Assam: Bajali becomes 34th district? Official declaration on August 15
- Aug 10, 2020,
- Updated Aug 10, 2020, 12:48 AM IST
Bajali, the civil subdivision of Barpeta district has become the 34th, district of Assam. Bajali is located at around 103 km west of Guwahati. However, the official declaration will be made on August 15th, 2020.
The decision has been taken by the government in a cabinet meeting held at Administrative Staff College today.
Earlier, this month, the government had sought No Objection Certificate from the Registrar General of India, which is under Ministry of Home Affairs, to create Bajali a district.
It may be mentioned that before 2015, Assam had 27 districts in total. On August 15th, 2015, the then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi formed five districts more, for a total of 32 districts. On January 26th, 2016, 2 more districts were formed, but due to administrative infrastructure problem these districts are still non-functional. After his tenure, CM Sarbananda Sonowal formed a new one, for a total of 33 districts.
During Independence, Assam had 13 districts. The districts were Cachar, Darrang, Goalpara, Kamrup, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Sivsagar, Jayantia parganas, Garo hills, Lushai hills, Naga hills, Sylhet and NEFA.
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On June 1st, 2004, Baksa district curved out of Barpeta, Nalbari, and Kamrup; on 4 June Chirang district curved out of Barpeta, Bongaigaon; and Kokrajhar and on 14th June Udalguri district curved out of Darrang and Sonitpur; along with Kokrajhar district formed BTAD. On 1 April 2010, the name of North Cachar Hills district changed to Dima Hasao.
Later, on 15th August 2015, Tarun Gogoi, the Chief Minister of Assam, announced the formation of five new districts in the state, taking the total number from 27 to 32. The five new districts are the following: Biswanath (carved out of Sonitpur); Charaideo (carved out of Sivasagar); Hojai (carved out of Nagaon); South Salmara-Mankachar (carved out of Dhubri); West Karbi Anglong (carved out of Karbi Anglong).
On 26 January 2016, 2 more districts were announced, but on 7 October 2016, the Govt. has withdrawn district status of East Kamrup and South Kamrup due to inadequate infrastructure. The two sub-divisions of East Kamrup district - viz. Chandrapur and Sonapur, is now part of Kamrup Metropolitan district. The sub-divisions of South Kamrup district is now part of Kamrup Rural district.
On 27 June 2016, one more district was announced by Sarbananda Sonowal, taking the total number from 32 to 33 which is Majuli (carved out of the Northern parts of Jorhat). It is the first river island district of India.
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