The state Cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to hold the 10-day session in the border town of Belagavi.
Prior to the session, the state Cabinet will hold a meeting on November 28. The move is in a bid to boost the morale of the people of Hyderabad-Karnataka and north Karnataka that are feeling neglected by successive governments.
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The ensuing session of legislature will be the fifth in Belagavi. It was in 2006 that the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, who was heading a coalition government, decided to hold the legislature session for the first time outside the state capital and chose Belagavi the venue.
Haunted frequently by border issue raised by the Maharashtra Ekikarana Samiti, it was imperative on the part of Karnataka to drive home the point that the issue was a foregone one and the Mahajan Commission’s report on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border issue was final. The Commission had been set up at the insistence of Maharashtra by the Centre and had stated that Belagavi was an integral part of Karnataka.
Deputy Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly N H Shivashankar Reddy, Deputy chairman of Legislative Council Puttanna are among others visited Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday and held discussion regarding the preparations with district officials. Deputy Commissioner Jayaram, Inspector General of Police (Northern range) Bhaskar Rao and other officers gave details of the arrangements made.
Besides other routine matters, problems faced by farmers, will be given attention during the session. The sugarcane growers in the state, particularly those in North Karnataka districts, are up in arms against the owners of sugar factories who have refused to pay Rs 2,500 a tonne of sugarcane supplied. The Dharwad Bench of Karnataka High Court has ordered the factory owners to pay Rs 2,500 a tonne but the sugar factory managements are not budging. The farmers are angry that the state government has not done anything to get the court order implemented.
During the last session of legislature at Belagavi, Vithal Arabhavi, a farmer from Kankanawadi in the district’s Raibag taluk, had died after consuming poison in front of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha when the legislature session was on. He committed suicide as a mark of protest against the state government’s apathy towards farmers’ woes. His death had sparked off violence and law and order problem.