Bengal to get two new districts, announces Mamata Banerjee

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced that Sundarbans and Basirhat will be made new districts.

A major part of the Sundarbans region is in the South 24 Parganas district, while Basirhat subdivision is in the North 24 Parganas district. There are total 23 districts in West Bengal at present.

Banerjee said formation of the new districts will help people living in these areas as they would not have to travel long distances to avail government services.

"We will make Sundarbans and Basirhat administrative districts. We are working for this," she said after laying foundation stone for a slew of projects at a programme here.

Sunderbans and Basirhat are currently police districts.

Addressing the programme, she said 20 lakh people and agricultural land of seven lakh farmers were affected in cyclone Bulbul in South 24 Parganas district.

Three lakh houses and 800 metric tonne crops were also damaged in the cyclone.

"We monitored the situation at night when the cyclone hit the state and I also conducted an aerial survey of the cyclone-hit areas. We provided relief but the Centre did not provide any financial assistance," she alleged.

Assuring that social security schemes of the state would be strengthened, Banerjee said her government has taken up projects worth Rs 540 crore in the Sundarbans.