Jalpaiguri district in north Bengal will be bifurcated into two from June 25 for administrative convenience, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said today.
The Alipurduar sub-division will be made into a separate district, to be known as Alipurduar district, while the sub-divisions of Jalpaiguri Sadar and Mal will remain with the present Jalpaiguri district.
In a statement made at the Assembly, Banerjee said that the division of the state was a long-standing demand of people of the district.
She said the district headquarters being situated far away, people in the Alipurduar sub-division faced immense problem in availing government services, spending a long time travelling to and from the district headquarters which is 101 km away.
Similarly, areas like Kalchini, Madarihat and Birpara are more than 100 km away from the district headquarters, she noted, saying the distance from the district headquarters to Kumargram block is 143 km.
After the division, eight police stations of the 17 police stations in the district now would go to the new district, Banerjee said adding that the district has an area of 6,202 sq km and a population of 38.46 lakh as per the 2011 census.
