With an eye on the coming rural polls, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to replace panchayat affairs and rural development minister Chandranath Sinha by Subrata Mukherjee. Mr Sinha will be given the minister of statistics and programme implementation department.
Announcing this on Monday evening, Ms Banerjee said, “In addition to the public health engineering department, Subrata Mukherjee will also take charge of the panchayat affairs and rural development department. Mr Sinha will look after the statistics and programme implementation, a new department which is being created by carving out the development and planning department. The government of India had recommended the formation of the statistics and programme implementation department separately but the earlier government did not implement it.”
The state government has sent its recommendation about the changes in portfolio to the governor for his assent.
In July, the chief minister had relieved Rabindranath Bhattachar-jee of state education portfolio and handed it over to higher education minister Bratya Basu.
Mr Bhattacharjee is now the state agriculture minister.
Though the chief minister refused to term the changes of portfolio as a reshuffle, sources in the Writers’ Buildings said it was a major development. According to a state Cabinet minister, the chief minister was not at all happy with the performance of the state panchayat affairs and rural development department and its minister. “The panchayat department is crucial in implementing the developmental projects in rural Bengal. This department is the nodal department for providing the 100-day job programme as well as for the commissioning of projects under the BRGF (Backward Region Grants Fund). But, as far as the 100-day job programme is concerned, the performance of our state is very poor,” the minister added.
The panchayat affairs and rural development department also handles most of the Central funds sanctioned for the development works in rural areas. The state government feared that most of those funds will be returned unutilised.