After almost two-decades Harpanahalli taluk, which was in Davangere district, has been merged with Ballari district.

The State government issued a notification on December 24 this year effecting the transfer of Harpanahalli taluk back to Ballari district.

People of Harpanahalli rejoiced by bursting crackers and exchanging sweets, as news about the government issuing the notification spread.

Meanwhile, as a follow-up to the government notification, Davangere Deputy Commissioner Bagadi Goutham on Wednesday wrote letters to the Chief Executive Officer of Davangere Zilla Panchayat, the Superintendent of Police and other district-level officers to initiate immediate steps to transfer all files in their respective departments pertaining to Harpahanalli taluk to Ballari district.

Harpahanalli was de-linked from Ballari district in 1997 and merged with the newly carved out Davangere district during the J.H. Patel regime.

After that, people of Harpanahalli, who were eager to be part of their earlier district (Ballari), began mounting pressure on the successive governments to consider their demand. However, it was during the end of the Siddaramaiah government, that too, owing to the relentless efforts and pressures mounted by late M.P. Ravindra, who was the Harpanahalli MLA, that an order merging Harpanahalli with Ballari district was issued.

As a result, Harpanahalli taluk will now be eligible to avail of all the benefits of the Special Status granted under Article 371 (J) to Hyderabad-Karnatak region and also get a share in the allocation of funds under the Hyderabad-Karnatak Region Development Board.

With the inclusion of Harpanahalli in Ballari district on the one hand and the creation of three new taluks on the other, the number of taluks in Ballari district has gone up to 11 from seven.

Another development has been that the State government has proposed to create another Revenue sub-division (third in the district) with Harpanahalli as its headquarters and having jurisdiction over Hadagali and Kottur taluks.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States / by M. Ahiraj / Ballari – December 29th, 2018