Vijayanagar to be 31st district in Karnataka?

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has made a case for carving out a new district of Vijayanagar from Ballari, and has directed Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar to place the proposal before the next Cabinet meeting.

If this comes through, Vijayanagar will be Karnataka’s 31st district.

On Thursday, Yediyurappa moved a note to the chief secretary, a day after he met a delegation led by Vijayanagar’s disqualified MLA Anand Singh who demanded creation of the new district.

In his note, CM B S Yediyurappa underlined the fact that Ballari had 11 revenue taluks and three revenue sub-divisions.

“Some of the regions of the district are at a distance of 200 kms from the district headquarters. This makes it difficult for farmers, economically backward sections, day labourers and others living in taluks farther away to travel for official work,” the note stated.

For the convenience of the general public and ease of administration, Yediyurappa has suggested carving out a new Vijayanagar district with Hosapete as its headquarters.

Of the 11 taluks, five - Ballari, Kurugodu, Siraguppa, Sandur and Kudligi - will be part of Ballari district, while six other taluks - Hospete, Kampli, Hagaribommanahalli, Kottur, Hadagali and Harappanahalli - will constitute the new Vijayanagar district.

The delegation that met Yediyurappa on Wednesday contended that the new district would not only boost tourism at the UNESCO heritage site of Hampi, but also ease administration in the large district.

Politically, the move could benefit Singh as he is likely to make it the centre of his campaign when he faces bypolls to the Vijayanagar assembly constituency.

Yadgir was the last district created in Karnataka when it was carved out of Kalaburagi in 2009.

For long now, there have been demands carve out Chikkodi as a separate district from Belagavi, which is Karnataka’s largest district in terms of area.

In terms of the geographical area, Ballari is the seventh-largest behind Kalaburagi, Tumakuru, Vijayapura, Uttara Kannada and Shivamogga.