Jhargram to be state's 22nd district on April 4

Jhargram will start functioning as the 22nd district in the state from April 4.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be present at the programme that will be organised on April 4 to announce Jhargram as the new district. It may be recalled that on November 28, 2016, the Calcutta High Court had given the necessary permissions to set up three new districts — Kalimpong, Jhargram and Asansol. On the same day, the Chief Minister had announced that the new districts will be "officially" introduced by the Bengali New Year which falls on April 15. Kalimpong has already been introduced as the 21st district of the state on February 14.

The Chief Minister was present at the event when Kalimpong with three community development blocks and Kalimpong Municipality in the Hills started functioning as a separate district. The Chief Minister had formed a committee comprising the then Principal Secretary of Personnel and Administrative Reforms department Manoj Kumar Agarwal, DGP Surajit Kar Purkayastha and Commissioner of Kolkata Police Rajeev Kumar to undertake a survey in order to identify the infrastructure needed for separating the once Maoist-affected Jhargram as a new district out of West Midnapore district.

If everything goes as planned, Mamata Banerjee will hold the administrative review meeting of West Midnapore district on April 3 scheduled to be held at Kharagpur and the next day she will be present at the programme to introduce Jhargram as a new district. It may be recalled that the CM had taken several measures to restore normalcy in Jhargram. It was also being made a police district soon after there were plans to make it a separate district all together.