CM bats for creation of more dists to accelerate dev work
kolkata: In a clear indication that more districts will be created in Bengal which will require more WBCS (West Bengal Civil Service) officers, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a slew of sops for them.
She termed the state civil officers as the "real face of the government" and alleged that the non-availability of officers, including IAS, was preventing the state government from creating more districts that would help to expedite development work.
"We have 23 districts and as the majority of our districts are vast we can soon have 46 of them," said Banerjee.
"But, if we bifurcate the existing districts to carve out new ones, we need additional bureaucrats that we don't have. We have already written to the Centre for increasing the number of IAS officers and a committee has been set up under chief secretary H K Dwivedi to create more WBCS posts. This will help expedite development work," Banerjee said addressing the Annual General Meeting of WBCS (Executive) Officers' Association, 2022 at the renovated Town Hall on Thursday. Citing the example of Bihar, Banerjee said the state has 50-60 districts.
Banerjee said that her government has increased the number of WBCS officers and presently it stands at 350, compared to 163 in 2011. For IAS officers, the strength was 314 before the Mamata Banerjee government came to power which has been raised to 359 in 2011 and then again to 378 in 2016. "But this strength is very low compared to requirements as a result of which new districts cannot be set up," she maintained. Applauding the good work of WBCS officers, Banerjee said that her government always provides special priority as they are the officers of the state. She openly appreciated the performance of three such officers who are District Magistrates (DMs) of Purulia, Birbhum and East Midnapore.
She announced enhancement of their special allowance making it at par with that received by the IAS officers. Deliberating upon the disparity in allowance between the WBCS and IAS officers, she pointed out that the IAS officers at DM-level get Rs 3000, ADM Rs 2500 and SDO Rs 2000. On the other hand, the allowance for WBCS officers at DM-level is Rs 1300 and ADM and SDO it is Rs 1200 and Rs 1100 respectively. "Now onwards, WBCS officers at this level will get the same allowance as the IAS officers. There should not be any discrimination between them. I request both IAS and WBCS officers to work together," she said.
She further announced an allowance of Rs 10,000 per month for officers who had reached the highest scale of their pay structure even though there are more years of service remaining for them. "This will ensure that there is no stagnation in their career," she said.
She also announced a mandatory annual health check-up facility for WBCS officers. This facility was available only for IAS and IPS officers.
Reiterating that career advancements of WBCS officers have received special attention under her government, she said that earlier, WBCS (Exe) officers were promoted to the post of deputy secretary after 16 years of service but now this has been reduced to eight years. Similarly, promotion to the post of joint secretary is after 18 years and to the posts of an additional and special secretary are 20 and 22 years of service respectively.
"From now on WBCS officers who are senior most special secretaries and have worked in that position for two years can be made secretary to that department," she said.
