Restoring law and order in Bengal

Tanmay Mondal
IIM graduate, Batch of 2014


After coming to power, the biggest challenge of the incumbent government was to restore the law and order situation in the Jangalmahal area and North Bengal. Another challenge before the Government was to put an end to political clashes. In all these sectors, the West Bengal Government has performed exceedingly well. Satisfied over the law and order situation in the State, even the Central government has started withdrawing para-military forces from West Bengal.


Darjeeling and Jangalmahal are smiling:

• Peace prevails in Darjeeling and Jangalmahal
• The Union Government and the National Security Council have suggested that Jangalmahal in Bengal should be used as a model for other states to counter Left-wing extremism
• Gorkhaland Territorial Agreement has been enforced after a tripartite agreement


Commissionarates: 5 commissionarates have been formed in Asansol, Durgapur, Howrah, Bidhannagar, Barrackpore and Siliguri.

Courts: In order to ensure speedy trials and to bring the cases of oppression of women to justice, 88 new fast-track courts, 45 courts for women, 19 Human Rights courts and 3 CBI courts have either been set up or notified.


New Police stations:

• 20 police stations for women have been set up

• During the tenure of the present government, 26 police stations have already been formed in both Kolkata and West Bengal.

• Very recently, five new police stations have been formed in Kolkata Police area. These are Sarsuna, Panchasayar, Netajinagar, Anandapur and Dakshin Behala Police Stations.

• In the West Bengal Police Area, Purbasthali Police Station has recently been bifurcated.

• The Shibpur Police Station in Howrah divided into two more jurisdictions, namely– Chatterjeehat Police Station and Botanical Gardens Police Station.


Police personnel: Almost 400 Sub-Inspectors, 40,000 Constables, (Including Junior Constables / Women Constables / Home Guards / NVFs) and 1,30,000 Civic Police Volunteers (to assist the regular police force) have been recruited. A large number of women constables have also been recruited.

Disaster management: Prepared to face the worst

Samprati Motghare
IIM graduate, Batch of 2014


According to the United Nations, a disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society. Disasters involve widespread human, material, economic or environmental impacts, which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.

West Bengal, because of its unique topography and climatic conditions faces a threat of natural disasters like earthquakes, and landslides in its northern part, along with threats of floods and cyclones in its Gangetic plains region. An efficient administrative setup accompanied by long-term vision is required to mitigate the risks and the new state government has been successful in delivering that.

Implementation of DM ACT, 2005: The state has constituted all the bodies, namely, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), State Executive Committee (SEC) and State Advisory Committee (SAC), as recommended under the act. Several states like Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Odisha, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, still have not constituted all the bodies. SEC which monitors the implementation of National and State plans and acts as a liaison with the National Disaster Management Authority has met 97 times since its constitution, which is significantly higher than other states.

Infrastructural preparedness: Warnings related to any disaster can now be sent to every mobile phone user in the state with a new SMS service.  A 24X7 Emergency Operation Centre has become functional at Nabanna, which will remain open throughout the year with another centre at New Delhi to help citizens staying outside state in case of any emergency. Out of 307 multi-purpose cyclone and flood shelters, around 107 have already been constructed in past 34 months. Disaster Management Family Kits are being distributed in the disaster prone areas to equip people with measures to face disasters.

Training: Disaster Response Teams have been constituted with 800 specially trained police personnel and these teams have been posted all the major locations across the state. At district level, Quick Response Teams with well-equipped special cars have been constituted to combat any emergency situation. Around 7,000 youth volunteers have been trained with flood rescue and relief rescue, which will assist at the district level.

Spreading awareness: National School Security Program (NSSP) has been initiated in the earthquake prone regions of the state to ensure safety of children who are the most vulnerable in cases of disaster. In Kolkata alone 424 teachers from KMC primary schools and Shishu Shiksha Kendra have been made aware of vulnerability of West Bengal and Kolkata City. Traditional methods like calendars, booklets, wall-paintings, banners, street-theatre, radio and TV advertisements etc. are also being used extensively.

Immediate relief: Although, no amount of compensation or relief can match the price of a life lost due to any calamity, the state government believes a quick disbursement of compensation and relief materials do help the effected family to cope with the situation. West Bengal is the only state that provides Rs 1 lakh to the family of the deceased person who dies from snakebite. Government job and Rs 3 lakh have been provided to each family whose relatives died in the AMRI hospital fire accident. A total amount of Rs 250 crore has been disbursed to 3 lakh families affected due to natural calamities and fire accident.


Parting thought

The state government has also played its part during national calamities like Uttarakhand flash foods and Cyclone Phailin. Around 4,000 persons were rescued and transported to their homes by West Bengal government during the flash floods in Uttarakhand and 75,000 tarpaulins along with several quantities of food items were distributed in Odisha during Cyclone Phailin disaster. West Bengal also came forward to help its neighbour Sikkim during the earthquake in 2011.