kolkata: The state government has instructed all district magistrates to identify suitable premises in the remaining Gram Panchayats (GPs) in their respective districts so that more Bangla Sahayata Kendras (BSKs) can be set up.
The government aims to have at least one BSK in each of the Gram Panchayats in the state.
A notification issued in this regard follows a review meeting on Bangla Sahayata Kendras chaired by Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi on June 7 where the proposal of expanding the reach and scope of BSKs was discussed in detail. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her recent administrative review meetings has also issued directions for setting up more Bangla Sahayata Kendras.
As per instructions, the BSKs should not be set up at GP office buildings but in other suitable buildings in the GP office premises or any other suitable office building within the jurisdiction of the Gram Panchayat. Presently there are 3561 BSKs across the state. Each of the BSKs are manned by two persons. So when the new BSKs will come up they will also have two persons each.
"We have started work for identifying locations for BSKs and accordingly will submit a list to the state government," a district magistrate said. The minimum requirement for setting up BSKs includes 150 sq feet area, availability of electricity and uninterrupted Internet facilities.
The district administration can also bring before the notice areas within urban local bodies where BSKs can be set up. Bangla Sahayata Kendras — the single window service delivery across the state — has been instrumental in providing online government services free-of-cost at the grassroots level and strengthening the existing system of information dissemination about various social and development schemes. These are located in the office of the district magistrates, sub Divisional officers, block development officers, health centres, government-aided libraries, office of the SI of schools among other.
All the notified services of BSKs are provided through the online portal https://bsk.wb.gov.in