New Delhi: Two months after it scrapped nine new districts created by the previous Congress government, the BJP dispensation in Rajasthan has allocated Rs 1,000 crore in the state budget to develop infrastructure in the remaining eight new districts of Rajasthan.
State Finance Minister Diya Kumari made this announcement while presenting the budget Wednesday.
“The previous government took illogical decisions like establishing new districts by merely doing paperwork. At the same time, our government believes in taking concrete steps for the welfare of the common man by doing a complete analysis and arranging resources,” said Kumari while presenting the second budget of the BJP government.
Kumari announced Rs 1,000 crore to establish district-level offices and for the construction of necessary infrastructure in the newly-established eight districts.
For almost two years, the new districts have been a logistical mess, most of them being run from mandis, hostels and schools.
Last year, ThePrint reported that crucial services were crippled by staff shortage, inadequate infrastructure and an over-dependence on parent districts. In many cases, land had not even been allocated for public buildings.
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Districts should be created in phases: Panwar
A few months before the 2023 assembly elections, then Congress chief minister Ashok Gehlot had announced the creation of 17 new districts and three divisions, which took the total count of districts to 50 from 33.
As the new BJP-led government came to power in the state, headed by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, it quickly appointed a five-member cabinet sub-committee and a high-level expert committee to review the new districts. The committee was headed by retired IAS officer Lalit K. Panwar.
Panwar visited 14 of the 17 new districts to review the ground reality. He was tasked with reviewing districts on four key parameters — jurisdiction, viability, administrative convenience, and infrastructure feasibility. Panwar added six more criteria, including cultural identity and population.
The Panwar Committee submitted its recommendations to the government on 30 August 2024. From September to December last year, after several discussions, the Bhajan Lal government accepted the report and cancelled nine out of the 17 districts and three divisions.
These nine districts were Jaipur Rural, Jodhpur Rural, Dudu, Shahpura, Anupgarh, Gangapur City, Kekri, Sanchore and Neem Ka Thana. The divisions were Pali, Banswara and Sikar.
After the cancellation, people protested for weeks in many districts, such as Neem ka Thana.
Panwar had told ThePrint last September that it was possible that all claims to create districts were correct. “But creating them all at once? Could they have been phased? We worked on these questions and mentioned them in the report,” he had said.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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