Chhattisgarh reorganises districts for decentralisation, inclusive growth

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will inaugurate three new districts on Friday and Saturday

With decentralisation and inclusive growth in view, the Chhattisgarh government is reorganising the districts of the state.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will inaugurate three new districts over Friday and Saturday. This will take the number of districts in Chhattisgarh to 31.

The three new districts are Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh, Sarangarh-Bilaigarh, and Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai. They have been named by clubbing two-three blocks. This is because the state government does not want to antagonise the people of any block by leaving it out.

Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh, carved out of Rajnandgaon district, will come into existence on September 2 and the other two on September 3.

Two more -- Shakti and Manendragarh -- will be formed later.

Raigarh district, known for housing major industries, has been bifurcated to form Sarangarh-Bilaigarh.

Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai will be carved out of Rajnandgaon.

In undivided Rajnandgaon district, left-wing extremists are active.

The chief minister had said the smaller districts were formed for better administration. People earlier had to travel 100 km to reach the district headquarters. The distance will now be reduced to half.

Decentralisation will facilitate implementing government schemes, ensuring better fund utilisation, covering more people under various programmes, and accessing people with greater ease.

The landlocked, thickly forested, and mineral-rich state has been focusing on decentralisation since it was bifurcated from Madhya Pradesh in November 2000.

At the time of its inception, Chhattisgarh had 16 districts. After Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh has the highest number of districts.

When the Congress, under Bhupesh Baghel, came to power in November 2018, Chhattisgarh, the ninth-largest state in India in area, had 27 districts.

The districts of Sarangarh-Bilaigarh and Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai have minor minerals. Their formation will facilitate utilising the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Fund.

Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh district adjoins Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli region. The pocket straddling the two districts has been a hot bed of Maoist activities. According to officials, monitoring law and order from Rajnandgaon, which is 110 km from Mohala, Manpur and Ambagarh, has been difficult.

With the start of a new district, anti-Maoist operations could be effective.

Officials said the result was seen in Bastar, infamous for Maoist violence. Just before the formation of Chhattisgarh, the region had three districts. Now it has seven.

Over the period, Maoist violence has come down.