West Bengal Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala on Monday afternoon ordered all department secretaries not to remove or take away any “important file or paper” from the state secretariat Nabanna or other state administration offices in Kolkata.
The circular was issued around 3 pm as soon as it became clear that the BJP was coming to power with a landslide victory, ending the TMC’s 15-year-long rule in the state.
“All Departmental Secretaries and Heads of Offices are requested to ensure that no important paper or any file is removed/damaged, or otherwise taken out from the offices. No unauthorised copying/scanning shall be permitted. Further, all files/important papers/communication shall be properly accounted for,” the order read.
Warning of strict action, the order said, “The Head of Departments and Departmental Secretaries shall personally ensure that this is followed in letter and spirit. Personal responsibility shall be fixed for any instance of deviation.”
Soon after the order was circulated and emailed to all the departments, Central forces were deployed outside the state secretariat Nabanna, as well as other secretariat offices in Bikash Bhavan, Jalasampad Bhavan, New Secretariat buildings, and other important installations of the state administration.
A senior police officer told The Indian Express that the circular was issued by the chief secretary on the orders of Governor R N Ravi.
“The Governor asked the chief secretary to ensure all files and documents of the government are secured. Soon after that, the chief secretary issued the circular and ordered the deployment of Central forces at all government offices. In all government offices, security personnel are frisking all government employees who are going back home after their duties. Since nowadays all files are in digital format, there is minimum chance of files getting destroyed in government offices because all have e-filing footsteps,” the police officer said.
A senior officer of the state administration said that the order was necessary as there is always a possibility of important files getting removed to “hide corruption”.
“A section of administrative officials and political leaders is of the opinion that the outgoing TMC government would try to vanish those files, which could prove detrimental to the TMC leaders,” the senior official said, adding that instead of Central forces, Kolkata Police should be guarding Nabanna.