Friday, March, 29,2024

Bengal likely to get three new districts

Kolkata: The West Bengal government, in its bid to simplify administrative operations, is planning to trifurcate South 24 Parganas, creating new districts of Baruipur, Sundarbans and Diamond Harbour, a top official said on Friday. Work was being undertaken on “war footing” to complete formalities necessary to split South 24 Parganas the largest district in the state into three parts, the official said.

“We are planning to create three new districts — Baruipur, Diamond Harbour and Sundarban — by the end of the year. Once the proposal gets Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nod, South 24 Parganas — currently stretching from the city to the coastal villages along Bay of Bengal — will cease to exist,” he told PTI.

Currently, Diamond Harbour, Baruipur and Sundarbans are police districts. Explaining the rationale behind the division, the bureaucrat said geographical location of different blocks of South 24 Parganas often caused problems to people who had to travel miles after miles to get administrative work done. The split was being planned in a certain way to ensure that the new districts get to have one sub-divisional court each, he stated. Baruipur, spanning around 2,500 sq km, is likely to have 11 blocks.

“With 11 blocks, Baruipur will be the biggest of the three proposed districts. Suggestion to make Gosaba a part of Baruipur has been made,” he said. Sundarbans was likely to have eight blocks four in the entire Kakdwip sub-division and an equal number in Diamond Harbour sub-division, he said.

The Diamond Harbour district was expected to constitute the entire Alipore Sadar area and a part of the current Diamond Harbour subdivision, the official elaborated. “Kakdwip has been proposed as the district headquarters of Sundarban, and Tongtala of Baruipur. We are yet to decide on a zilla head office for Diamond Harbour,” he said. Asked if the creation of the three proposed districts would in any way affect the configuration of assembly segments in South 24 Parganas, the official said that Baruipur was likely to have 11 assembly constituencies, Diamond Harbour nine and Sundarban six.

  Share on

Related News