West Bengal Govt Mulling Trifurcation Of South 24 Parganas By End Of Year

The split is being planned in a way that ensures the new districts have one sub-divisional court each.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (Image: Twitter/@MamataOfficial) ( Image Source :Twitter )

New Delhi: In a bid to streamline administrative functions, the West Bengal government is mulling trifurcation of South 24 Parganas into Baruipur, Sundarbans and Diamond Harbour, a top official said on Friday.

Speaking to news agency PTI, 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.”

Currently, Diamond Harbour, Baruipur and Sundarbans are police districts.

Talking about the reason behind the decision, the official said that the geographical location of the different blocks of South 24 Parganas often act as stumbling blocks for administrative work.

"With 11 blocks, Baruipur will be the biggest of the three proposed districts. Suggestion to make Gosaba a part of Baruipur has been made," the official said.

Sundarbans is likely to have eight blocks - four in the entire Kakdwip sub-division and four in Diamond Harbour sub-division, he said.

The Diamond Harbour district is expected to constitute the entire Alipore Sadar region and a part of the present Diamond Harbour sub-division, he said, adding, the split is being planned in a way that ensures the new districts have one sub-divisional court each.

Notably, the state government wrote to the Centre last week asking it to increase the allotment of IAS and IPS officers in Bengal.

Over the last eight year, the government has created three new districts -- Alipurduar (in June 2014), Kalimpong (February 2017) and Jhargram (in April 2017), and split Bardhaman into two districts.

Currently, West Bengal has 23 districts.

It is to be noted that before March 1980, 24 Parganas was the largest district in the country. It was then split into North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas.