KOLKATA: Liquor shops will not be allowed within a one-kilometre radius of schools, colleges and temples in West Bengal, according to an announcement made after an administrative meeting held in Kalyani on Tuesday.
Suvendu Adhikari, new Chief Minister (CM) of the first BJP government in the state, announced after attending a meeting with elected representatives and officials of Hooghly, North 24-Parganas and Nadia. He said the decision would be implemented soon.
“There will be no liquor shops allowed to come up within one kilometre range of schools, colleges and temples across the state. The move will be implemented soon.”
According to administrative officials, the initiative has been taken to maintain a healthy environment around educational institutions and religious places. The Chief Minister also announced several other initiatives during the meeting.
Suvendu also said that forms for the Annapurna Bhandar scheme would be distributed from Wednesday.
“The sooner the forms are uploaded, the benefits will reach the people. Govt to issue forms from May 27 for Annapurna Yojana, under which Rs 3,000 per month will be given to women,” he said.
He also said that a fish-and-rice meal at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 5 would be available at 400 dedicated canteens across the state.
Alongside these announcements, he said that people’s representatives belonging to opposition parties such as Trinamool Congress, CPI-M, Congress and others would also be invited to attend administrative meetings to ensure better coordination between the administration and the Opposition.
During the previous Trinamool Congress rule led by Mamata Banerjee, who used to hold regular administrative meetings in districts, Opposition BJP, CPI-M and others were not invited to such meetings in connection with development works and governance issues.
“Political differences should stay limited till the elections. Throughout the year there should be coordination between the elected representatives and administration. We must work with constructive ideas,” Suvendu said.
He also said that he would invite selected MPs to administrative meetings in the coming days.
Trinamool’s Barasat MP Kakali Ghosh Dastidar and six MLAs from North 24-Parganas attended the meeting.
Citing examples from the previous Trinamool Congress government, the BJP CM said, “For five years, we were not invited to the administrative meetings. We have decided that MLAs from all the parties will be called to the meetings. In the last five years, the block development officers and the officers-in-charge of police stations would not take the calls from our MLAs. This is not healthy.”