Debate over division of Belagavi district crops up again

A debate on the division of Belagavi district has come to the fore again with two Ministers Satish Jarkiholi and Lakshmi Hebbalkar saying that they will press for it at the highest level.

Belagavi is the second largest district by population after Bengaluru and among the four largest districts by area.

It has 18 Assembly constituencies in 15 taluks. Its over 1,400 villages and hamlets are governed by 506 gram panchayats. Residents of tail-end villages like Tailsang or Kikkeri have to travel 250 km to reach the district headquarters.

The demand for division into two or three new districts has been pending since the district delimitation of 1997.

The division, in fact, was announced twice in the past, but never implemented. One of the reasons for the delay is the concern expressed by Kannada organisations that Marathi-speaking areas will be consolidated around Belagavi city, if Kannada majority areas like Athani and Gokak are taken away for forming new districts.

However, with the reduced political influence of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti in district politics and due to a shared opinion among residents of farflung taluks, there seems to be a consensus among law-makers about the need for division.

While Satish Jarkiholi has been talking about it for several months, Lakshmi Hebbalkar has said that she will write to the government after the Dasara celebrations.

Opposition leaders do not seem to oppose the idea. BJP MLA Abhay Patil said that he does not oppose it.

“It, however, should be done for reasons of administrative convenience and not political benefit,” he said.

“Division of the district will help people and aid its development. We demand that all the 18 MLAs should be consulted before any final decision on division or the outlines of the new districts is taken. Till then, additional posts of tahsildars, sub-divisional magistrates, additional deputy commissioners and other officers should be created and officers posted,” Mr. Patil demanded.

“A district of this size becomes unwieldy for administrators,” said a senior officer.

“Officers find it difficult to administer and to address public grievances in such a large area. If a district level officer from the zilla panchayat decides to visit one gram panchayat a day, he needs one and a half years to complete his task. North Karnataka districts are generally larger compared to those in the south. Belagavi is the biggest,” said a senior revenue officer.

“For instance, the total population of Udupi district is around that of Belagavi taluk. The average number of taluks per district in the State is seven. But Belagavi has double the number. There is a strong case for division, due to administrative reasons,” he added.

He also pointed out that three delimitation committees have recommended the division of the district.

The only point of contention seems to be in deciding the headquarter towns of the new districts.

Meanwhile, Satish Jarkiholi has favoured the creation of new Chikkodi and Gokak districts.

There have been demands to create Bailhongal, Athani and Ramdurg districts too.

Officers say that there is no clarity on the issue. “The issue has to be proposed from the ground and finalised at the highest levels in the Revenue Department. A committee will be formed to finalise the boundaries,” a revenue officer said.