West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced a target of completing one lakh government recruitments by May 8, 2027, beginning with the appointment of 11,000 police personnel ahead of Durga Puja. The announcement was made at the inauguration of the Ozen Hotel near Akankha Crossing in Kolkata’s New Town.
Adhikari said the 11,000 appointment letters represented the first stage of the wider recruitment plan. “I took oath on May 9, 2026. By May 8, 2027, there will be one lakh recruitments. The distribution of 11,000 appointment letters today marks the beginning of that process,” he said, according to The Statesman.
The chief minister said recruitment would be conducted without political involvement, including at the level of recruitment committees. He said appointment letters would be issued to qualified candidates and that the process would be based on merit.
The police appointments follow what Adhikari described as a deadlock involving Other Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections reservations. “There was a deadlock over OBC and EWS. We have removed that deadlock, and that is why these young people have now been appointed on the basis of merit,” he said.
Adhikari linked the recruitment plan to a wider police-capacity gap in West Bengal. He claimed that the state had 105 police personnel per one lakh people, compared with an all-India figure of 155 and 200 in Uttar Pradesh. He said West Bengal had become excessively dependent on civic volunteers and that the government was working to move away from that situation.
The figures cited at the event were not accompanied in the supplied report by details of the methodology, sanctioned strength, vacancies or the source used for the state and national comparisons. The announcement therefore establishes the government’s stated recruitment target and the first tranche of appointments, but does not by itself confirm how the remaining recruitments will be distributed across departments or when each stage will be completed.
The chief minister also said recruitment through the Public Service Commission, the Staff Selection Commission and other government agencies would be conducted without political interference. He promised that, during the remaining four-and-a-half years of the government’s term, the recruitment process would be based on merit and would not force candidates to approach the courts.
The announcement places recruitment administration alongside employment and public-safety concerns. For the police system, the immediate operational issue is how the 11,000 appointments will translate into additional staffing and reduce dependence on civic volunteers. For applicants, the key pending details include recruitment calendars, eligibility conditions, department-wise targets and the process for filling the remaining vacancies.
Adhikari also announced that a Rs 6,000-crore investment at Haldia Petrochemicals would be inaugurated on October 14, linking employment generation with the state’s development programme. The next stated milestone for the recruitment plan is the continuation of appointments towards the government’s target of one lakh recruitments by May 8, 2027.
