Major bureaucratic reshuffle in West Bengal

Kolkata: Hours ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) announcement by the Election Commission of India, a major bureaucratic reshuffle was ordered by the West Bengal government on Monday, transferring around 500 civil service officials, including 67 IAS, 14 district magistrates and a huge number of WBCS (Executive ) officers and other senior officials.

With the reshuffle, 14 districts will receive new DMs, with the most significant districts being North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Cooch Behar, Murshidabad, Purulia, Darjeeling, Malda, Birbhum, Jhargram, and East Midnapore.

The transfer of the officials just hours before the SIR announcement is significant as the whole set of officials is likely to make a certain impact as SIR starts tomorrow.

While the move was described by the state administration as a routine one, the senior officials said the timing was strategic and has never been seen before. The transfer of so many IAS officers, especially 14 DMs, and 500 plus officials seems to be a development which is rare, a senior officer said.

Incidentally, this major bureaucratic reshuffle was announced by the state's Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department in the afternoon, just hours before Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar held a press conference in New Delhi and announced the pan-India SIR for 12 states, including poll-bound West Bengal, and UTs.

Meanwhile, BJP West Bengal has filed a complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner regarding the "gross violation" over the bureaucratic reshuffle in the state ordered by the state government, post the SIR announcement. The BJP demanded "immediate annulment" of the irregular transfers done without the EC approval.