikari said, “The chief secretary and the land and land revenue department secretary have been tasked to oversee and expedite the process.”
Kolkata: In the first cabinet meeting of the first BJP government in West Bengal, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday took several key decisions, including many from the party's Assembly Election manifesto, with five other ministers at the state secretariat, Nabanna, for roll-out.
These are transfer of around 600 acres of and to the Border Security Force (BSF) in the next 45 days for fencing the India-Bangladesh border to stop infiltration and smuggling, implementation of various key central government public welfare schemes including Aayushman Bharat, IAS, IPS and West Bengal Civil Service officers' training at central government institutions, five-year exemption for applicants for state government jobs, removal of embargo on the Census work and enforcement of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
On the land transfer to BSF, Mr Adhikari said, “The chief secretary and the land and land revenue department secretary have been tasked to oversee and expedite the process.” Sharing details about the Census work, he added, “We have issued an administrative order for the commencement of the census operations today. This initiative is finally being implemented after a delay of eleven months since the previous government didn't want it to happen and went to challenge the very Constitution of the country.”
The new CM pointed out, “On June 16 last year, the ministry of home affairs, the office of the registrar general of India issued a notification. It has now been nearly a year since that date. These individuals had deliberately stalled the Census work. Their sole objective in holding up the Census was to obstruct the efforts undertaken by the Prime Minister to implement delimitation and thereby provide reservations specifically for women. We will constitute a fact-finding committee to investigate it thoroughly."
Other steps included appreciation roles of the Election Commission, central forces, poll observers and West Bengal and Kolkata Police and tribute to slain 321 BJP workers and welfare responsibility of the victims’ kin by the new government. Mr Adhikari assured none of the ongoing social welfare projects, launched by the previous Trinamul Congress government, would be stopped.
The most popular among them is Lakshmir Bhandar, a brainchild of former CM Mamata Banerjee. The new CM also approved the start of Annapurna Bhandar, under which BJP pledged a monthly assistance of ₹3000 to a female member of each family to counter Lakshmir Bhandar, and free ride for women in government buses from June 1.
Asked about other promises like women safety and clearance of pending dearness allowance on the Supreme Court orders and the seventh pay commission implementation for the state government employees, Mr Adhikari said that these issues would be discussed at the next cabinet meeting which will be held on May 18. He also deputed two state ministers, Dilip Ghosh and Agnimitra Paul, for the cabinet briefing to the media from next time.
Entering Nabanna for the first time as a CM earlier in the day after meeting state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya in Salt Lake, Mr Adhikari received a guard of honour by the Kolkata Police ahead of his cabinet meeting. He later met all the BJP MLA designates and departmental secretaries to discuss coordination among them.