Kolkata: Bengal govt has initiated a detailed review of contractual appointments made across various departments over the past 15 years, seeking to ascertain whether recruitment procedures and financial regulations were followed during the previous Trinamool regime.The state administration has started collecting department-wise details of contractual employees, including the number of appointments made. The immediate focus is on contractual Group D employees.The irrigation and waterways department has already written to superintending engineers of all its circles, seeking details in a prescribed format. Officials have been asked to submit the relevant information, along with supporting documents, by Nov 6.According to Nabanna sources, the contractual work force expanded significantly during the previous regime. In 2012, the fire and emergency services department had sanctioned 1,692 contractual employees. In 2013, approval was given for 1.3 lakh civic police personnel to assist the police.By 2024, the combined strength of civic volunteers, village police and Green Police personnel had crossed 1.15 lakh. According to the 2024 state budget, there were around 50,000 contractual Group C and Group D employees. The overall number of contractual workers in the state is now estimated at around five lakh.Manoj Chakraborty, chief adviser to the All India Contractual Employees Association, said: “The number of contractual employees has gradually increased and continues to rise, even though lakhs of permanent posts remain vacant. Such large-scale contractual recruitment as a substitute for permanent appointments has put an additional burden on the state’s finances and raised questions about transparency.”However, he cautioned that the ongoing verification exercise should not result in harassment of current employees.
