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Other districts are further divided into administrative units such as subdivisions and blocks, administered by SDO and BDO, respectively. Kolkata, the capital of the state, constitutes the Kolkata district. ĭivisions are administered by Divisional Commissioners. The districts are grouped into five divisions. West Bengal is now divided into 23 districts which includes the newly formed Alipurduar district (formed on 25 June 2014), Kalimpong district (formed on 14 February 2017), Jhargram district (formed on 4 April 2017), and the splitting of the former Bardhaman district into Purba Bardhaman district and Paschim Bardhaman district (formed on 7 April 2017).
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Later, larger districts such as West Dinajpur, 24 Parganas and Midnapore were bifurcated. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 led to addition of Purulia district to the state and to enlargement of West Dinajpur district. The former princely state Koch Bihar joined as a district on 26 January 1950, and the former French enclave Chandannagore joined as part of the Hooghly district in 1954. In 1947, when India gained independence, the state of West Bengal was formed, with 14 districts, as per partition plan of the then Bengal province of British India. Geographically, West Bengal is divided into a variety of regions- Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, Terai and Dooars region, North Bengal plains, Rarh region, Western plateau and high lands, coastal plains, Sunderbans and the Ganga Delta. The Siliguri Corridor, which connects North-East India with rest of the India, lies in the North Bengal region of the state. Between them, the river Ganga flows eastwards and its main distributary, the Hooghly River, flows south to reach the Bay of Bengal. The Himalayas lies in the of West Bengal and the Bay of Bengal is at the south.