February 11, 2014
WB CM announces a slew of development projects for North Bengal after the first Cabinet meeting at Uttar Kanya
West Bengal Government had its tryst with history as the first ever Cabinet meeting outside the state capital. After inaugurating the branch secretariat in North Bengal on 20 January, WB CM today chaired a meeting of the West Bengal Government at Uttar Kanya. The meeting was attended by 31 ministers and the principal secretary of the state. Following the meeting, the Chief Minister briefed the press.
We have very less manpower. We will need a little more time to depute the work force here. In spite of that, deployment has already been made in departments like Education, Industry, Backward Class Development, Minority Affairs, Health, Social Welfare, Finance, Labour and CMO. We will also depute an IAS officer here.
I would now like to share some of the important decisions taken at today`s cabinet meeting:
3714 posts have been sanctioned for employment in the State Transport Department. Out of these, 1850 posts are for North Bengal.
We have decided to set up a separate Health Directorate for North Bengal.
- 65 people will be recruited at Jalpaiguri Central Correctional Home.
- The West Dinajpur Spinning Mill in Raiganj will be revived and restructured.
- Buniyadpur Municipality will be set up in South 24 Parganas district.
- We have decided to allot 90 acres of land for NTPC`s thermal power plant in Katwa. Coal will be given to the project from the state`s pull pool resource. 1600 MW of power can be generated from Katwa thermal power plant. 85% of the electricity generated will be for the state.
- The non-formal teachers from 140 madrasahs in the state are being regularised brought under the purview of West Bengal Board of Madrasah Education.
Tomorrow I will be attending a programme of the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad. We will also announce a host of other development initiatives for North Bengal tomorrow.
On 16 February, 52,000 pattas will be distributed at different blocks all over the state. Our Government has already distributed over one lakh pattas. I will kickstart the process of distribution during Mati Utsav on 14 February. Our government has also distributed 23 lakh Kisan Ceredit Cards.
A committee is being formed for the settlement of about 5000 people living in Jaigaigaon. We may go for a long term settlement for those who can afford or go for the Nijo Bhumi Nijo Griho scheme for the economically deprived. The committee will decide on the modalities.
Five Tea gardens in the region – Kathalguri, Red Bank, Surendranagar, Dalmor, Dheklapara – will get ration shops which will sell rice at Rs 2/kg to the poor people. There are around 8-9 crore people in the BPL category in Bengal. Out of these, we are supplying rice at Rs 2/kg to 3.2 crore people despite the fact that the Central Government deducts a large part of our revenue earnings as debt interest.
The Left Front Govt incurred huge debt because of their flawed policies. Now Central Govt is taking away all our revenue as interest. The Central Government had promised to help WB in debt restructuring. Their promises have not yet been fulfilled in 3 years. We have enforced fiscal responsibility and follow strict fiscal discipline. Despite the financial crunch we are working for the people. The people of Hills, Terai, Dooars, Jangalmahal are smiling.
Thank you.
