Source : The Hindu Date : 25.06.2009
Article 371: Dharam Singh meets Manmohan
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Former Chief Minister and MP for Bidar N. Dharam Singh has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka region in the State by amending Article 371 of the Constitution on the lines of Telangana (Andhra Pradesh) and Marathwada (Maharashtra) regions. The Article gives special status to the backward regions for balanced development.
On Tuesday, Mr. Dharam Singh led a delegation to the Prime Minister to discuss the issue.
The region, coming under the Gulbarga division, was the “most neglected and backward part of Karnataka and needed immediate attention,” Mr. Dharam Singh told presspersons here on Wednesday. He charged the Bharatiya Janata Party Government in Karnataka with neglecting the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which was once part of the princely State of the Nizam, and now the people had been deprived of benefits.
The constitutional amendment could be on the lines of Article 371 (D), which provided safeguards to the people of Telangana in employment and education.
Mr. Singh alleged that the State Government was not serious about the development needs of the people of Karnataka and not pursuing the issue with the Centre.
Mr. Dharam Singh said he had also urged Mr. Manmohan Singh to complete railway projects in Gulbarga division at the earliest and establish an IIT there.
