Announcing the latest decision of her cabinet, CM of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee said that it aims to streamline and decentralize administrative functions.
After coming to CM power in West Bengal in 2011 after ending the 34-year-long rule of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC (Trinamool Congress) government has so far accepted the creation of 11 new districts.
which seven have been accepted. Mamta Banerjee cabinet on Monday, which has taken the total number of districts in the state to 30.
Declaring the newest decision of her cabinet, West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee said that it was focused on streamlining and decentralizing administrative functions. “We will establish these seven new districts within six months, there is some process involved,” she said.
The Trinamool Congress government’s decision, however, has sparked a political controversy with criticism from opposition parties, the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
According to the Chief Minister, seven new districts will be created by merging the five existing districts – South and North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Nadia, and Bankura.
Two new districts Jangipur and Kandi will be created from the Murshidabad district. Nadia will be divided into Nadia districts and Ranaghat. A new Sundarbans district will be made out of the South 24 Parganas district.
Two new districts Ichhamati (Banagaon) and Basirhat will be created from North 24 Parganas. And Bankura will be divided into two districts, Vishnupur and Bankura.
West Bengal Senior IAS Officer said
Top officials of the state government said the move would improve governance. A senior IAS officer said, “It is now a general trend in India to create more districts to decentralize the administration.
Since the 1971 enumeration, the average size of the district has been getting smaller. As per the 1981 Census, there were only 412 districts in India which increased to 640 in 2011.
A new district means a new administrative setup. This will lead to better implementation of government plans and actual utilization of funds of the government.
A new district will bring the administration closer to the local people. He also said, “The new districts will create more employment opportunities in the government as well as private and unorganized sectors.”
Some senior officials said the creation of more districts would increase the allocation of funds from the Center for various schemes.
Another section of officials, however, also said that the creation of new districts will put more financial pressure on the state, which is already reeling under heavy debt.
However, there seems to be an important political reason behind this move of CM Mamta Banerjee. The Trinamool Congress is organizationally weak in Bankura and Murshidabad.
Even in the Nadia district and Bangaon sub-division, TMC did not perform well in the 2021 assembly elections.
Words of Trinamool Congress leader
We wanted the Bangaon subdivision to be separated from Basirhat. This will help us. Because we are very weak in Bangaon.
If it becomes a new district, it will have a new party unit and new leadership that will reduce infighting and factionalism. Nadia has similar problems.
Therefore, the division of the Nadia district was also considered necessary. The leader said, “A major problem in the TMC is ‘the problem of enough’. We have too many leaders at different levels.
The leadership will have to accommodate them. Otherwise, it will create more groups within the party. We will see Nadia in the 2021 elections,” the leader said.
I lost many seats due to infighting – its split will help the party fix it.” Referring to next year’s panchayat elections in Bengal, the TMC leader clarified that the creation of more districts will help the party in areas where it has been organizationally weak ahead of rural elections.
He also said that more district councils would be formed after the elections, accommodating more district-level party leaders.
