The cabinet meeting is meant as a strong signal that the Karnataka government is keen on resolving the issues faced by Kalyana Karnataka. The state government has chaired six cabinet meetings in the last seven decades at Kalaburagi, the first of which was held in 1981.
Published Sep 17, 2024 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 17, 2024 | 6:13 PM
Cabinet meeting at Kalaburagi to be chaired by CM Siddaramiah
The countdown for the first cabinet meeting of the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government outside the state capital Bengaluru has begun; the state cabinet is set to meet at Kalaburagi on Tuesday, 17 September.
The previous cabinet meeting at Kalaburagi in 2014 was also held during Siddaramaiah’s term as chief minister of Karnataka.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah reached Kalaburagi on 16 September and is scheduled to convene the cabinet meeting after the celebration of Kalyana-Karnataka Liberation Day, observed every year to commemorate the integration of Hyderabad into the Indian Union in 1948.
There are high hopes that the cabinet meeting at Kalaburagi, taking place after over a decade, would take important decisions on the development of the seven districts in the region – Bidar, Kalaburagi, Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal, Vijayanagara and Ballari.
There are expectations that two district headquarters of Kalyana Karnataka would be made corporations. (Kalyana Karnataka is the name of the region of North Karnataka formerly known as Hyderabad Karnataka; before Independence, this region was part of the Kingdom of Hyderabad, ruled by the Nizams and the Madras Presidency of British India).
Irrigation projects and recruitment for filling vacant positions in the state government, improving health infrastructure and setting up skill development centres are all part of the agenda of the cabinet meeting.
The meeting is meant as a strong signal that the state government is keen on resolving the issues faced by Kalyana Karnataka. The state government has chaired six cabinet meetings in the last seven decades at Kalaburagi, the first of which was held in 1981 when the late Congress leader R Gundu Rao was at the helm.
It then took 27 years after that for the state government to hold the second cabinet meeting at Kalaburagi. During the regime of BJP’s former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, the government chaired three cabinet meetings in three consecutive years – 2008, 2009, and 2010.
The next cabinet meeting at Kalaburagi was held in 2012 when Belagavi MP Jagadish Shettar was the chief minister. In 2014, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chaired the cabinet meeting at Kalaburagi.
Minister of Minor Irrigation NS Boseraju said, “The cabinet ministers from the Kalyana Karnataka had approached the chief minister seeking that he chair the cabinet meeting in Kalaburagi. We asked him to chair it here as he will be coming to this district on the commemoration of Kalyana Karnataka Liberation Day on 17 September.”
“The main intention is to assert that the government is concerned about the development of the Kalyana Karnataka region,” Boseraju said, explaining that cabinet meetings were likely to be held in other regions too in the coming days.
Chief Minister’s Financial Advisor and Yelburga MLA Basavaraj Rayareddy told South First: “It is a healthy sign that the government is holding a cabinet meeting outside the state capital, especially in Kalyana Karnataka. This will send a strong message to everyone that the government is concerned about the development of Kalyana Karnataka.”
“The government must regularly hold such meetings in all the regions, resulting in an impetus for several development projects,” said the former minister.
“Discussions will be held on schemes formulated in the budget for the development of the Kalyana Karnataka region and other important issues. Employment opportunities for the people of the districts in Kalyana Karnataka and the setting up of a secretariat here,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, explaining his government’s priorities.
It is also important to note that the Siddaramaiah government has allocated a whopping ₹5,000 crore exclusively for the development of Kalyana Karnataka in its budget for the fiscal year 2024-25. This is the highest allocation to any region excluding Bengaluru for development works in this budget.
A senior cabinet minister who sought anonymity told South First, “The cabinet is likely to clear irrigation projects worth ₹350 crore for Kalyana Karnataka. It is anticipated to give its nod to the upgradation of Bidar and Raichur City Municipal Councils to corporations – that is a demand pending for eight months before the government.”
He mentioned that skill development centres are likely to be announced for Koppal and Kalaburagi districts. “There are around 20 to 25 subjects that are coming up before the cabinet on Tuesday. The government has allocated ₹5,000 crore for the ongoing fiscal year to the region. The cabinet is expected to take stock of the expenditure of the allocated grants,” the minister said.
It may be recalled that the government sanctioned over one lakh posts under the Article 371 (J), which offers special provisions for appointments for Kalyana-Karnataka region. Of the sanctioned posts, at least 25,000 are vacant.
Yadgir’s Shorapur MLA Raja Venugopal Naik, elected from a constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribes, told South First: “The government’s decision to hold the cabinet meeting in Kalyana Karnataka will send a good message to the people. We expect announcements of irrigation projects that are long pending; we expect development works for Yadgir, especially Shorapur. We hope for grants for the development of roads in rural areas.”
(Edited by Rosamma Thomas)
