The Hindu : Front Page : Yadgir district to be carved out of Gulbarga; new status for Shahapur

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Yadgir district to be carved out of Gulbarga; new status for Shahapur

Special Correspondent

Decision on bifurcation of Belgaum district by year-end

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa (second from right) briefing presspersons about the Cabinet meeting in Gulbarga on Friday.

GULBARGA: The State Cabinet on Friday decided to bifurcate Gulbarga district and make Yadgir the headquarters of the new district.

Briefing presspersons about the Cabinet meeting held in Gulbarga after 26 years, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa announced constitution of a Cabinet Sub-Committee under the chairmanship of Revenue Minister G. Karunakar Reddy to recommend the new taluks to be included in Yadgir district within one month.

In-charge Deputy Commissioner of Gulbarga District K.J. Jagadeesh has been appointed Special Officer of the new district.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said the State Government had decided to allocate Rs. 50 crore for creating infrastructure in the new district and released Rs. 10 crore immediately towards this. In a decision to appease the feelings of those demanding location of headquarters of the new district at Shahapur, the Chief Minister said the Cabinet had decided to upgrade Shahapur as Revenue Sub-Division.

While the announcement was received with bursting of crackers and distribution of sweets in Yadgir, there were reports of tension in Shahapur. The police have tightened security in Shahapur.

To a question Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Government would take a decision on the long-pending demand for the bifurcation of Belgaum district , the biggest in the State, during the scheduled Assembly session in Belgaum in the year end. “Gulbarga district has been bifurcated with the main intention of helping faster development of the backward areas and for administrative convenience,”he said. Smaller district always fostered faster development, Mr. Yeddyurappa said.

The Cabinet decided to appoint a senior leader from the Hyderabad Karnataka region as the chairman of the committee, with Cabinet Minister’s rank, to monitor the implementation of the recommendations of the High Power Committee for Redressal of Regional Imbalances.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Cabinet had decided to include 200 villages in five districts of Gulbarga Division under the second phase of the Swarna Gramodaya Project to take up all-round development of these villages by sanctioning Rs. 1 crore each. The Chief Minister announced that the Bhakta Kanakadasa Jayanti on November 15 would be a public festival from this year and a general holiday would be declared on that day.

Special status

The Cabinet demanded the Centre to accord special status to Hyderabad Karnataka by amending Article 371 of the Constitution which would enable the State Government to provide reservation in employment and educational opportunities to the people of the region.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said that he would lead yet another all-party delegation to meet President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pressure the Centre to concede one of the long-pending demands of the State. “This will be the last all-party delegation to Union Government on this issue ….. we cannot be expected to wait infinitely,” he said. Blaming the Centre for the delay in executing the Bidar-Gulbarga railway line work, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that the issue came up for discussion at the Cabinet meeting and this issue along with the delay in executing Munirabad-Mehboobnagar Railway line work would be taken up with the Railway Minister Lalu Prasad soon.

He said the Cabinet had decided to step up the allocation for Bidar-Gulbarga railway line and at least Rs. 100 crore would be released by the State Government for the project.

The Cabinet urged the Centre to establish the Divisional Railway Headquarters in Gulbarga as per the recommendations of the Sareen Committee and establish the Divisional Office of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Gulbarga.

He said the Cabinet took note of the lack of national highway network in Hyderabad Karnataka and demanded the Union Surface Transport Ministry to declare the stretch from Bidar to Srirangapatna, which had been upgraded, as a National Highway immediately.

Allocation up

The Chief Minister said the Cabinet decided to increase the allocation for the Sannati Development Authority from Rs. 10 crore to Rs. 15 crore this year.

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