Rangpur becomes a division

The government has carved out the northwestern Rangpur region as a new administrative division comprising eight districts of greater Rangpur and Dinajpur. FULL STORY

Dhaka, Jan 25 (bdnews24.com)— The government has carved out the northwestern Rangpur region as a new administrative division comprising eight districts of greater Rangpur and Dinajpur.

The decision came from a Cabinet Division meeting of the National Implementation Committee for Administrative Reforms (NICAR), chaired by prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday, her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters.

The total population of the new division is 13,847,000. The eight districts are Rangpur, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Lalmonirhat, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon.

Rangpur becomes Bangladesh's seventh divisional headquarters after Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Barisal and Rajshahi.

Azad said the cabinet, in a meeting on July 13 last year, had formed a committee to implement the decision to make Rangpur a new division. The committee submitted its report on July 21.

The meeting also approved formation of four new metropolitan thanas in Barisal City and reformation of one thana. The new metropolitan police stations are Kaunia, Airport, Bandarganj and Babuganj while the reformed thana is Kotwali.

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