Chhattisgarh, a state of India, has 33 administrative districts, up from 16 districts it had in 2000 when it was formed as a new state.

Background

A district of an Indian state is an administrative geographical unit, headed by a district magistrate or a deputy commissioner, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service. The district magistrate or the deputy commissioner is assisted by a number of officials belonging to different wings of the administrative services of the state.

A superintendent of police, an officer belonging to Indian Police Service, is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues.

History

British Raj

Before Indian independence, present-day Chhattisgarh state was divided between the Central Provinces and Berar, a province of British India, and a number of princely states in the north, south, and east, which were part of the Eastern States Agency.

The British province encompassed the central portion of the state, and was made up of three districts, Raipur, Bilaspur, and Durg, which made up the Chhattisgarh Division of the Central Provinces. In 1906, Durg District was created out of the western portion of Raipur District.

The northern portion of the state, comprising present-day Koriya, Surajpur, Surguja, Jashpur, and Raigarh districts, was divided among the six princely states of Chang Bhakar, Jashpur, Koriya, Surajpur, Raigarh, Surguja, and Udaipur. To the west, the states of Nandgaon, Khairagarh, Chhuikhadan and Kawardha comprised parts of present-day Rajnandgaon and Kawardha districts. In the south, the state of Kanker comprised the northern portion of present-day Kanker District, and the state of Bastar included present-day Bastar and Dantewada districts and the southern part of Kanker District.

1947-1999: Post-independence of India

After Indian Independence, the princely states were merged with the Central Provinces and Berar to form the new state of Madhya Pradesh. Present-day Chhattisgarh comprised seven districts of Madhya Pradesh. The former states of Kanker and Bastar formed the new Bastar District, the parts of Surguja, Korea, and Chang Bhakar formed the new Surguja District, and the states of Nandgaon, Khairagarh, Chhuikhadan and Kawardha formed the new Rajnandgaon District.

In 1998, the seven districts that make up present-day Chhattisgarh were reorganized to form 16 districts. Dantewada and Kanker districts were split from Bastar; Dhamtari District was split from Raipur; Janjgir-Champa and Korba districts were split from Bilaspur; Jashpur District was split from Raigarh; Kawardha District was formed from parts of Bilaspur and Rajnandgaon; Koriya and Surajpur District was split from Surguja; and Mahasamund District was split from Raipur.

2000: Chhattisgarh as new state

On 1 November 2000, these 16 districts were split from Madhya Pradesh to form the new state of Chhattisgarh.Creation of Chhattisgarh Government of Chhattisgarh.

2007 onwards: growth in number of districts

On 11 May 2007, two new districts, Bijapur and Narayanpur were carved out, taking the total number of districts to 18.

On 1 January 2012, the Chhattisgarh government announced 9 new districts, for a total of 27, including newly created Sukma, Kondagaon, Balod, Bemetara, Baloda Bazar, Gariaband, Mungeli, Surajpur and Balrampur districts.

On 15 August 2019, the Chhattisgarh chief minister announced the creation of Chhattisgarh's 28th district, Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi, which was formally inaugurated on 10 February 2020 as the new district.

In September 2022, five new districts were inaugurated taking the total to 33 districts, including newly created Manpur-Mohla on 2 September, Sarangarh-Bilaigarh on 3 September, and Manendragarh and Sakti districts on 9 September, Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai on 3 September 2022

Regions and divisions

Chhattisgarh has 3 geographical regions:

North - Northern Hills Region: covered by Surguja division (HQ at Ambikapur). Centre - Chhattisgarh Plains: covered by Durg, Raipur, Bilaspur divisions (each with eponymous HQ city). South - Bastar Plateau: covered by Bastar division (HQ at Jagdalpur).

Existing districts of Chhattisgarh

Alphabetical list of districts

Chhattisgarh consists of 33 districts.Chhattisgarh at a glance-2002 Govt. of Chhattisgarh official website.List of Chhattisgarh District Centres at'NIC, Chhattisgarh official PortalMathew, K.M. (ed.). Manorama Yearbook 2008, Kottayam: Malayala Manorama, ISSN 0542-5778, p.518

