About District

East Jaintia Hills District is one of the 11 (eleven) districts of the state of Meghalaya. With the bifurcation of the erstwhile Jaintia Hills District into East and West Jaintia Hills Districts, East Jaintia Hills District came into existence on 31st July 2012 with its headquarter at Khliehriat. East Jaintia Hills is the home of one of the major tribes of the state of Meghalaya popularly known as the ‘Jaintias’ or the ‘Pnars’ and other sub tribes like the ‘Wars’ and the ‘Biates’.

The district comprises all the villages of two Community and Rural Development Blocks viz. Saipung community & Rural Development Block and Khliehriat Community & Rural Development Block with the following boundaries:

History

East Jaintia Hills District was upgraded from the erstwhile Khliehriat Civil Sub-Division. Prior to the establishment of a Sub-Division, there was an Administrative Unit set up in August 14, 1976 with an objective to bring administration closer to the people at the grass roots level. After five and a half years, the unit was upgraded into a full-fledged Civil Sub-Division on May 27, 1982 with the Sub-Divisional Officer as an administrative head and then upgraded to a District on the 31st July 2012 with Khliehriat as its headquarter.

Geographical Location, Area and Climatic Condition

East Jaintia Hills District is located at the easternmost part of Meghalaya. It covers an area of 2040 sq. kms. It stands at an altitude of 1200 meters above sea level and is located between 25°.17~30: 25°.22~40 Latitude and 92°.15~20:92°.23~30 Longitude. It is bounded by Bangladesh in the South, North Cachar Hills District in the East and West Jaintia Hills District in the North and West. Its distance from the state capital is 97 kms and the National Highway 44 Connecting Shillong and the eastern part of Assam passes through the district.

Like the other parts of the state, East Jaintia Hills District has a very pleasant climate. The area experiences a humid subtropical monsoon type climate. The rainy season occurs from mid-May to September while the months of October and November are a bit cold. In the winter months the climate is dry and cold, almost similar to that of the state capital.

Natural Resources

Jaintia Hills District is rich in mineral resources like coal and limestone. It has a total deposit of 37.25 million tonnes of coal and 1054 million tonnes of limestone. Besides these two main natural resources, the area is also rich in forest produce. In term of agriculture, people cultivate rice as the major crop. Besides rice they also cultivate bettle-nut (kwai) and bettle-leaves (pathi/tympew), potato, sweet potato, maize, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, etc. Most of the farmers in the area depend on seasonal rainfall as only a small portion of the farming land is covered under irrigation.

Electoral Profile of the District in Brief

The East Jaintia Hills District consists of 2 (two) Assembly Constituencies, viz., 5-Sutnga Saipung (ST) and 6-Khliehriat (ST) and both the assembly constituencies fall under 1-Shillong (ST) Parliamentary Constituency.