Poor infrastructure plagues newly formed Sargur taluk

Sargur town, presently in H D Kote taluk of Mysuru district, which will assume taluk status from January 1, 2018, is yet to get any infrastructure.

There is no place, so far, for even the Taluk Office and the Taluk Panchayat. The bifurcation of H D Kote taluk to form the Sargur taluk, along with 48 other new taluks across the state, was announced in the last budget (2017-18). However, except for a notification in this regard, no direction has been communicated to the District Administration, so far.

Out of the five hoblis in HD Kote taluk, Sargur and Kandalike hoblis will be under the new taluk. Already two offices of deputy tahsildars, an APMC market and branches of nationalised banks are functioning in the taluk. However, offices of 36 departments should be established and staffers should be deputed. But, so far, no department has received any communication in this regard.

"Works on drawing of the map and preparing of land records are under progress in the Revenue department," said Deputy Commissioner D Randeep. Tahsildar Nanjundaiah has convened a preliminary meeting of taluk-level officials on Wednesday at Sargur.

According to sources, the arrangements will begin once District in-charge Minister H C Mahadevappa holds a meeting of officials of all departments and issues directions to them. Members of Sargur Taluk Horata Samithi has invited Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to inaugurate the taluk during his scheduled tour of the district on January 10 and 11.

HD Kote, with an area of 1,813 sqkm, is the largest taluk in the district. Villages like Chikkabragi, Gendathuru and Beguru were around 40 km away from H D Kote town, the taluk headquarters. Residents of these villages, bordering the forests, were finding it difficult to travel up to HD Kote town to visit government offices and for other work. So, the people of this region were demanding the formation of a new taluk with Sargur as headquarters for over five decades. The demand turned into a people's movement since 1986. The people, who had submitted a memorandum in this regard to then chief minister D Devaraja Urs in the 1970s continued their efforts till they submitted a similar memorandum to then CM H D Kumarsawamy in the year 2006, when he visited the region to offer 'bagina' to the Kabini dam.

Various state government committees, including P C Gaddigouder Committee of 1987 and M B Prakash committee of 2007, formed to study the re-organisation of taluks had recommended the formation of Sargur taluk. Nanjundappa Committee on backward regions also had recommended formation of the taluk.

Old taluk HQ

Even under the erstwhile rulers of Mysuru, the Wadiyar kings, Surgur had been a taluk headquarters. Then, HD Kote was under Sargur taluk. In the year 1905, considering a few conveniences, the headquarters was shifted to HD Kote.

Those days there was no bridge across the Kapila River between Sargur and Tumbasoge, but rain was abundant. So, people used coracles to cross the river, which was a bit risky. The officials found Kote suitable to travel from Mysuru.

Earlier, Sargur was also known as Santhe Sargur and Kathhe Sargur. 'Santhe' because the weekly shandy, held on Fridays. In the 1960s when the Kabini dam across the river was constructed at Beechanahalli, the contractors, who were camping in Sargur, depended on donkeys (Kathhe) for transportaion of sand and other materials. So, there was a huge population of donkeys in the town.