KOLKATA: The West Bengal cabinet on Monday, October 5, approved recruitment to 14,454 government posts and a scheme giving ₹50,000 over three years to unmarried women in higher education, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said.
"We had promised to provide one lakh government jobs in the state, and we are moving towards that goal," Adhikari said, according to ThePrint.
The vacancies are spread across departments including forests, fire services, prisons, and home and hill affairs. Recruitment is to be completed within six to eight months, with the examinations and hiring handled by the West Bengal Public Service Commission and the State Police Recruitment Board, ThePrint, Indian Masterminds and APAC News Network reported.
"The PSC is now working at full strength to complete all pending recruitment processes," Adhikari said, according to Earth News. Recruitment notifications are expected soon, Adda247 reported.
Separately, appointment formalities for about 12,000 police posts will take place on October 11, when about 5,000 candidates are to receive appointment letters at a programme, ThePrint and Indian Masterminds reported. Adda247 reported that all 12,000 newly recruited constables would receive their letters that day.
Under the Bhagini Nivedita scheme, unmarried women pursuing higher education will receive ₹17,000 in the first year, ₹17,000 in the second and ₹16,000 in the third, a total of ₹50,000. The scheme takes effect in January 2027. The reports did not set out other eligibility conditions, such as family income or the courses covered.
The monthly pay of Karmabandhus, contractual sanitation workers engaged under the land and land revenue department, rises from ₹5,000 to ₹8,000 from this month. Earth News described them as part-time sanitation workers, and ThePrint as part-time support staff. The monthly food allowance for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students in hostels goes up from ₹1,800 to ₹3,300.
The state will launch 112 as its emergency response number for the police on October 10, and distribute 400 vehicles and 450 motorcycles to police stations, ThePrint and APAC reported. It is also staging a cultural programme at Eden Gardens on Mahalaya with a display of about 3,000 drones, according to Indian Masterminds and APAC.
The government has already set rules for this year's Durga Puja. At a preparatory meeting in September, Adhikari said DJs could not be played during the puja or at immersion processions, and declared Maha Ashtami a dry day across the state, with liquor shops and bars closed, NewKerala reported. The government will give awards for the best idol, pandal, eco-friendly puja, crowd management, pandal art and sculptor, judged by an independent panel.
State government offices will be closed for 12 days, from October 15 to October 26, and reopen on October 27, Asianet Newsable reported in August. The festival runs from Maha Chaturthi on October 15 to Bijoya Dashami on October 21, followed by extra holidays from October 22 to 24 and Kojagari Lakshmi Puja on October 26. Mahalaya, when the Eden Gardens programme is held, falls on October 10.
Adhikari became Chief Minister on May 9, 2026, the first from the BJP in the state, after the party won the 2026 Assembly election and ended the Trinamool Congress's 15 years in power under Mamata Banerjee. The recruitment decision came a day after Adhikari said his government would bring a Uniform Civil Code to the state within six months.
The reports did not say how many of the one lakh jobs the government promised have been filled so far.
