Khliehriat

Khliehriat is the headquarters of East Jaintia Hills district and is closely tied to the administrative evolution of the Jaintia (Pnar) hills. The district itself is relatively new in its current form. East Jaintia Hills district came into existence on 31 July 2012 after the bifurcation of the earlier Jaintia Hills district, with Khliehriat as its headquarters.

Khliehriat’s rise as an administrative centre also has earlier milestones. District-level information summarised in reference materials notes that Khliehriat was created as an administrative unit on 14 August 1976 and later upgraded to a civil sub-division on 27 May 1982, before ultimately becoming the district headquarters after the 2012 bifurcation.

As a headquarters town, Khliehriat developed core public facilities—government offices, healthcare, schools, and transport linkages—serving communities across the district’s rural blocks. Its present-day identity reflects this layered administrative history: a town shaped by local Pnar/Jaintia culture and community life, while also carrying the responsibilities of a modern district capital in eastern Meghalaya.