BENGALURU: If all goes as planned, Karnataka will gets its 31st district. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has said that a new district – Vijayanagara -- will be carved out of Ballari district.Yediyurappa wrote a letter to Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar on Thursday to place this proposal before the next cabinet meeting. The letter states that Ballari district has 11 taluks and it is the biggest district in the state. However, in some parts of the district, people have to travel 200km to reach the district headquarters.
As per his proposal, in order to improve administration, the five taluks of Ballari-Kurugodu, Siruguppa, Sandur and Kudligi will be part of Ballari district while the remaining taluks -- Hosapete, Kampli, Hagaribommanahalli, Kotturu, Hoovina Hadagali and Harpanahalli -- will be part of the proposed new district, with Hosapete as the headquarters. If his proposal sails through, then Hampi will come under this new district.
Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar said that recently, a few elected representatives and religious heads met the CM, requesting him to form a new district. “Based on their request, the CM has written a letter,’’ he confirmed.It may be noted that Health Minister B Sriramulu was keen on becoming district in-charge minister of Ballari. However, Deputy CM Lakshman Savadi got the district. Party sources said that this would help Yediyurappa make former Vijayanagara MLA Anand Singh in charge of the newly formed district.
“One of the reasons why Sriramulu did not get Ballari was because Singh was also eyeing Ballari. Once the new district is formed, Anand Singh’s constituency will fall into the proposed Vijayanagara district and thus, both their issues can be solved without much difficulty,’’ sources said. People have now demanded the formation of a Chikkodi district out of Belagavi district for better administration.