Karnataka   

People’s views sought on formation of new taluks

FIRST STEP: Home Minister V.S. Acharya (left) going through documents at the meeting on formation of Brahmavar taluk on Saturday. K. Raghupati Bhat, MLA, and Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha are seen.

Brahmavar (Udupi district): Home Minister and Udupi district in-charge V.S. Acharya said that 29 new taluk would be created in the State in the next three to six months.

He was speaking at a meeting, organised by the district administration, to elicit public opinion on the formation of Brahmavar taluk, here.

Dr. Acharya said that the creation of 29 new taluks would be taken up in two phases. Preference would be given for creation of taluks in the seven districts created in 1997. Accordingly, two taluks, Brahmavar and Byndoor, would be created in Udupi district, he said.

Since the Brahmavar taluk would be created from the existing Udupi taluk, the gram panchayats should decide on the taluk they wanted to be in. The creation of Brahmavar taluk had been recommended by the Vasudeva Rao Commission in 1974 and the T.M. Hundekar Commission in 1984, Dr. Acharya said. Zilla panchayat member Bhujanga Shetty welcomed the decision to create Brahmavar taluk. The mini Vidhan Soudha for the new taluk should be built in the 15-acre plot, reserved for it by the Varamballi Gram Panchayat about a decade ago, because of its connectivity with national highway 17, Mr. Shetty said.

Zilla panchayat member Janardhan Tonse said that Moodutonse and Padutonse villages should remain in Udupi taluk as it was the desire of the people and the gram panchayats there. Besides, Udupi was nine km from these villages whereas Brahmavar was about 12 km. There were direct buses to Udupi from these villages. If transferred to the new taluk, people from these villages would have to change buses to reach Brahmavar, he said.

Venkatrao Naik, citizen, said that the four gram panchayats of Chantar, Handady, Varamballi and Harady should be combined to create Brahmavar town municipality.

Raghavendra Uppoor, citizen, said that Kodibengre village should remain in Udupi taluk. Another citizen, Chittaranjan Hegde, said that Kukkehalli, Perdoor and Kurpady villages should be included in the proposed Brahmavar taluk.

President of Perdoor Gram Panchayat Suresh Shervegar, however, said that Perdoor, Kukkehalli and Bairampalli should remain in Udupi taluk, as Udupi was nearer to the people of these villages. He said that the gram panchayats had passed a resolution to this affect. Since these villages had been included in the Kaup Assembly constituency, it would be easier for people to visit Udupi and Kaup, than Brahmavar. They would have to change two buses to go over to Brahmavar, he said.

Zilla panchayat member B.N. Shankar Poojary and the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, Jnanavasanth Shetty and Baikady Suprasad Shetty, welcomed the creation of Brahmavar taluk panchayat.

Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha said that the border villages should not be hasty in taking a decision in this regard. They should realise that the creation of Brahmavar taluk would attract more funds which could be passed on to the villages. Besides, Udupi taluk would cater to three lakh people and the proposed Brahmavar taluk to 2.5 lakh people. Hence the chances of development projects getting a boost in the new talukc are more, she said.

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