Minister for Water Resources Basavaraj Bommai has said the real unification of all Kannada-speaking areas has remained a dream and problems faced by people living in the border areas within and outside Karnataka were yet to be fully tackled.
Mr. Bommai, who is also the Minister in charge of Gulbarga district, was speaking at an impressive function after hoisting the national flag and the Karnataka flag as part of Karnataka Rajyotsava celebrations at Nagareshwar School at Nehru Gunj locality here on Monday.
The Minister said that regional imbalance in development and economic growth needed to be addressed on a priority basis. After the unification of Kannada-speaking areas with the erstwhile Mysore State, benefits in key sectors were yet to reach all regions. “Many regions remain backward and deprived of basic amenities,” he said.
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The implementation of the recommendations of the Nanjundappa committee would bridge the gaps in development. The BJP Government in the State, which had initiated moves towards this was fully committed to providing the required funds to achieve the targets fixed by the Nanjundappa committee, Mr. Bommai said. “We are firm in our resolve to end regional imbalance and bring all the backward districts on a par with developed districts,” he added.
The Minister was of the opinion that political differences should not come in the way of taking up development activities. Blaming previous governments for the backwardness of the Hyderabad Karnataka region was not be the answer, he said.
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On the State's achievement of finishing second in the country in the implementation of the 20-Point Programme, Mr. Bommai said this had only increased the responsibility of the State to retain its position and improve its ranking. Officials should give more importance to the improvement of basic infrastructure facilities in rural areas, he said.
For Gulbarga
Referring to the development activities taken up in Gulbarga district, Mr. Bommai said the State Government had already decided to take up work on 700 km of roads in the districts of the Hyderabad Karnataka region, at a cost of Rs. 200 crore. A sum of Rs. 166 crore had been sanctioned for roadworks in Gulbarga district alone.
Besides, the Government would establish a super-speciality hospital, and had sanctioned an agriculture college as well as an information technology park at a cost of Rs. 21 crore, he said.
Procession
Later, Mr. Bommai participated in a ceremonial Rajyotsava procession.
Mayor Sunanda Rajaram, Chairman of the Hyderabad Karnataka Development Board (HKDB) Amarnath Patil, MLC Allamprabhu Patil, Regional Commissioner Rajneesh Goel, Deputy Commissioner R. Vishal, secretary of HKDB Shalini Rajneesh Goel and Superintendent of Police B.A. Padmanayan were among those present.