A meeting of the legislators of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region will be convened at Bangalore on July 10, to discuss about the issue of regional imbalance, in the light of the D M Nanjundappa Committee report and to prevail upon the State government to implement the report in letter and spirit, by doing away with the injustice meted out in the allocation of grants and funds for the eradication of backwardness in the region.

A decision to this effect was taken at the Round Table Conference of political parties and non-party associations organised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), here on Sunday.

 The conference was convened to highlight the continuation of negligence being practiced by the  present government, which has not only accepted the report but has also earmarked Rs 1,571 crore in the current year’s budget for overcoming the regional imbalance.

The legislators from the area have been asked to attend the Bangalore meeting without fail. Based on the outcome of the meeting the legislators will formulate an opinion and bring pressure on the government, irrespective of their political affiliations to put an end to injustice.  However, at the round table conference it was felt that if the government did not heed to the injustice suffered by the Hyderabad-Karnataka,further steps will have to be chalked out including launching of an agitation by all the political parties. Only two legislators B R Patil of Aland and Vaijanath Patil of Chincholi attended Sunday’s meeting, although the organisers had invited all legislators and the two ministers from the district to attend the conference. 

Minister for Agriculture Marketing Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, who is in charge of the district failed to turn up. The notable absentees were representatives from the two ruling coalition partners JD (S) and BJP.

Those who attended it included former minister Qamarul Islam, former district Congress committee president Sidramappa Ireddy, CPI leader Moula Mulla, JD (U) leader Basavaraj Ingin, Pranta Raitha Sangha leader Meghraj Kathare, and Hyderabad-Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Umakant Nigudgi.

In his introductory remarks State CPM Secretariat member and District Committee Secretary Maruti Manpade said the government has earmarked Rs 1571.50 cr for implementation of the Nanjundappa Committee report from the current year.

Moreover, Gulbarga region will get Rs 499.98 cr which would be less than Rs 128.62 cr than sought by Nanjundappa Committee. He wanted this glaring imbalance in the allocation of funds to be removed first.