The Karnataka state Cabinet on Friday approved the borders for the newly formed Vijayanagara district. Vijayanagara will now be the 31st district in the state, and will be carved out of the existing Ballari district. On 18 November, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had given an informal nod for the creation of the new district. He had asked officials to draw up boundaries for the new district before giving a formal nod.
According to the Chief Minister’s Office, Hospet, a town located about 12-km from Hampi, will be the district headquarters.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister JC madhuswamy said that Vijayanagara district will have six taluks including Hospet, Harappanahalli, Hoovinahadagali, Hagari Bommanahalli, Kotturu and Kudligi. "We will issue a notification soon," he added. The remaining taluks will be a part of the Ballari district.
The move comes as a boost to mining baron and Minister for Environment and Forests Anand Singh, who had championed the cause for carving out a separate Vijayanagara district. In September 2019, BS Yediyurappa had acknowledged Anand Singh’s proposal for creating a new district. Ever since, there have been heated debates as several politicians and groups staunchly opposed the move.
The Kalyana Karnataka Horata Samiti President Hirigeri Pannaraj said that the organisation would launch a protest after holding a meeting on Saturday.
“We have been fighting against the delimitation and creation of the new district. The government has decided to form the new district despite so many of us openly saying that we don’t want it. We will launch a protest tomorrow after a meeting with the United Ballari Horata Samiti,” he said.Hirigeri Pannaraj
The BJP MLA representing Ballari city G Somashekhar Reddy, brother of former legislator G Janardhana Reddy, called the proposal "selfish" and described it as one that Yediyurappa should not have agreed to, TNM had earlier reported. The opposition to the new district was highest in Ballari City, where farmer associations, lawyer groups and pro-Kannada groups led by BJP leaders Somashekara Reddy and Karunakara Reddy, both brothers of the former minister and mining baron Janardhana Reddy, held protests against the move.
CMO sources said that Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa approved of creating the new district primarily to ensure that the administration runs smoothly. “Some of the areas in Ballari are very far from Ballari City. This makes it difficult for those from the economically backward sections, daily-wage workers and even farmers to navigate and get their work done,” the CMO source said.
(This story was first published in The News Minute and has been republished with permission)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)