GUWAHATI, Aug 25: The Assam Cabinet has decided to create four new districts and 81 sub-districts following completion of the delimitation process, to improve administrative efficiency, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
The districts to be created are Hojai, Biswanath, Tamulpur and Bajali, Sarma said at a press conference, after presiding over the 100th cabinet meeting of his government.
“We have reconstituted the four new districts, and it is co-terminus with assembly constituencies declared by the Election Commission under delimitation,” he said.
The move comes two weeks after the Election Commission (EC) issued a final delimitation order for the 126 assembly and 14 Lok Sabha seats in the state, which saw large-scale redrawing of many constituencies in both categories.
The Assam government had on December 31, 2022 decided to merge the four districts with four others and change the administrative jurisdiction of a few villages, a day before the Election Commission’s freeze on redrawing administrative units came into effect due to the delimitation exercise.
Biswanath district was merged with Sonitpur, Hojai with Nagaon, Bajali with Barpeta and Tamulpur with Baksa.
“Since the delimitation process is over, the four districts will be functional again. But their boundaries have been reorganised as per the delimitation exercise,” CM Sarma said after his government’s 100th cabinet meeting.
Assam has a total of 35 districts.
The cabinet also decided to dissolve the 24 existing civil sub-divisions, and instead, create 81 sub-districts covering each assembly constituency with all administrative powers delegated to additional district commissioners, Sarma said.
The constituencies under the Sixth Schedule Autonomous Councils will be kept out of this process, and consultations will be held with the stakeholders later.
The notification for creation of the new districts and sub-districts will be issued on Saturday, but will come into effect from January 1, 2024, he added. (PTI)
