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At least 61 IAS and 145 WBCS (Executive) officers were transferred by the Personnel and Administrative Reforms (P&AR) of the West Bengal government, making it one of the biggest transfers in one go in recent times.
The reshuffle included 10 district magistrates, several special secretary level officers, several officers on special duty (OSDs) and a group of ADMs and SDOs from both IAS and WBCS cadres.
The MD of Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), the Municipal Commissioner of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the CEO of Haldia Development Authority are also included in the list of those transferred.
The list of transferred DMs includes North and South 24 Parganas, Cooch Behar, Murshidabad, Purulia, Darjeeling, Malda, Birbhum, Jhargram and Purba Medinipur districts.
An official said the personnel concerned are expected to play nodal roles in the upcoming SIR exercise, and it would be untenable for the state government to make further changes to the schedule once the Election Commission announces it.
While the political opposition in the state alleged that the move was an attempt by the Mamata Banerjee administration to sabotage the upcoming SIR exercise, the ruling TMC termed the notifications merely “routine”.
BJP leader Sajal Ghosh alleged, “After the successful completion of this process and the names of a large number of fake voters being removed from the voter list, Mamata Banerjee is feeling troubled for her party.” Therefore, she is making every effort to disrupt the process by making such massive transfers at the last minute.
Rejecting the allegation, TMC IT cell chief Debangshu Bhattacharya said the BJP was “grabbing at straws” to make baseless allegations.
“Such transfers happen as a regular measure throughout the year in the government. There is no reason why anyone should draw a link between this and the SIR announcement. This is protest for protest’s sake,” he said.