Big reshuffle in Rajasthan’s administration: 9 districts and 3 divisions scrapped

Jaipur (The Utttam Hindu): In a recent cabinet meeting, the Rajasthan government, following a briefing by Cabinet Ministers Jogaram Patel and Sumit Godara, decided to dissolve nine districts and three divisions that were established during the tenure of the previous Gehlot government. The districts dissolved on December 28 include:

>Dudu

>Kekri

>Shahpura

>Neemkathana

>Gangapur City

>Jaipur Rural

>Jodhpur Rural

>Anupgarh

>Sanchore

During Ashok Gehlot’s administration, 17 new districts and three new divisions were proposed, but creating new districts and divisions was deemed inappropriate before the implementation of the model code of conduct. As a result, these districts were annulled. The Bhajanlal government found some of the newly proposed districts impractical, believing they would impose an unnecessary burden on the state. After the decision, Rajasthan will have 41 districts and seven divisions.

The following districts will remain unchanged:

>Balotara

>Beawar

>Deeg

>Kumher

>Didwana

>Kuchaman

>Kotputli

>Behror

>Khedthal

>Tijara

>Phalodi

>Salumber

Out of the 20 new districts announced by the previous Congress government, only eight will remain, and the newly created divisions will not be retained.

Other decisions made in the meeting include:

>Restructuring Rajasthan’s Gram Panchayats.

>Providing employment to one lakh unemployed individuals this year.

>Adding new beneficiaries to the Food Security Scheme.

>Extending the validity of the Common Eligibility Test (CET) score from one year to three years.

In July 2024, the Rajasthan government formed a high-level expert committee to assess the necessity of the newly created districts and divisions. The committee was tasked with submitting its report by August 31, which was completed a day earlier on August 30. The committee’s findings were presented to the Cabinet on September 2, 2024, for further decision-making.

Dr. Lalit K. Pawar, chairman of the expert committee, shared that 10 key points were considered in the report, which included feedback from affected public representatives and organizations in the districts.

Key points about the report:

>The committee was formed on July 1 and submitted its report on August 30, ahead of the deadline.

>On September 2, the committee presented its findings to the Cabinet.

>The report covered 17 out of the 19 new districts.

>More than 45 legislators, over 10 MPs, 5 ministers from both state and central governments, 50+ delegations, 25+ village heads, and 5 district heads provided input.

>Administrative suggestions were gathered from district collectors and commissioners.

>The report was based on 10 main points and involved travel over 5,000 kilometers to understand the ground realities.

>The two districts not visited by the committee were Salumber, due to law and order issues, and Neemkathana, as the district collector was unavailable.