Gujarat: Vav-Tharad to become 34th district

On the first day of new Year 2025, Gujarat  got a new district. After the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in Gandhinagar  on Wednesday, it was announced that Banaskantha district would be divided into two districts. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel declared the creation of a new Vav-Tharad district from the existing Banaskantha district. To ease administrative and geographic challenges, and to ensure government services reach the public more efficiently, the district will be divided into two- Vav-Tharad and Banaskantha. To ensure administrative, geographic, and economic convenience, Palanpur will remain the headquarters of Banaskantha district, and Tharad will serve as the headquarters of the new Vav-Tharad district.
Vav-Tharad will be the 34th district of Gujarat.The new district will be carved out from the existing large district of Banaskantha. According to Spokesperson minister Rushikeshbhai Patel, the Chief Minister has ordered to keep the number of villages in each of two districts at around 600. The area of Vav-Tharad district will be 6,257 square km while Banaskantha district will be 4,486 square km in size in its new form.
As per information, with the formation of Gujarat on May 1, 1960, the state had 17 districts, including Ahmedabad, Amreli, Banaskantha, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, the Dangs, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kheda, Kachchh, Mehsana, Panchmahal, Rajkot, Sabarkantha, Surat, Surendranagar and Vadodara.While Kutch was the largest district (area-wise), the Dangs was the smallest. Over time, the existing districts were divided, and on January 1, 2025, the number of districts has doubled. In 2013,seven new districts were made – Aravalli, Botad, Chhotaudepur, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Mahisagar, Morbi, and Gir Somnath.

(State Correspondent)