Kolkata, May 18 (IANS) In a major step towards providing a clean and corruption-free administration in the state, the West Bengal government on Monday appointed a set of West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) officers as “executive assistants” to ministers in the newly formed cabinet led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.

The selections were reportedly made from among bureaucrats known for clean, transparent, and politically neutral service records.

The State Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department issued a notification announcing the appointments and directed the officers to assume their new responsibilities at the earliest.

Biswanath Chowdhury, a 2013-batch WBCS officer, has been appointed executive assistant to Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Minister Dilip Ghosh. Chowdhury is currently serving as deputy secretary to the Hooghly Zilla Parishad.

Krishna Chandra Munda, a 2016-batch WBCS officer, has been appointed executive assistant to Backward Classes Development Minister Khudiram Tudu. He is presently posted as deputy magistrate-cum-deputy collector in Bankura district.

Another 2016-batch officer, Kaushik Kumar Maiti, has been appointed executive assistant to Food & Supplies and Cooperation Minister Ashok Kirtaniya. Maiti is currently serving as the district planning officer of South 24 Parganas.

A senior official at Nabanna said that the officers were selected after a review of their service records, with priority given to those known for integrity, transparency and an impartial administrative image.

Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed its first government in West Bengal after Independence, the new administration has initiated wide-ranging changes in the state’s bureaucratic structure.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has already begun reorganising both the Chief Minister’s Office and the state secretariat, with multiple transfers and administrative reshuffles carried out over the past few weeks.

The government has also ended the extended tenure of as many as 243 bureaucrats above the age of 60 who had continued in service during the previous regime led by Mamata Banerjee. In addition, two IAS officers were recently appointed to the Chief Minister’s Office.

–IANS

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