Deputy Commissioner N. Jayaram, who has been transferred after a long stint in Belagavi, was given a fond farewell by various organisations here on Sunday. Mr. Jayaram has been posted as CEO of the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board, Bengaluru.
Sri Siddarama Swami of Naganur Rudraskhi Mutt said the DC had helped children get books and scholarships from philanthropists. He has never shied from helping the poor and the deprived, the seer said. He added that as the regional commissioner and district magistrate, Mr. Jayaram had ensured that the district remained free of communal and linguistic violence.
Writer Ashok Chandargi thanked the government for giving Mr. Jayaram a tenure of four and a half years. He said no other DC had retained the post for so long since 1960. Mr. Jayaram responded to the praised by saying that he was merely doing his job. “I have never allowed political exigencies to take precedence over duties,” he said.
Describing the people of Belagavi as simple folk, he recalled how he had to persuade villagers not to remove their shoes while entering his chambers. “Finally, I had to instruct office attendants to ensure that they did not remove their shoes outside my door,” he said. “The biggest satisfaction has been to serve such people and to see them smile after their job was done.”
He recalled his past and said his parents, who were from modest means, worked hard to educate their seven children. I was born a village without a bus service. Residents of my village in rural Bengaluru have seen a bus in the last five years, he said.
He called for harmony among various linguistic groups in the district. People who reside in the district, but speak different languages are also Kannadigas. They should be treated as such. They want to be part of the mainstream and we should help them in that, he said. He asked activists to build relationships with members of linguistic minority groups.
Former Mayor Siddana Gouda Patil, retired judge Jinadatta Desai, writer Sarju Katkar, Sri Gurusiddha Swami of Karanji mutt, ZP CEO R. Ramachandran, BCC commissioner Shashidhar Kurer, DCP Amarnath Reddy and others were present.
Kannada Kriya Samiti, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Belagavi Hoteliers association, district small scale industries association, Nandana Makkala Dhama, Samata high school, Government vehicles drivers association, maxi cab and autorickshaw union, Kannada Sahitya Parishat and others organised the event.
