Bhopal, Sep 9 (IANS): The Chief Minister Mohan Yadav-led government has constituted a new delimitation commission to re-examine boundaries and the number of districts and divisions in Madhya Pradesh.

The new commission will be headed by a retired officer of the Additional Chief Secretary level, Manoj Shrivastava, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav told the Press on Monday.

He added that he had begun working on the project from the day he assumed office in December last year.

The chief minister said development was the need of the hour as there were anomalies and discrepancies in the state, which needed to be rectified.

Being the second-largest state geographically, the number of districts in Madhya Pradesh have increased in the last few years to 55.

Two new districts – Mauganj from Rewa district and Pandhurna from Chhindwara district were created in the previous government led by former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, ahead of the Assembly elections held in November-December last year.

“The number of districts in Madhya Pradesh have increased but there are many anomalies and discrepancies. Some people still have to cover long distances to reach the district or divisional headquarters. Therefore, rationalisation for the betterment of the people is the need of the hour,” CM Yadav said.

He pointed out that districts covering large areas such as Sagar, Dhar, Ujjain and Indore have numerous issues.

“Rationalisation of such districts will take place through the delimitation process,” he added.

Notably, it is the second such step (in terms of redefining the area) to be taken by CM Mohan Yadav in the last eight months.

Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh government had redefined the limits of police stations across the state.

“We paid attention to this issue soon after forming the government earlier this year. Madhya Pradesh, which is geographically the second-largest state in India, has its own area but some difficulties have arisen in this with time. It’s right to rectify those issues,” CM Yadav said.