NEW DELHI: The political maps of newly-formed
Union Territories of J&K and
Ladakh, released by the Survey General of India, depict UT of J&K as comprising 22 districts including Muzaffarabad and Mirpur in PoK. The UT of Ladakh, as per the latest map, has two districts of Kargil and Leh, with the latter encompassing the erstwhile districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, Tribal Territory, and Leh and Ladakh.
The districts in UT of J&K, as per the new map, include Kathua, Jammu, Samba, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban, Poonch, Kulgam, Shopian, Srinagar, Anantnag, Budgam, Pulwama, Ganderbal, Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad.
The UT of Ladakh, as per the official map, will comprise the districts of Kargil, carved out of area of Leh and Ladakh district as outlined in 1947, and Leh, which will encompass the erstwhile districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, Tribal Territory, and areas of Leh and Ladakh remaining after carving of Kargil.
In 1947, the former state of
Jammu and Kashmir had 14 districts, namely, Kathua, Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Anantnag, Baramulla, Poonch, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Leh and Ladakh, Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, and Tribal Territory.
By 2019, the state government of former J&K had reorganized the areas of these 14 districts into 28 districts. The names of the new districts are Kupwara, Bandipur, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shupian, Kulgam, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda, Kishtivar, Samba and Kargil.
Out of these, Kargil district was carved out from the area of Leh and Ladakh district. The Leh district of the new Union Territory of Ladakh has been defined in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Removal of Difficulties) Second Order, 2019, issued by the President of India, to include the areas of the districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territory of 1947, in addition to the remaining areas of Leh and Ladakh districts of 1947, after carving out the Kargil District.
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On this basis, the maps prepared by Survey General of India depicting the new Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, as created on 31 October 2019, along with the map of India, have been released.
The UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh are headed by lieutenant governors G C Murmu and R K Mathur, respectively.
This is for the first time that a state was converted into two UTs. The total number of states in the country are now 28, while the total UTs have gone up to nine.
The UT of Jammu and Kashmir has a legislature like Puducherry while Ladakh will stay a UT without legislature like Chandigarh.