Suvendu Adhikari has approved a series of key administrative decisions during his first cabinet meeting after assuming office as the chief minister of West Bengal, including the transfer of land to the Border Security Force (BSF) for fencing along the Bangladesh border.
According to the new chief minister, the process of handing over the required land to the BSF will begin immediately and is expected to be completed within 45 days. He said the move was necessary in view of changing demographic patterns in several border districts of the state.
Suvendu Adhikari stated that the state’s chief secretary and the land and land revenue department had been instructed to expedite the transfer process to facilitate the construction of border fencing.
The cabinet meeting, attended by the five ministers sworn in alongside him, also approved the immediate implementation of the Census exercise in the state.
The chief minister criticised the previous All India Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee, alleging that it delayed the Census process despite receiving directives from the Union government.
He further claimed that the previous administration had failed to officially implement the new criminal laws under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, which replaced the IPC and CrPC. The cabinet has now approved the formal enforcement of the new legal framework in the state.
Among other decisions, the government approved a proposal to extend the upper age limit for school job applicants by five years, fulfilling a promise reportedly made by Amit Shah during the election campaign.
The cabinet also empowered the chief secretary to initiate training programmes under the central government for officers serving in national and state cadres.
