Suvendu Adhikari focusses on implementing BJP poll manifesto in first cabinet meeting

Kolkata: The new Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal on Monday decided to expedite the process of transferring to the Border Security Force the land required to complete erecting the barbed wire fence along the stretch of the India-Bangladesh border in the state, so that illegal migration from the neighbouring country could be curbed.

The first meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, empowered the state’s chief secretary and the secretary of the Department of Land and Land Reform to complete the process of transferring the land to the BSF within the next 45 days. The new government also decided to implement the ‘Annapurna Bhandar’ scheme from June 1 to provide financial assistance to women, a scheme modelled on the ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme of the erstwhile government of Mamata Banerjee, albeit with a higher payout.

The new BJP government of the state also decided to relax the upper age limit for candidates appearing for recruitment examinations for government jobs by five years, from the existing cap of 40 years to 45 years for the general category applicants and from the existing cap of 43 years to 48 years for the applicants of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

Adhikari and his cabinet colleagues – Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nishith Pramanik – held the first meeting, which focused mostly on implementing the promises made by the BJP ahead of the just-concluded assembly polls that saw the saffron party having a landslide victory, bringing the 15-year-long rule of the Trinamool Congress to an end.

Ghosh was given the responsibility of rural development, panchayats, and animal resources development, as Adhikari distributed the portfolios to his colleagues on the first working day of the new government, which took over on Saturday.

Pramanik was entrusted with North Bengal development and sports and youth services, while Paul got women and child development, social welfare and municipal affairs. Kirtania was assigned food and civil supplies, while Tudu was entrusted with the welfare of the tribal communities and backward classes, minority affairs and madrasa education.

The five ministers had taken the oath, along with Adhikari, on Saturday.

The BJP, ahead of the polls, projected illegal migration of Muslims from Bangladesh to India, and the alleged role of the then TMC government led by Mamata Banerjee in helping the ‘ghuspetiyas’ (infiltrators) settle in West Bengal, as a threat – not only to the Hindus but also to national security. The BJP accused the then TMC government of deliberately delaying the transfer of land to the BSF for erecting the barbed wire fences.

Nearly 569 km of about 2216-kilometres long stretch of the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal remained unfenced, and the BJP laid the blame on the erstwhile TMC government.

Adhikari alleged that he had come to know during his stint as the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly since 2021 till recently that some 90% land required to complete the border fencing exercise had already been acquired but not transferred to the BSF by the erstwhile TMC government. He told journalists that he would go through the records to find out the details.

The age limit relaxation for the government job aspirants was also a poll promise of the BJP in view of the demand of thousands of school teachers and non-teaching employees, who had lost jobs due to an order of the Supreme Court in a case regarding the large-scale recruitment scam.

The state cabinet also decided to implement several schemes of the central government, like Ayushman Bharat, PM Jan Arogya Yojna, PM Fasal Bima Yojna, PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI), PM Viswakarma scheme, Adhikari said, alleging that the previous government had not allowed the rollout of the schemes in the state. The Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme for women's education and empowerment, and the Ujwala 3.0 scheme for subsidised cooking gas connections would also be implemented in the state, he said.

Adhikari alleged that while the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) had replaced the Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, respectively, in most of the states, they were not officially brought into force in West Bengal.

“We were surprised to learn about the violation of the Constitution. The cabinet has cleared the implementation of the BNS and BNSS in the state with immediate effect,” said the new chief minister.