After the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal, the first cabinet meeting of the new government of the state is going to be held on Monday. This will be the first important administrative exercise of the BJP government under the leadership of the ninth Chief Minister of the state, Subhendu Adhikari. The meeting will be held at the existing state secretariat Nabanna located at Mandartala in Howrah district.
Why is work starting from Nabanna?
The Nabanna building was originally built as a garments hub during the Left Front rule. But two years after coming to power in 2011, the then Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had decided to shift the state secretariat from Writers Building to Nabanna in 2013. It is said that this decision was taken on the advice of his personal astrologer. After this, the functioning of the State Secretariat started from Nabanna from 5 October 2013.
Work will start from Writers Building
Now after the formation of the BJP government, it has been decided to move the state secretariat back to the historic Writers Building. The Writers’ Building has been an important center of the political and administrative heritage of West Bengal. Before Mamata Banerjee, all the Chief Ministers of the state, from Prafulla Chandra Ghosh to Buddhadev Bhattacharya, had ruled from here.
Shubhendu presided over the first meeting
According to sources, Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari’s day will start at 10:30 am with a meeting with BJP state president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya. After this, the Chief Minister will preside over the first cabinet meeting at 12 noon. In this meeting, the final decision will be taken on the names of additional members of the cabinet and distribution of departments.
After the cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister will also preside over three important administrative meetings. The first meeting will be held with top bureaucrats of the state, which will include the Chief Secretary and secretaries of various departments. The second meeting will be held with all the district magistrates, while the third meeting will be held with senior police officers of the state. This will include Kolkata Police Commissioner, other Police Commissioners and District Superintendent of Police.
How will Shubhendu run his government?
Chief Minister Subhendu Adhikari has already indicated that his government will work on the principle of collective leadership. He has said that he will adopt an administrative model different from the working style of his predecessor Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in which decisions will be taken collectively and the government will work with better coordination between the organization and the administration.