Kolkata, Oct 30 — The West Bengal government has initiated administrative processes to provide state government jobs to family members of individuals who lost their lives in political and election-related violence in the state over the last 25 years, a government official confirmed on Friday.
The policy decision, approved by the state cabinet, covers families of victims killed during Panchayat, Municipal, Assembly, and Lok Sabha election clashes across the past two and a half decades.
Officials stated that the recruitment initiative will be executed without considering political affiliations, making family members of deceased supporters or workers from any political party eligible, provided they fulfil specified administrative criteria.
To navigate legal complexities arising from historic incidents dating back up to 25 years, the state government conducted prior consultations with legal experts and secured formal concurrence from the Law Department before finalising the policy framework.
Preparations for implementation are being led directly by district administrations. During a virtual conference held on Thursday, primarily convened to discuss census readiness, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Agarwal briefed District Magistrates across the state on the policy and instructed them to begin identifying eligible families and preparing preliminary documentation.
Given the operational challenge of tracing beneficiaries and establishing cause-of-death links to past electoral violence, the administration will rely heavily on official police records, historical case files, and official death documentation to verify claims.
The state government plans to issue a formal notification detailing specific eligibility criteria, including age limits, required educational qualifications, and designated job roles, alongside public media advertisements inviting formal applications.
Submitted applications will undergo multi-tier verification by local police stations, district administrative authorities, and legal scrutinizers. Upon successful verification of claims, government employment will be formally extended to one designated member of the victim's family.