 "People across political spectrum seek creation of new districts in Uttarakhand")
A delegation of the ruling Congress, headed by state unit President Kishore Upadhyay, recently met the chief minister and called for the creation of new districts to fulfil the promises made by the party in election manifesto.
"The chief minister has now agreed to look into our demand for the creation of new districts," Upadhayay told Business Standard. However, Upadhyay did not give any time frame for the creation of new districts.
Earlier, the leader of the Opposition Ajay Bhatt has asked the government to create four districts as per the announcement made by the former BJP government and slammed the chief minister for showing reluctance on the creation of new districts.
The previous Vijay Bahuguna government last year had set up a district reorganisation commission. The commission had been mandated to recommend the formation of new districts in such a way that it should not disturb the financial health of the state and should be in line the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. But since then, there was no discussion on the district reorganisation commission.
Former chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, during his Independence Day speech in 2011, had announced the formation of four new districts - Ranikhet, Didihaat, Kotdwar and Yamunotri - apparently to boost the fortunes of the ruling BJP in the 2012 assembly elections which it lost by one seat.
The five-member commission would be headed by the chairman of state revenue board with principal secretary (revenue) as its convener and commissioners of Garhwal and Kumaon and additional secretary of the finance department as its members.
The former BJP government had merely given a symbolic approval to the creation of four new districts in view of financial constraints as well as growing demand for some more districts. The recurring cost and capital expenditure to create four new districts was said to be Rs 1400 crore.
After the implementation of sixth pay commission which put an extra burden of Rs 2,500 crore on the state exchequer, the creation of four new districts was being seen as a major financial burden on the state that is already reeling under the impact of ballooning non-plan expenditure. On creating one district, the revenue department has estimated that the recurring cost will be Rs 300 crore with a capital expenditure of Rs 50 crore.
On the other hand, the government is also facing pressure from different regions for creation of nearly 10-15 more districts. "Since the matter is politically very sensitive, so we have decided to set up a new district reorganisation commission," said a senior government official.