West Bengal Panchayat Election 2023: Ahead of panchayat polls in the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took charge of the Minority Affairs department on Monday. As per a senior official, the panchayat polls are likely to begin in a couple of months. With this, Mohammed Ghulam Rabbani, in charge of the department, was shifted to the Horticulture department.
Decision was taken at a cabinet meeting
The decision to this effect was taken at a cabinet meeting held during the day. Banerjee will be assisted by Tajmul Hossain, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles. He was also named as the MoS for the Minority Affairs department, he said.
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Separate development boards for minorities and migrant labourers
The cabinet also gave a nod for the creation of separate development boards for minorities and migrant labourers. "Earlier, there was a finance corporation for minorities. On Monday, the CM decided to create a Minority Development Board and a Migrant Labour Development Board," he said.
The Minority Development Board will report to the Minority Affairs department, the state Law department will oversee the Migrant
Labour Development Board, the official said. Law Minister Moloy Ghatak was made the chairman of the Minority Development Board, he said, adding that nobody was chosen to look after the Minority Development Board so far.
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Bonus to employees
The state decided to grant its employees a maximum of Rs 53,000 as an ad hoc bonus from the next financial year. It also decided to hike the festival allowance from Rs 14,000 to a maximum of Rs 16,000, the official added.
(with inputs from PTI)
