Guwahati: The West Bengal Cabinet, under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, is scheduled to hold its first meeting on Monday at 11 am at the state secretariat, Nabanna.
According to sources, the allocation of portfolios for the five newly sworn-in ministers -Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Nisith Pramanik, Kshudiram Tudu and Ashok Kirtania will also be announced.
Adhikari, who spent Sunday in his hometown Contai in Purba Medinipur district, is also set to meet senior police officials, including district superintendents and officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), at Nabanna.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand told reporters after his visit to Nabanna that security arrangements were reviewed on Sunday and a meeting with the chief minister is scheduled for 5 pm.
The meeting between the chief minister and senior police officers is expected to take place against the backdrop of alleged post-poll violence in the state, including the killing of Adhikari’s personal secretary, Chandranath Rath, on the outskirts of Kolkata on May 6.
Sources said a major reshuffle of IAS and IPS officers is also likely. A senior BJP leader noted that before the Assembly elections, the Election Commission had transferred several administrative and police officers. However, the government is yet to decide how many of those officials will be brought back to key positions and how many will continue in less significant roles.
In the meantime, the new BJP-led government has appointed two IAS officers and seven West Bengal Civil Services (Executive) officers to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
A government notification stated that P. Promoth, presently joint secretary in the MSME and Textiles Department and Navneet Mittal, ADM of Paschim Medinipur have been appointed as joint secretaries in the CMO with immediate effect.
The seven WBCS (Executive) officers have been posted as senior deputy secretaries in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
Officials from departments like Housing, Fisheries, and Land Reforms, along with several district administrations, are among those reassigned in the reshuffle.
The new government had earlier, on Saturday, transferred 16 officers who were serving in the CMO during Mamata Banerjee’s tenure as chief minister. Retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta was appointed adviser to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari soon after his swearing-in, while Shantanu Bala was named the chief minister’s private secretary.
Adhikari, who returned to Kolkata on Sunday evening, is expected to shift to a state-run guest house in Alipore, according to a senior official. The government facility, ‘Soujanya’, located on Judges Court Road in south Kolkata, was constructed in 2018 to accommodate VVIPs and state guests. Until now, he had been staying at an apartment in the Chinar Park area on the city’s northern outskirts during his Kolkata visits. Officials said the date of his official relocation has not yet been decided.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Dilip Ghosh, who attended a fish festival at Amherst Street in Kolkata with party MLA Tapas Roy, said the government had only just been formed and ministers were yet to take charge of departments. He added that responsibilities would be assigned soon and work would begin thereafter.
In Bankura, Cabinet Minister Kshudiram Tudu said action would be taken against fake SC and ST certificates, calling it a priority for the government.