Code District Headquarters Population (2011) Area (km2) Density (/km2) Official website Map 1 BD Balod Balod 826,165 3,527.00 234http://balod.gov.in/ 2 BB Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara Baloda Bazar 1,078,911 3,733.87 290https://balodabazar.gov.in/ 3 BP Balrampur Balrampur 730,491 6,016.34 100http://balrampur.gov.in/ 4 BA Bastar Jagdalpur 834,873 6,596.90 213http://bastar.gov.in/ 5 BE Bemetara Bemetara 795,759 2,854.81 279 http://bemetara.gov.in/ 6 BJ Bijapur Bijapur 255,230 6,552.96 39 http://bijapur.gov.in/ 7 BI Bilaspur Bilaspur 1,625,502 3,511.10 463http://bilaspur.gov.in/ 8 DW Dantewada Dantewada 283,479 3,410.50 83http://dantewada.gov.in/ 9 DH Dhamtari Dhamtari 799,781 4,081.93 196http://dhamtari.gov.in/ 10 DU Durg Durg 1,721,948 2,319.99 742http://durg.gov.in/ 11 GBGariaband Gariaband 597,653 5,854.94 103http://gariaband.gov.in/ 12 GP Gaurella-Pendra-Marwahi Gaurella 336,420 2,307.39 166 https://gaurela-pendra-marwahi.cg.gov.in/ 13 JC Janjgir-Champa Janjgir 972,453 2375.59 360http://janjgir-champa.gov.in/ 14 JA Jashpur Jashpur 851,669 6,457.41 132https://jashpur.nic.in/en/ 15 KD Kabirdham Kawardha 822,526 4,447.05 185http://kawardha.gov.in/ 16 KK Kanker Kanker 748,941 6,432.68 117http://kanker.gov.in/ 17 KG Kondagaon Kondagaon 578,326 6,050.73 96http://kondagaon.gov.in/ 18 KC Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai Khairagarh 368,444 1553.84 237 https://s351ef186e18dc00c2d31982567235c559.s3waas.gov.in/ 19 KB Korba Korba 1,206,640 7,145.44 169http://korba.gov.in/ 20 KO Koriya Baikunthpur 247,427 2001.779 37http://korea.gov.in/ 21 MA Mahasamund Mahasamund 1,032,754 4,963.01 208 http://mahasamund.gov.in/ 22 MC Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur Manendragarh 376,000 4226 89 https://manendragarh-chirmiri-bharatpur.cg.gov.in/en/ 23 MM Mohla-Manpur- Ambagarh Chowki Mohla 283,947 2145.29 132 https://mohla-manpur-ambagarhchowki.cg.gov.in/en/ 24 MG Mungeli Mungeli 701,707 2,750.36 255 http://mungeli.gov.in 25 NP Narayanpur Narayanpur 139,820 6,922.68 20 http://narayanpur.gov.in/ 26 RG Raigarh Raigarh 1,112,982 6527.44 170http://raigarh.gov.in/ 27 RP Raipur Raipur 2,160,876 2,914.37 742http://raipur.gov.in/ 28 RN Rajnandgaon Rajnandgaon 884,742 8,070 110http://rajnandgaon.gov.in/ 29 SB Sarangarh-Bilaigarh Sarangarh 607,434 1650.14 368 https://sarangarh-bilaigarh.cg.gov.in/ 30 SK Sakti Sakti 653,036 1600.88 408 https://sakti.cg.gov.in/ 31 SU Sukma Sukma 250,159 5,767.02 43https://sukma.gov.in/ 32 SJ Surajpur Surajpur 789,043 4,998.26 158http://surajpur.gov.in/ 33 SG Surguja Ambikapur 840,352 5,019.80 167http://surguja.gov.in/

List of districts by divisions

Divisions listed north to south and east to west, and within divisions the districts have been listed clockwise starting from northwest.

North Chhattisgarh: Surguja division (HQ: Amikapur) Balrampur-Ramanujganj Jashpur Koriya Manendragarh Surajpur Surguja Central Chhattisgarh: North-Central Chhattisgarh: Bilaspur division (HQ: Bilaspur) Bilaspur Gaurella-Pendra-Marwahi Janjgir-Champa Korba Mungeli Raigarh Sakti Sarangarh-Bilaigarh East-Central Raipur division (HQ: Raipur, also the state capital) Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara Dhamtari Gariaband Mahasamund Raipur West-Central Chhattisgarh: Durg division (HQ: Durg) Balod Bemetara Durg Kabirdham (Kawardha) Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki Rajnandgaon South Chhattisgarh Bastar division (HQ: Jagdalpur) Bastar Bijapur Dantewada (Dakshin Bastar) Kanker (Uttar Bastar) Kondagaon Narayanpur Sukma

