The Suvendu Adhikari government announced the formation of five new districts in the budget tabled by state finance minister Swapan Dasgupta in the Assembly on Monday.
The new districts will be Calcutta, Basirhat, Sunderban, Jangipur and Arambag.
With Calcutta set to become a new full-fledged district, discussions have begun over its jurisdiction, as it has so far been a city district run by the Kolkata Collectorate.
The new Basirhat, Sunderban, Jangipur and Arambag districts will be carved out of the districts of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Murshidabad and Hooghly, respectively.
Once the new districts are formed, the total number of districts in Bengal will reach 28. The state has 23 districts now.
“The decision has been made as a part of administrative reforms to decentralise administration, improve public service delivery, and to bring governance closer to people,” the finance minister said in his speech.
Dasgupta also announced a new police district at Kanthi (Contai) in East Midnapore district. As of now, Contai, a subdivisional headquarters, is under the jurisdiction of the East Midnapore district police.
The finance minister said a new subdivision of Gopiballabpur, a town in Jhargram district, would be created.
Bengal will have nine new municipalities as well — five in the north and four in the south.
The proposed municipalities are Shiv Mandir in Darjeeling, Gazola and Chanchal in Malda, Tungidighi (North Dinajpur), Jaigaon (Alipurduar), Bagnan (Howrah), Kolaghat (East Midnapore), Belda (West Midnapore), and Kamarpukur (Hooghly).
The demand for a municipality at Shiv Mandir, an area that has undergone rapid urbanisation on the outskirts of Siliguri, has been longstanding. A similar demand was raised by the residents of Jaigaon, which is on the India-Bhutan border in Alipurduar district and is the top transit route for people visiting Bhutan, with Phuentsholing, a municipal corporation and the commercial capital of the neighbouring country, on the other side.
“It was a longstanding demand, as these areas have rapidly developed over the years. We want the entire Matigara block and four gram panchayats that are upper and lower Bagdogra and Gosainpur of Siliguri subdivision under the jurisdiction of the proposed civic body in Shiv Mandir," said Anandamay Barman, the BJP MLA of Matigara-Naxalbari and the minister of state for finance and transport department.
Dasgupta also announced six new fire stations. They will come up at Hemtabad and Karandighi in North Dinajpur, Benachapra in West Midnapore, Manikchak in Malda, Falta in South 24-Paraganas and Gitadabling in the Lava block of Kalimpong.
“The Dali fire station in Darjeeling will also be upgraded,” he said.