Alapan Bandyopadhyay
West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay recalled by Centre hours after row over Modi-Mamata meet
Kolkata/IBNS: West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay has been asked to report to Delhi with the Centre directing the state government to relieve him immediately.
He has been asked to report to Department of Personnel and Training, North Block, New Delhi by the morning of May 31.
The order came hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee skipped the review meeting on Cyclone Yaas with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and instead chose to have a quick 15-minute interaction with him.
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According to the rules, the Mamata Banerjee government has to first relieve the Chief Secretary before he can join the Centre.
Bandyopadhyay, an IAS officer on whom the Chief Minister supposedly relies, was granted an extension for a period of three months, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said Monday.
Mamata Banerjee had written to Modi on May 12, requesting Bandyopadhyay's extension for at least six months citing his experience of handling the COVID-19 pandemic, media reports earlier said.
However, this is not the first time that the Centre has recalled bureaucrats from states. This year, the Centre recalled two IPS officers ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal.
The Department of Personnel and Training, which issued the order today to recall the Bengal Chief Secretary, comes under the Prime Minister's Office or PMO.
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