Stage set for Dharwad to have a separate Mahanagara Palike

Dharwad: If all goes as planned, the days are not far when ‘Vidhya Kashi’ Dharwad would have its own Mahanagara Palike, which has been the demand of Dharwadigas for many decades.

Urban Development Minister Suresh B S (Byrathi Suresh) has agreed for a separate Mahanagara Palike for Dharwad City.

In a reply to Hubballi-Dharwad West MLA Arvind Bellad in the Legislative Assembly Session at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi on Tuesday, Suresh said, he would check whether Dharwad would fulfill the criteria for a separate Mahanagara Palike or not. Then he would take steps to make Dharwad a separate City Corporation.

The minister said, the population of 2011 is the criteria for the upgradation of an urban local body into a City Corporation. He said he would check whether Dharwad would meet the criteria contained in the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976.

Hubballi and Dharwad are twin cities, which are spread over 202.3 sq km, with a population of 9.43 lakh as per the 2011 census. The population density is 4,665 per sq km. The Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike (HDMP) has been formed for the administration of twin cities.

Criteria for a Palike

As per the KMC Act, to have a City Corporation for a City, the City should have more than three lakh population, the population density should not be less than 3,000 per sq km, the City should generate more than Rs 6 crore revenue from its own resources annually, and more than 50 per cent of the City population should be employed in non-agricultural sectors, among others Suresh said.

If Dharwad meets all these criteria, he said he would take action to form a separate Mahanagara Palike for Dharwad.

Earlier, raising a call attention motion, Bellad said, Dharwad comes under the HDMP and there is a need to carve out Dharwad from the HDMP for the City’s overall development.

The twin cities are rapidly growing and it is not possible to address the problems of the citizens of both the cities within time. Many organisations have been demanding for a bifurcation of HDMP, he noted.

For the overall development of Dharwad, it is necessary to have a separate Mahanagara Palike for Dharwad, Bellad said and also noted that Dharwad meets all criteria to be made into a City Corporation.

Send proposal

Minister Byrathi Suresh said, once the Dharwad deputy commissioner sends a proposal to the Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) for the formation of a separate Mahanagara Palike for Dharwad City with all the required documents, he (Suresh) would check the criteria, and if the City met all the criteria, he would take action for the formation of a separate Mahanagara Palike for Dharwad.

It may be mentioned that there has been a demand since long to form a separate Mahanagara Palike for Dharwad City, bifurcating it from the Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike, as Dharwad City has grown much beyond its means.

As the Union and State governments allot funds to City Corporations in the State, both, Hubballi and Dharwad are considered as one unit due to the HDMP. The people state that most of these funds are utilised for Hubballi City, and there is nothing much for Dharwad City.

They state that if a separate Mahanagara Palike is carved out for Dharwad City, then equal amount of funds would be allotted separately for Dharwad Mahanagara Palike, and it would not be tagged with Hubballi.