Times News Network

Bangalore, Jun 22: Gabbar Singh’s Ramgarh will now become a district. Ramanagaram, where Sholay was shot, will make its debut as a district on Independence Day.

Along with Ramanagaram, Chikballapur in Kolar district will be carved out as a district on August 15, with the cabinet clearing both the proposals on Thursday. With this, the number of districts in the state will go up to 29.
Though chief minister H D Kumaraswamy announced that Ramanagaram would be inaugurated on the "auspicious day" of June 28, the procedure for district formation is not going to be complete by then.

Home minister M P Prakash told reporters after the cabinet meeting: "The decision has to be notified in the gazette. The public will be given 30 days to file objections. Other procedures might take about three-four months, but we hope to have both the districts inaugurated on August 15."

The reason cited for new districts: "Administrative convenience." Prakash admitted that administrative expenditure will increase but insisted that it was necessary.

Prakash said the revenue department had written to the Justice Kuldip Singh Delimitation Commission seeking permission to carve out the districts. "The commission has said it will shortly notify the constituencies, so we have decided to go ahead."

The naming of new districts after historical personalities — Kempe Gowda for Ramanagaram and M Visvesvaraya for Chikballapur has been dropped. Prakash said: "The district reorganisation committee headed by V Balasubramanian has said the names of historical figures should not be given to districts. They have cited the examples of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh and said the naming issue has caused agitation."

The government has also dropped move to split the burgeoning Gulbarga and Belgaum districts, a long-standing demand that was not addressed even when seven new districts were carved out by the Patel government in 1997. The people of Gulbarga were split over whether the new district should be Yadgir or Bheemarayanagudi in Shahpur, while local representatives in Belgaum were against the carving out of Chikkodi as it would become Marathi-dominant, increasing the border problem with Maharashtra.

Prakash said Rs 72.58 crore had been earmarked for infrastructure for Ramanagaram and Chikballapur districts.