With the constitution of a Commission to review administrative units by the Himachal Pradesh government, the talks of making new districts have begun in the state before the next Assembly election due in 2027.
The state government has formed a commission headed by former High Court Judge Dharam Chand Chuadhary , which will have three members i.e. Rajesh Sharma , former IFS officer, advocate Vishal Panwar and Director of Land Records as its member secretary .
The commission will review the working of different administrative units in the state including tehsils and districts and suggest reconstitution of these units.
The move is being looked at as an exercise to explore possibilities of creation of new administrative units including districts by many.
Nothing specific has been stated by the state government about creation of the new districts. At present the state has twelve districts.
The move to create more new districts in the state was also made by former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal before the Assembly elections in 2012 but did not fructify. At that time five new districts were proposed and even Additional Deputy Commissioners were appointed.
Though it is preemptive to suggest if the new districts will be created, it is also a fact that the ruling party considers this as an effective tool to win public support during elections.
But would it be a challenge to create new districts for the cash strapped Sukhu government?
It is totally a nonessential step. In a state where the average population per district is around 7 lakhs, and the district administrations are not overburdened, what is the necessity to create new districts but for the political expediency? How the cash strapped state, with huge financial liabilities and limited resources to augment state income, will bear the financial burden of the prospective administrative costs? On the one hand recently it was stated that HP does not need more officers. On the other hand, an additional district administrative structure would be needed that will amount to almost one third of the present administrative structure.
Is the political expediency the only criterion to take such decisions?