West Dinajpur district was created out of the erstwhile Dinajpur district in 1947 at the time of partition of India. The rest of the Dinajpur district is now in Bangladesh. The West Dinajpur district was enlarged in 1956 at the time of reorganization of the State with the addition of some areas of Bihar. The district was bifurcated into Uttar Dinajpur and Dakshin Dinajpur on 01.04.1992. The erstwhile Balurghat sub-division along with Banshihari and Kushmandi blocks (which were in Raigunj Sub-Division prior to the bifurcation) comprise the new district.