National capital gets two new districts

In a milestone move aimed at faster and more citizen-friendly governance, the Delhi Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, on Thursday approved the reorganisation of 11 existing revenue districts into 13.

The move will fully align revenue district boundaries with those of civic agencies - Municipal Corporation of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment Board.

With this overhaul, Delhi will have two new revenue districts - Old Delhi and Central North.

In the newly formed Old Delhi district, the city's iconic markets - Chandni Chowk and Sadar Bazaar sub-divisions - have been added. They were earlier part of the Central district.

Meanwhile, Shakurbasti and Shalimar Bagh, which were earlier in the northwest district, have now been included in the Central North district.

Model Town, one of the posh areas in the national capital, has also been made part of Central North. It is now excluded from the North district, read the notification by the Revenue Department.

Shahdara district, part of earlier revenue districts, does not find a place in the new plan.

The gazette notification will be released within 15 days, and the new districts will be made operational by the end of this month, the notification added.

Additionally, the Delhi Government has sanctioned an initial budget of Rs 25 crore (current fiscal) for the new districts.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said for several years, boundaries of revenue districts did not align with those of the MCD, NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board, which repeatedly caused delays in service delivery, confusion in handling complaints, difficulties in land record management and inconsistencies across departmental jurisdictions.

After the reorganisation, the boundaries of all 13 districts will fully align with those of the civic agencies bringing clarity to governance and improving inter-departmental coordination.

Under the new structure, the number of districts will increase from 11 to 13 and sub-divisions from 33 to 39.

The Chief Minister also announced that the Delhi Government will establish modern, multi-departmental ‘mini secretariats’ in all 13 districts, where citizens will be able to access services such as revenue offices, SDM, ADM, tehsil and sub-registrar offices at one place.

According to Gupta, the new structure will ensure better access to services, faster grievance redressal, reduced burden on officials, removal of boundary-related confusion, clarity for citizens regarding their administrative jurisdiction, improve coordination between the Revenue Department, Municipal Corporation and other agencies and effective urban planning, disaster management, and land record management.