BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to set up a high-level committee to start the process for the formation of a separate Padampur district as promised by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during the campaign for the recent bypoll there.
Announcing this, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Pramila Mallick said the department is ready to start the process. It is only waiting for direction from the chief minister in this regard. The high-level committee can either be a cabinet sub-committee or an executive committee headed by a senior official of the state government. The new district can be formed either by an executive order or the government may take the legislation way by bringing a bill in the Assembly.
Former Law minister in the Biju Patnaik cabinet Narasingh Mishra said there is no need for taking the matter to the Assembly or form a District Reorganisation Commission. The new district can be announced simply by an executive order as was done by Biju Patnaik to increase the number of districts in the state from 13 to 30.
Sources in the know of things, however, said that the state government will not go for the formation of only Padampur district when there are demands for more than a dozen new districts. Such a decision will be suicidal for the ruling BJD when the elections are less than a year away.
As the chief minister has said that the new Padampur district will be announced before 2023-end, the state government will no doubt form a committee to consider several district demands. In an election year, it will also benefit the ruling BJD to accede to the district demands of some other regions along with Padampur to keep a check on the Opposition.
There are demands for new districts from Rourkela in Sundargarh, Titlagarh in Balangir, Berhampur in Ganjam, Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj, Anandpur in Keonjhar, Gunupur in Rayagada, Talcher in Angul, Jaleswar and Soro in Balasore, Banki in Cuttack, Reamal tehsil in Deogarh, Dasapalla in Nayagarh and Bhubaneswar in Khurda. The Padampur district will have to be carved out from the Bargarh district.