At the time of separation from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh originally had 16 districts. Two new districts: Bijapur and Narayanpur were carved out on May 11, 2007 and nine new districts on Jan 1, 2012. The new districts have been created by carving out the existing districts to facilitate more targeted, focused and closer administration. These districts have been named Sukma, Kondagaon, Balod, Bemetara, Baloda Bazar, Gariaband, Mungeli, Surajpur and Balrampur.A new District Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi came into existence on 10 February 2020 as the 28th district