Against distortion of Ahom history Tai Ahom body warns CM Sarma
NEW DELHI: The Assam government on Saturday decided to merge four districts with four others and change the administrative boundaries of a few villages, a day before the Election Commission stayed the reorganization of administrative units.
Announcing this at a press conference here after the state cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said these decisions have been taken with a heavy heart keeping in mind the interests of Assam, its society and administrative needs. He added that it was only “temporary” and did not reveal the reason behind the decision.
“While Biswanath district will be merged with Sonitpur, Hojai will be merged with Nagaon, Bijli will be merged with Barpeta and Tamulpur with Baksa,” he said.
The decisions were to be taken at a cabinet meeting on Saturday as the Election Commission has banned the creation of new administrative units in Assam from January 1, 2023 as the polling panel will conduct a delimitation exercise in the state.
The state cabinet meeting has also changed the administrative scope of some villages and some towns.
The merged districts were mostly created in the recent past and Sarma said he wanted to apologize to the people of those districts but hoped they would understand the significance of the decisions.
The Chief Minister said that a team of state ministers will visit these districts and interact with leading organizations and citizens to explain the reasons behind the decisions which cannot be disclosed publicly.
However, he said the police and judicial districts of the four merged districts will continue as they are with other offices and officers.
The Election Commission on December 27 said it has started delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Assam and will use 2001 census data for seat adjustment.
The commission said the creation of new administrative units in the state has been banned from January 1, 2023 till the exercise is completed.
The Polling Panel noted that under the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 1972, the last delimitation of constituencies in Assam was done by the then Delimitation Commission in 1976 based on the 1971 Census data.
The move to redraw Assam Assembly and Parliamentary seats under Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 has been initiated following a request by the Union Law Ministry.
Delimitation is the process of fixing the boundaries or limits of territorial constituencies in a country or state with a legislative body.
During the delimitation exercise, the Commission shall keep in mind physical features, existing boundaries of administrative units, convenience of communication and public convenience, and as far as possible, the constituencies shall be kept as geographically compact areas, The EC statement said.
After the Commission finalizes the draft delimitation proposal, it will be published in the Central and State Gazettes to invite suggestions and objections from the general public.
