Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari
Kolkata: In one of Bengal’s biggest hiring drives in recent years, the state cabinet on Wednesday cleared recruitment to 1.5 lakh vacant posts across various govt departments. At a fire department programme on Red Road, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari announced the appointment of 1,400 firefighters. He added that 2,500 more permanent posts in the fire and emergency services department would be created over the next year.
The latest decision pushes the announced recruitment figure well beyond the earlier one-lakh target.
A major share of the vacancies would be in police, with 12,000 posts to be filled in West Bengal Police and 4,000 in Kolkata Police. We will appoint 1,400 fire personnel through the police recruitment board, including 1,000 fire operators, 325 fire engine operator-cum-drivers and 75 sub-officers,” Adhikari said. The cabinet decision comes weeks after the CM promised to fill up by March 31, 2027 over one lakh vacant govt posts, for which recruitment will be conducted through School Service Commission, Public Service Commission and Police Recruitment Board.
Nabanna sources said the appointment process was expected to be completed by the end of this financial year. “Recruitment in the police or fire department cannot be done on a contractual basis, as happened during the previous govt’s tenure.
In July, while addressing a Rojgar Mela, he said the SSC would be restructured on the lines of UPSC, with non-political persons overseeing recruitment. Adhikari has repeatedly highlighted transparency in recruitment as a key part of his govt’s employment agenda. He had also criticised the functioning of recruitment agencies under the previous govt and outlined plans to generate employment through MSMEs, entrepreneurship and skill development.