West Bengal Cabinet today decided to merge 21 departments to create 10 new ones in order to focus on e-governance, reduce costs and ensure better delivery of public services.
Announcing this, Finance Minister Amit Mitra said the move would cut down the total number of departments from 63 to 52, but it would not cost any minister his/her chair nor any employee would lose their job.
"E-governance will be given a major focus in administrative reforms and it will be transferred to the present department of personnel and administrative reforms. This will be thereafter designated as the Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and E-Governance," Mitra said.
Describing the step taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a 'major' one, he said the Home Department and Department of Hill Affairs would be merged into one Home and Hill Affairs department.
Departments of finance and excise from now on will be called department of finance.
The department of Youth Services and the department of Sports would be merged to form 'department of youth services and sports', he told reporters.
Department of women development and social welfare and the department of child development will also be merged. It was also decided to merge the departments of disaster management and civil defence.
The Directorate of Sericulture under the Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles (MSME&T) will be merged with the Department of Agriculture, the minister said.
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