A group of young people have started an online campaign to draw the Centre’s attention to the city’s problems. The group that runs belagavi.infra.in and all its social media, has started the #BelagaviWritesToPMO campaign to connect the city’s residents directly to the Centre.
We are facing several issues, but the Centre seems to have no idea about it. That is why we started the campaign, said Krishna Giriyannanavar, a member of the group. They have invited residents to write emails or send letters written on paper to the Prime Minister’s Office, while informing them or sending them copies of the letters. The appeal, posted on the website and social media, handles asks residents to come up with two issues related to the development of the city. It is also to record our active existence on the virtual world, he said.
Good response
“The initial reaction has been fantastic,” he said. Most of the people have written about protection of the fragile ecosystem of the Western Ghats. Some have spoken about the need to create jobs for skilled and non-skilled youth. Some of have expressed dissatisfaction about the quality of works and delay in completion of projects in the Smart City scheme. Some have spoken about the rising COVID -19 levels and alleged poor management of hospitals.
“Whenever there is talk of North Karnataka development, the governments focus on Hubballi-Dharwad,” said activist Uday Kinjwadkar. We have lost several projects IIT, High Court bench, auto industry hub, and IThead office, that were shifted to the twin cities. We are not against any other city getting infrastructure facilities. But that should not be done at the cost of Belagavi, he said.
Faith lost
“It is time we take matters in our own hands as we have lost faith in our representatives, said Ashok Chandaragi, convenor of the action committee of Kannada organisations in the district. He complains that MPs and MLAs had failed to raise the issue of injustice done to the city or the district in the past. Now we will approach PM Modi directly. If our demands are not heeded, we will take up the path of agitation,” he said.
