West Bengal central projects are set to receive closer administrative monitoring after Nabanna directed secretaries handling them to travel to Delhi at least once a month and meet officials of the concerned Union ministries, according to a report by Sangbad Pratidin – Kolkata published on October 30.
The reported instruction is intended to address delays linked to project approvals, fund releases and technical clearances. Secretaries have also been asked to carry progress reports on projects already under implementation and take up unresolved issues directly with officials in Delhi, the report said.
The move places responsibility for inter-government coordination on the state departments managing projects involving the Centre. Instead of relying only on letters or emails, officials will be expected to maintain regular contact with the relevant ministries and identify where individual proposals or implementation decisions are pending.
According to the report, the direction follows concerns within the administration that several projects have remained stalled because of complications involving approval, allocation of funds and technical permissions. It did not identify the projects affected, specify the amounts pending or provide a timeline for the completion of individual schemes.
An unnamed senior administrative official was quoted as saying that the state government wants departments to work jointly with the Centre on central projects and matters involving central agencies. The official said that sending correspondence could not be treated as the end of the department’s responsibility and that officers should speak directly to the relevant authorities when required.
The report attributed the new approach to Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari and described it as an effort to improve coordination between the state and Union governments. It also said that officials would have to determine what obstacle was affecting each project, whether an approval was pending, and what was required to obtain funding or technical clearance.
For residents, the practical effect will depend on which projects are covered by the instruction and whether the administrative follow-up results in approvals, releases and construction activity on the ground. The report did not provide a consolidated list of schemes or quantify the number of projects currently delayed.
The directive reflects an administrative shift from routine written communication towards scheduled, face-to-face coordination between state secretaries and Union ministry officials. The immediate next step will be for the concerned departments to prepare project-wise reports and raise pending matters during their meetings in Delhi. No separate implementation deadline or formal order was cited in the report.
