Bengal: Suvendu Adhikari questions contractual recruitment in home dept

Kolkata, March 20 (IANS) The leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday questioned the state government's decision to appoint contractual staff to the sensitive home department, which comes under the direct control of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Recently, the state government had issued a notification for the appointment of five consultants and five junior consultants on contract to the Department of Home and Hill Affairs.

The monthly remuneration for such consultants was mentioned as Rs 1,25,000, while the same for junior consultants as Rs 75,000. In both the cases, the tenure of employment was fixed at a minimum of two years subject to possible renewal based on performance review.

Adhikari on Monday questioned the security aspect in recruiting contractual staff considering the sensitivity of the department, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

"Given the sensitive nature of the CMO and its dealings, it is a matter of grave concern that corporate recruits other than permanent government staff will be handling such highly sensitive data," Adhikari said.

The BJP leader also questioned why the state government is going for contractual employment for such a sensitive department by bypassing the West Bengal Public Service Commission (WBPSC), and that too at a time when several posts for permanent government staff are lying vacant in the same department.

In the same notification, the state government had said that it would recruit 10 contractual data entry operators for the Department of Information Technology and Electronics, whose monthly remuneration was mentioned at Rs 25,000.

In this case, as pointed out by Adhikari, the state government is offering pay scales which are substantially higher than that for equivalent posts.

According to Adhikari, state government undertaking Webel Technology Limited had recruited over 2,900 similar contractual data entry operators for various departments across the state at a fixed salary of Rs 13,000.

"I demand that Rs 25,000 should be paid to all such contractual data entry operators in different departments throughout the state," Adhikari said.

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