K'taka govt yet to decide on holding winter session of Assembly at Belagavi

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government appears to be in a quandary on holding the winter session of the Assembly in Belagavi as is the norm since the district has been ravaged by floods this year.

“The government has not decided yet. I will discuss with the Chief Minister whether to conduct the Assembly session in Belagavi. We will discuss the challenges of holding the session there,” Revenue Minister R Ashoka told reporters on Saturday outside the residence of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

Belagavi is considered to be the second capital city as it houses the Suvarna Soudha.

The Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhu Swamy told PTI, no decision has been taken yet on where to hold the session.

“The decision has to be taken by the cabinet on the next Assembly session. Maybe in the next cabinet meeting the discussions will take place,” he said.

According to BJP sources, the government is not keen on holding the session in Belagavi, as it was ravaged by floods recently.

The state has not yet received the funds it had anticipated from the Centre.

Belagavi bore the brunt of the severe floods as the swollen Krishna river and the tributaries wrecked havoc there submerging most parts of the north Karnataka district.

Other districts of North Karnataka such as Bagalkote, Bidar, Bijapur, Yadgir, Gadag, Koppal, Hubballi-Dharwad, Uttara Kannada and Davangere also suffered due to floods.

As many as 103 taluks of 22 districts were affected in the floods last month.

Approximately 7.5 lakh hectares of land was submerged in water and 82 people lost their lives.

The floods in August compelled the government to open 493 relief camps where about 2.10 lakh people were accommodated till the waters receded.