The Balochistan government has announced several measures to restructure administrative units in the province, including splitting Quetta district into East Quetta and West Quetta, it emerged on Saturday.

According to a notification issued by the Balochistan government’s Revenue Department on July 8, new divisions, districts, sub-divisions, tehsils and sub-tehsils have been created, while the boundaries of existing divisions and districts have also been realigned.

As a result, the province’s divisions have increased from eight to 11, and the number of districts has risen from 36 to 41.

One of the major decisions was the bifurcation of Quetta district into East Quetta and West Quetta along the railway line.

East Quetta now comprises the Saddar, City and Sariab sub-divisions, while West Quetta consists of Kuchlak and the newly created Brewery and Panjpai sub-divisions. Brewery tehsil has also been introduced.

Mastung district has been detached from Kalat division and included in Quetta division, which now has three districts.

Tribal chiefs and political leaders from the Sarawan region, as well as senior politician Nawabzada Haji Lashkari Raisani, had opposed the government’s plans.

Raisani had objected to altering the historical status of Mastung by shifting it from Kalat to Quetta division. He claimed this and other steps directly violate the historic 1948 accession agreement signed between the Khan of Kalat and Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Meanwhile, Kalat division has been bifurcated into Khuzdar and Lasbela divisions and will no longer be known as Kalat division.

Under the new arrangement, Khuzdar division comprises Khuzdar, Kalat, Surab and Wadh districts, while Lasbela division comprises Lasbela, Hub and Awaran districts.

New Wadh district has been created comprising Wadh, Ornach and Nal sub-divisions by detaching from Khuzdar district.

District Shaheed Sikan­darabad’s name has been changed to Surab, reversing last year’s decision. Sub-division Zehri and Tehsil Zehri have been detached from Khuzdar district and included in Surab district.

In Khuzdar district, new Baghbana and Moola sub-divisions have been created, new Tehsil Zeedi has been introduced, and Karkh has been upgraded from sub-tehsil to tehsil.

Khuzdar’s Saroona sub-tehsil will cease to exist as its Shahnoorani and Kalghalo Union Councils (UCs) have been included in Lasbela’s Kanraj sub-division.

The territorial limits of Khuzdar division’s Kalat district and Lasbela’s Awaran district remain unchanged.

In an interesting move, Makran division will now be spelled Makuran, while the spellings of Sibi division and Sibi city have been “rectified” as Sevi.

Upper Dera Bugti district has been renamed as North Dera Bugti, and similarly, Lower Dera Bugti will now be referred to as South Dera Bugti district.

In Makuran’s Gwadar district, new Ormara and Jiwani sub-divisions have been created.

In Naseerabad division, Jaffarabad district has been given a new Khanpur tehsil, while Sohbatpur district has received Jia Khan as a new sub-division and tehsil.

In Zhob division, the district of the same name has received Murgha Kibzai as a new sub-division, while Mani Khawa has been created as a sub-division in Sherani district.

Kachhi district has been detached from Naseerabad division and included in Sevi division. On the other hand, Ziarat and Harnai districts have been detached from Sevi division and included in Loralai division.

The territories of Pishin division’s Pishin, Qila Abdullah and Chaman districts remained unchanged.

However, a new Toba Kakari sub-division and tehsil have been created in Barshore district, while Sub-tehsil Barshore has been upgraded to a tehsil.

In Rakhshan division, Chagai district’s namesake tehsil has been upgraded to a sub-division and a new Nag sub-division has been introduced in Washuk district.

Koh-i-Suleman division’s Kohlu district now has a new Zarkuwana sub-division, new Tehsil Jandran and new Sub-tehsil Hosarhi. Another sub-division, Rara Sham, has been created in Barkhan district.