Mamata Bats For Adding 200 Seats In WBCS, Seeks Creation Of More Districts In Bengal

Mamata Banerjee said there was a need to create more districts in the state for expediting development work.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a meeting in Kolkata on Thursday

New Delhi: Citing acute crunch of bureaucrats in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said a committee had been formed under the chief secretary and more than 200 seats would be added to the West Bengal Civil Service, ANI reported. Speaking at a meeting with West Bengal Civil Service officers at the renovated Town Hall in Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee said there was a need to create more districts in the state for expediting development work.

"A committee has been formed under the chief secretary, I asked them to increase more than 200 seats in WBCS. Our state police will get the priority. West Bengal will have more districts from existing 23," ANI quoted Mamata Banerjee as saying.

A committee has been formed under the Chief Secretary, I asked them to increase more than 200 seats in WBCS. Our state police will get the priority. West Bengal will have more districts from existing 23: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/l4wzpoDiCD

— ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2022

At the meeting, Banerjee said the area of the existing 23 districts in the state was vast and there was a need to divide them and increase the number. "The state needs more manpower and infrastructure for this purpose. We need to divide the districts as these are very large. The state will have more districts. This will help expedite development work," PTI quoted Banerjee as saying.

Last month, the West Bengal government had requested the Centre to raise the allotment of IAS and IPS officers since the state administration aims to raise the number of districts, according to the PTI report.

In this regard, state industry minister Partha Chatterjee also pointed out that certain neighbouring states smaller than West Bengal had more IAS and IPS officers compared to Bengal.

In this direction, the state Cabinet also approved a proposal to constitute a panel of officials to recruit more West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) and Police Service (WBPS) officers to run the administration more efficiently, said Chatterjee.

Chatterjee informed that the CM had asked the chief secretary to write a letter to the USPC to increase the allotment of fresh IAS and IPS cadres for West Bengal.

The Cabinet also decided to fill up 11,551 vacancies in the health department with contractual temporary workers primarily for infrastructure development in urban and rural areas, Chatterjee said.