He was speaking after inaugurating the ‘Gadinada Utsav’, organised jointly by Karnataka Border Area Development Authority, District Administration, Department of Kannada and Culture, in Hanur on Thursday.

Kanavi said neighbouring states have made their mother tongue as the administrative language. But, the parties that ruled the State in post-independence era had utterly failed to promote Kannada as administrative language. There was lot of differences in functioning of Kannada Watchdog Committee and Karnataka Border Area Development Authority, but such bodies’ work in tandem for welfare of people. The Kannada poet urged the government to implement Kannada as administrative language in the letter and spirit in the field of education, administration and judiciary.

 The aims and objectives of unification of Karnataka and language movements were never fulfiled by any government that ruled the State since independence. Besides, there was hue and cry over regional imbalance. Need of the hour was to develop the State as whole without any preferential treatment to any region, he said.

Kanavi said hundreds of persons from neighbouring Tamil Nadu migrating to Bangalore in search of jobs. The situation was not different in the border areas. The chairman of the Border Area Development Authority should pressurise the CM to hold pro-Kannada programmes in border areas. The authority chairman did not have powers to punish any official for non-implementation of Kannada but can only recommend to the government.

However, it has got powers to issue notice to such officials. Karnataka Border Area Development Authority Chairman Chandrakanth Bellad, members G S Jayadev, S Shivaprasad, Mohan Nagammanavar, Prof Subrava Entetthinavar, noted critic Giraddi Govindaraju, MLA R Narendra, former MLA Parimala Nagappa and others were present.