During the first meeting of the newly formed West Bengal cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, a decision was made to provide land for barbed fencing along the unfenced border with Bangladesh to the Border Security Force (BSF) within 45 days. This decision, as per CM Adhikari, was part of the BJP’s pre-election Sankalp Patra and endorsed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Another significant decision taken in the cabinet meeting was the initiation of the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme in West Bengal. The previous government led by Mamata Banerjee had not implemented this scheme, citing redundancy due to the state’s own health insurance scheme, ‘Swastha Sathi.’
Furthermore, the cabinet decided to engage West Bengal in various Central schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Krishak Bima Yojana, PM Shree, Vishwakarma, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, and Ujjwala Yojana. District Magistrates have been directed to expedite applications to the Central Ministry.
CM Adhikari assured that ongoing social projects initiated by the previous government would continue without interruption. However, he emphasized that non-Indians or deceased individuals would not be eligible for these benefits. Additionally, West Bengal has now transitioned to the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, from the previous Acts like the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
In the same meeting, it was decided to extend the upper age limit for state government job applications by five years. CM Adhikari highlighted the need for this extension to accommodate educated youths who had surpassed the previous age limit due to the lack of fresh state government recruitments in the past 15 years.