List of districts with their major cities

District Headquarter Largest city Other cities or towns 1 Raipur Raipur Raipur Naya Raipur, Sarona, Tatibandh, Nardaha, Ama Seoni, Kendri, Mana, Mana Camp, Sejbahar, Saddu, Daldal Seoni, Mowa, Kharora, Arang, Dharsiwa, Siltara, Birgaon, Tilda 2 Bilaspur Bilaspur Bilaspur Kota (Kargi Road), Ratanpur, Takhatpur, Masturi, Bilha, Beltara 3 Durg Durg Bhilai Charoda, Kumhari, Utai, Anda, Dhamdha, Patan, Risali, Ahiwara, Supela, Jamul, Rasmara, Baghera 4 Korba Korba Korba Katghora, Pali, Dipka 5 Raigarh Raigarh Raigarh Kharsia, Gharghora, Dharamjaigarh 6 Rajnandgaon Rajnandgaon Rajnandgaon Dongargarh, Dongargaon, Chhuriya 7 Koriya Baikunthpur Baikunthpur Sonhat, Patna, Churcha 8 Surguja Ambikapur Ambikapur Sitapur 9 Balrampur Balrampur Ramanujganj 10 Jashpur Jashpur-Nagar Jashpur-Nagar Kunkuri, Patthalgaon 11 Surajpur Surajpur Surajpur Bishrampur, Bhatgaon, Pratappur, Prem Nagar, Ramanuj Nagar, Bhaiyathan, Odagi 12 Janjgir–Champa Janjgir Champa Janjgir, Akaltara 13 Mungeli Mungeli Mungeli Lormi, Sargaon, Pathariya 14 Kabirdham Kawardha Kawardha Pandariya, Pandatarai 15 Bemetara Bemetara Bemetara Saja, Berla, Navagarh, Deokar 16 Balod Balod Balod Dalli-Rajhara, Dondi Lohara, Dondi 17 Baloda Bazar-Bhatapara Baloda Bazar Bhatapara Balodabazar, Bhatapara, Kasdol, Simga, Palari, Bilaigarh 18 Gariaband Gariaband Gariaband Fingeshwar, Chhura, Gariaband, Deobhog, Mainpur 19 Mahasamund district Mahasamund Mahasamund Saraipali, Basna, Pithoura, Mahasamund, Bagbahra 20 Dhamtari Dhamtari Dhamtari Kurud, Nagri 21 Bijapur Bijapur Bijapur 22 Narayanpur Narayanpur Narayanpur 23 North Bastar Kanker Kanker Bhanupratapur 24 Bastar Jagdalpur Jagdalpur Bastar 25 South Bastar Dantewada Dantewada 26 Kondagaon Kondagaon Kondagaon 27 Sukma Sukma Sukma Konta 28 Gaurella-Pendra-Marwahi Gaurella Gaurella, Pendra, Marwahi Pendra, Pendraroad 29 Manendragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur Manendragarh Chirmiri Manendragarh, Khongapani 30 Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai Khairagarh Khairagarh Chhuikhadan 31 Sakti Sakti SaktiBaradwar, Malkharoda, Jaijaipur, Dabhra, Chandrapur, Hasaud, Adbhar, Bhothiya 32 Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki Mohla Ambagarh Chowki Manpur, Mohla, Ambagarh Chowki, Aundhi33 Sarangarh-Bilaigarh Sarangarh Sarangarh Bilaigarh

Proposals for administrative reorganization

Proposals for administrative restructuring and boundary reorganization in Chhattisgarh are primarily driven by objectives related to decentralizing governance, accelerating economic development in remote regions, and improving public service delivery in areas historically affected by Left-Wing Extremism (LWE). Proponents argue that smaller administrative units and localized headquarters enhance state presence and improve access to health, education, and infrastructure frameworks.

State Capital Region

There are ongoing proposals to officially establish a unified Raipur State Capital Region (SCR). This planned metropolitan region would encompass the urban areas of Raipur, Nava Raipur, Bhilai, and Durg under a single regional development authority to facilitate integrated infrastructure planning and investment coordination.

Proposed regional capitals

To promote balanced regional growth and decentralize administrative functions, several centrally located urban hubs have been proposed as regional capitals or primary divisional headquarters: Ambikapur: Proposed as the primary urban and administrative anchor for northern Chhattisgarh (Surguja region). Bilaspur: Proposed to serve as the administrative focus for the north-central region. Benoor: Proposed as a central administrative capital for the upper-south (Bastar) region to bring governance offices closer to interior areas. Puwarti: Proposed as a lower-south regional capital, located within interior LWE-affected zones, to anchor development-led civic initiatives.

Proposed administrative divisions