West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday told bureaucrats from all departments that there would be no compromise on corruption and that prompt service to the people would be the motto of the state’s first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.
The government also issued a series of orders during the day, assigning officers to various departments and implementing key administrative decisions.
After the meeting, Adhikari issued several directives, including scrapping alleged restrictions on potato farmers and ordering immediate removal of illegal toll collection points across the state.
“The Trinamool Congress (TMC) government stopped potato farmers from sending their harvest to other states for sale. I have scrapped this. Officers have been told that potato farmers and small traders should not face any harassment from now on,” Adhikari told the media.
One of today’s orders, a copy of which HT saw, the government said all illegal road checkpoints from where toll tax was collected would be removed immediately.
“All toll gates, drop gates, barricaded structures and operational collection points from which vehicular traffic is operating across all districts in West Bengal, which have not been duly approved/authorised by the competent authority of the government of West Bengal shall be closed with immediate effect,” the order said.
“Any collection of fees, charges, or levies at such unauthorised points shall cease forthwith. A list of all authorised toll collection points along with the authorities collecting the toll and the duration of the tender should be ascertained immediately,” it added.
An officers who attended the meeting, requesting anonymity, said this order would prevent district municipalities and panchayats—most of which the TMC controls—from collecting toll tax from cargo vehicles and even passenger cars at will.
“This became a common practice during the TMC rule and triggered millions of complaints,” the officer said.
A second officer said that Adhikari directed the bureaucracy to follow the rule book.“The chief minister said zero tolerance to corruption and prompt service to the people should be our primary target. He directed us to implement some decisions right away. One of these is to recover the salaries paid to the school teachers whose jobs were scrapped by the Supreme Court in April 2025 in the recruitment corruption case,” the officer said.
“The Supreme Court directed this, but the TMC government, which was accused of recruiting these people in exchange for bribes, did not recover the salaries. The chief minister also said that people involved in legal trade of cattle and other animals should not face any problem,” the officer added.
Police officers who attended the meeting said Adhikari had called the meeting on Monday and that the state issued a set of orders after the closed-door meeting.
“Strict action shall be taken against illegal cattle markets, slaughter houses and illegal mining activities. It should be ensured that licensed and legal activities related to mining and cattle trade are conducted smoothly without any interference by local rowdies,” the order, a copy of which was also seen by HT, said.
“Border meetings shall be conducted regularly for effective coordination. The agenda of such meetings shall include identification of active criminals, border touts, sharing of intelligence inputs and review of follow-up actions taken against them,” the order said.
“The arms and ammunition seized in connection with various cases and kept in the malkhana (armoury) shall be physically verified and matched with the malkhana register of every police station,” it added.
www.hindustantimes.com
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