Rajasthan government has set up a committee under the chairmanship of former IAS Lalit K Panwar to review the decision of the formation of 17 new districts and three divisions on the recommendations of a committee headed by another retired IAS Ram Lubhaya during Gehlot government. Ram Lubhaya is one batch senior to Lalit K Panwar.
The committee will submit its report to cabinet sub committee headed by deputy chief minister Prem Chand Bairwa. The cabinet sub committee was set up by chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma to review the decisions of the constitution of 17 districts and three new divisions.
Other members of the committee are industry minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, PHED minister Kanhaiya Lal Chaudhary, revenue minister Hemant Meena and water resources minister Suresh Singh Rawat. The sub committee then will submit a report to government on the viability of new districts.
Who is Lalit K Panwar?
Lalit K Panwar is a 1979-batch IAS officer, who had served as secretary to union government in two departments – tourism and minority affairs before becoming chairman of Rajasthan Public Service Commission. He had also been the first vice chancellor of Rajasthan ILD Skills University, which is now known as Vishvakarma Skills University.
Son of soil, Panwar is considered an upright officer, who had worked in the office of chief minister during the first tenure of Ashok Gehlot. Now the BJP government has given him the task to review the decisions taken by the Gehlot government on constitution of new districts.
What is Ram Lubhaya committee?
The formation of new districts is based on the recommendation of a committee headed by former IAS Ram Lubhaya, who is a 1978 batch IAS officer from Rajasthan cadre. A native of Punjab, Lubhaya served at various important positions including water resources, panchayati raj, education and pwd among others in a tenure of 34 years.
The Ram Lubhaya committee, set up on March 22, 2022, was mandated to give recommendations and suggestions regarding the constitution of new districts in the state. The original tenure of the committee was for six months till September 13, 2022, which was extended twice for six months each before it ended on March 21, 2024.
New Districts:
Ashok Gehlot in his last budget announced formation of 17 new districts – Jaipur rural, Jodhpur rural, Anupgarh, Gangapur City, Kotputli. Balotara, Khairthal, Phalaudi, Beawar, Neemkathana, Deeg, Deedwana, Salumbar, Dudu, Kekri, Sanchore and Shahpura.
Apart from that three new divisions were introduced like Banswara, Pali and Sikar.
Prakash Bhandari is a veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience. He has worked with The Times of India for 30 years and contributed to leading publications as well as international news agency AFP.
