Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari announces Ayushman Bharat, land for BSF rollout
Telegraph | 11 May 2026
Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday announced that the new state government has started the process of handing over land to the Border Security Force for fencing the international border with Bangladesh.
“The chief secretary and the land and land revenue department secretary have been empowered to ensure that the land is handed over to the BSF within 45 days,” Adhikari said after the first meeting of his six-member cabinet at the state secretariat in Howrah.
The incomplete fencing of land with the porous border with Bangladesh was a contentious political issue, a part of the BJP’s poll campaign in the state.
Calcutta High Court in January this year had instructed the state government to hand over land in nine districts for fencing of the borders by March 31.
Adhikari also said the Mamata Banerjee government did not take any action on a letter from the office of the registrar general of India regarding the census.
“The letter was sent on June 16, 2025. The government did not act on it. This was a betrayal with the people of Bengal, the country and the Constitution. The census survey will start in Bengal now,” said Adhikari.
The Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita which replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure will also be implemented in Bengal.
The chief minister announced that central schemes like the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme and Ujjwala 3.0, which provides subsidised domestic LPG to women, will roll out in Bengal from Monday.
Adhikari said the chief secretary and the health secretary will talk to the Union health ministry regarding the modalities of the Centre-sponsored health schemes in the state.
“No welfare scheme that has been running in the state for the last 30 years or 10 years will be shut down,” Adhikari said while talking to the media. “This is not a government of the party, for the party, by the party. We will follow rules and procedures.”
The BJP government has also decided to relax the age limit by five years for applicants to government jobs.
"Since 2015, there has been no recruitment in the state," Adhikari said.