The Khanapur assembly constituency in Belagavi district of North Karnataka, which has been caught in a border dispute on linguistic basis for the last seven decades, is crying out for development and people are pinning hopes on the Prime Minister. Narendra Modi for quick solution.
Khanapur, with a Marathi-speaking majority, is one of the 264 villages recommended by the Mahajan Commission in 1967 to be transferred back to neighboring Maharashtra. It also includes the Nippani assembly constituency.
Sadly, the dispute over the transfer of the number of linguistically dominated villages in both Karnataka and Maharashtra has gradually become a politically sensitive issue, with neighboring Maharashtra claiming more territory.
and the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a pro-Marathi socio-political organisation, which operates from Belagavi and draws support across party lines from across Maharashtra, fighting for the cause and even being elected to the Legislative Assembly in Karnataka Also contesting elections.
“MES has always fought the assembly elections in Khanapur raising the linguistic issue, not development. “Three generations have suffered without seeing any development,” said Vitthal Mahadev Karambalkar, vice-chairman of the Mahalaxmi Group, which owns a sugar factory in the area.
Since assembly elections were introduced in Karnataka in the 1960s, MES has won the Khanapur assembly seat the most number of times, but no candidate has been re-elected so far. The BJP had first won the seat in 2008, while the Congress did so in 2018.
He said, ‘During the tenure of BJP, about Rs 450 crore had come for the development of Khanapur. We hope that BJP will win again and our present generation will get to see development.” Parshuram Nayak, General Secretary, BJP-Scheduled Tribe Morcha, Khanpur
Khanapur has been neglected due to the Maharashtra government’s petition to the Supreme Court challenging the State Reorganization Act of 1956 and non-implementation of the recommendations of the Mahajan Commission of 1967, which included providing basic amenities like bus facilities and schools, proper roads in forest areas There is a lack. Bridges and Canals, Higher Education Centers, Others.
Baju Patil, who owns two acres of land in Junjanwad village here, said: “I am not able to grow two crops due to lack of irrigation. If a canal is made then we can easily solve the water problem as we have Malaprabha river flowing in this area.
Many of them complained that they are getting only 15 days of work in a year under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and finding jobs is difficult in the absence of industry or business activity.
Although some eligible beneficiaries are getting benefits of state and central schemes like free electricity for irrigation, financial assistance under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) and PM-Kisan, the area still lags behind in development compared to neighboring constituencies Is. ,
Not only Khanapur, residents of many of the villages recommended by the Mahajan Commission to be transferred to both the states are waiting for an early resolution of the dispute so that development works are not delayed further.
In its report submitted in 1967, the Mahajan Commission recommended that 264 villages should be transferred to Maharashtra, and that Belagavi and 247 villages should remain with Karnataka. However, Maharashtra rejected the report calling it biased and illogical, while Karnataka welcomed it.
The Center never implemented the recommendations of the report, despite Karnataka’s demand. And regardless of any party in power, both states have struck down their positions from the start.
The report of the Mahajan Commission was presented in the Parliament in 1970 but till date there was no discussion on it. However, in 2004, the Government of Maharashtra filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging certain provisions of the States Reorganization Act, 1956 and demanded 865 villages in five districts of Karnataka.
“It has been 19 years, the apex court is yet to hear the arguments regarding the maintainability of the petition. The Maharashtra government says it can get justice from the court, we are arguing that the border issue comes under the purview of Parliament as per Article 3 of the Constitution,” said Kannada activist Ashok Chandragi.
The dispute remains unresolved, despite BJP-ruled governments in both the states and even at the Centre, in the absence of “political will”, he said. The impasse continues till date and people are suffering.
Unfortunately, the border dispute has not become an election issue in the Khanpur assembly constituency, where both the BJP and the Congress have fielded strong Marathi candidates Vithal Rao Halgekar and Anjali Nimbalkar, respectively. MES has also fielded influential leader Murlidhar Patil to keep the issue of border dispute alive.
Incidentally, many Marathi-speaking people believe that whatever development has taken place in Khanapur so far is better than Maharashtra and have felt that the MES is contesting elections on linguistic grounds for political interests.
When asked if the residents of Khanapur would be happy to be a part of Maharashtra if the dispute is resolved in the near future, homeowner Lakshmi Bajirao Nayak said, “We have better facilities here and we do not want to shift. I have received financial assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh under the housing scheme and my father-in-law has received Rs 4,000 so far under PM-Kisan. Said.
There are still some sections in Khanapur who want to be a part of Maharashtra as they are finding it difficult to transact in Kannada language. For example, property papers are in Kannada language which many people here cannot read.
A similar plight occurs in Kannada-speaking majority villages in Maharashtra where innocent people have been caught in the crossfire of the ongoing fight over a long-pending border dispute.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)