Asansol, Jhargram set to become Bengal districts: Mamata

KOLKATA: In a major announcement on Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated that two new districts will be set up in the state before April. The new districts, Asansol and Jhargram will be carved out of Burdwan and West Midnapore respectively.

Before leaving for Kalimpong, which will soon be declared as the 21st district, Banerjee said, “Administrative work for the formation of two new districts has already started and the formal announcement will be made before April.”

Initially, the Left Front government had proposed the bifurcation of Burdwan district but discarded the plan following its defeat in the 2011 Assembly election. While Burdwan popularly known as ‘the rice bowl of Bengal' because of its fertile land, Asansol, and its neighbourhood was once renowned for its thriving industries.

But, soon all the factories in Asansol downed their shutters owing to the militant trade unionism and the Burdwan lobby of CPIM concluded that formation of a separate district would mean a loss for the party because workers of the closed factories would vote against it and it would be difficult for them to retain power.

However, after coming to power in 2011, Banerjee urged senior bureaucrats to take necessary steps to bifurcate Burdwan district. Similarly, West Midnapore is marked to be bifurcated for the creation of Jhargram which has been functioning as a police district.

On the other hand, Jhargram underwent a remarkable transformation in the last six years. Colleges and super-specialty hospitals sprung up along with a bridge at Lalgarh which helped the locals immensely. The area soon became devoid of any Maoist activity. Also, to gain the confidence of the people, Banerjee kept visiting Jhargram frequently.