Disappointed over the ‘lukewarm’ response for the creation of 43 new taluks in the state, the BJP leaders on Saturday decided to tour those taluks and launch an agitation against the state government.
The party, when it was in power, had announced the creation of these taluks.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who presented a revised budget for 2013-14 on Friday said: “Action will be taken for creation of new taluks in a phased-manner after examining the issues from all angles.”
But, the government has not allocated any funds to take up the ground work.
This has angered the BJP leaders as their government, headed by Jagadish Shettar, had earmarked `2 crore for the purpose in the budget.
The new taluks planned by the previous BJP government are: Guledgudda, Rabakavi-Banhatti and Ilkal in Bagalkot district, Nippani, Moodalgi and Kagawad in Belgaum, Hanur in Chamarajangar, Nyamathi in Davangere, Chitaguppa, Hulasur and Kamalanagar in Bidar, Kurugod, Kottur and Kampli in Bellary, Annigeri, Alnavar and Hubli City in Dharwad, Gajendragad and Lakshmeshwar in Gadag, Kalagi, Hunasagi, Kamalapur, Yadravi, Shahabad, Vadagera and Gurmitkal in Gulbarga and Yadgir, Kuknur, Kanakagiri and Karatagi in Koppal, Maski and Sirvar in Raichur, Brahmavar and Baindur in Udupi, Moodabidri and Kadaba in Dakshina Kannada, Yalahanka in Bangalore Urban and Bableshwar, Nidagundi, Tikota, Devarahipparagi, Talikote, Chadachan and Kolhar in Bijapur districts.
After the Congress came to power, revenue minister V Srinivas Prasad had said that the government has no plans to create any new taluks.
His statement was substantiated by the Chief Minister, who said that six to eight taluks had been added by the previous BJP government for ‘political purpose’ and all the four committees constituted to look into the demands of creating new taluks, had never recommended those six to eight taluks.
In view of this, the government will take a fresh look into the proposals before taking any final decision, he had added.
Meanwhile, the non-allocation of funds in the revised budget for the purpose has upset the BJP leaders.
They have now decided to use this issue as a tool to attack the Siddaramaiah government.
Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar alleged, “Creation of new taluks has been one of the long pending demands of people of those districts. The Congress government has deliberately not allocated funds towards infrastructure in the proposed taluks as the credit will go to the BJP.”
“Providing infrastructure in each taluk requires around Rs 2 crore. As 36 taluks of the total 43 taluks are in Mumbai-Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka region, the state government is not interested on this issue,” he claimed.