West Bengal govt appoints retired chief secretary Gopalika as industry body's chairman, advisor to CM

Kolkata/IBNS: Oppositions often say "Mamata Banerjee's trusted officers don't retire". Recently retired IAS officer, West Bengal's chief secretary, BP Gopalika, has joined the list as the state government on Monday (Sept 2) appointed him as the chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBIIDC) and the Managing Director of the state Highway Development Corporation.

IBNS • 3 Sept 2024, 11:10 am

According to media reports, Bhagwati Prasad (BP) Gopalika, a 1989-batch IAS officer, has also been entrusted with an additional charge of Chief Advisor to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Project Monitoring for three years.

Gopalika was originally scheduled to retire on May 31 this year, but was given an extension of three months, while the state government had again asked the Union Home Ministry for another three-month extension for the IAS officer, which was reportedly denied.

Manoj Pant, a 1991-batch IAS officer from the West Bengal cadre, took the charge of the state's Chief Secretary last week.

Gopalika is not the first in the list to get a post-retirement appointment, a number of senior administrative and police officers, who were well known for their "good relationships" with the Chief Minister, got the extension in service as well as appointment to various "important" posts after retirement.

Earlier, a number of Mamata-trusted civil servants, including Gautam Sanyal, Surajit Kar Purkayastha, Rajiv Sinha, and Alapan Bandyopadhyay, earned various important post-retirement posts.