The West Bengal Cabinet has approved 45,185 new government recruitments across departments, including 33,899 posts in school education, while also sanctioning a one-time festive support package for 19,529 workers linked to closed tea gardens in north Bengal.
The decisions were taken at a special Cabinet meeting at Nabanna on Wednesday evening. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the recruitment process would begin shortly.
According to the announcement, the school education department will account for the largest share of the recruitment drive, with posts for teachers, headmasters and headmistresses. A further 7,119 posts will be filled through the state panchayat department. The remaining 4,167 posts are planned for departments including the police and skill development.
The scale and distribution of the recruitment are significant for the state’s public-service system because the posts cover both frontline service delivery and local administration. However, the Cabinet announcement did not provide a detailed recruitment calendar, department-wise vacancy notification or information on the examination and selection process.
The government also approved a one-time Durga Puja package for workers associated with 21 tea gardens in north Bengal that have remained closed since 2021. The package includes Rs 5,000 and 50 kg of rice for each identified worker. The Chief Minister said 19,529 workers had been identified for the benefit.
The rice allocation will be provided in addition to the 35 kg of rice that each family receives every month, according to the statement. The government said it was also working towards reopening the closed tea gardens, although no reopening schedule was announced at the Cabinet meeting.
For workers in operating tea gardens, the government said the bonus had been increased from 16 per cent last year to 20 per cent this year. The Chief Minister also referred to the Prime Minister Cha Sramik Yojana and said Rs 312 crore had been approved for infrastructure for tea workers and tea gardens. The report did not specify the projects covered by this infrastructure allocation or the agencies responsible for implementing them.
The decisions combine a large public recruitment announcement with targeted support for a vulnerable plantation workforce. For the recruitment programme, the next concrete step will be the release of department-wise notifications and details of the selection process. For tea-garden workers, the immediate milestone is the distribution of the approved festive package before Durga Puja, while the government’s stated effort to reopen the closed gardens remains without a disclosed timeline.
