Renaming Ramanagara: Will it be a boon at all? Premium

Renaming Ramanagara district to Bengaluru South has drawn mixed reactions. While some are enthusiastic about land prices increasing and development, others argue more needs to be done to develop the district. The renaming offers little for the unemployment crisis, and land prices have become prohibitively high. Urban planners suggest the name change should be accompanied by a holistic vision for the region, while protecting the green belt and elephant corridor.

Perched upon a weathered bench near his farm in Sathanur, about 20 kilometres from Bengaluru, smoking his beedi, 50-year-old farmer S.C. Lokesh laughs sardonically about the Karnataka government’s proposal to rename Ramanagara district to Bengaluru South. “The commercialisation of this region is a well-thought-out plan by politicians and realtors. They won’t even leave gomala (grazing) lands alone,” he says. Ramanagara district, adjoining the megapolis that Bengaluru has become, is undergoing ‘development’, with construction visible in places. The proposal to rename it Bengaluru South will drive the prices further up, he says.

Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who made the district renaming proposal, did not hide the real estate interest behind the move. Speaking at an event in Shivanahalli in Kanakapura, on the outskirts of southern Bengaluru, Shivakumar advised villagers not to sell their land to Bengalureans since soon he would ensure Kanakapura, the constituency he represents in the State Assembly, is added to Bengaluru and the land rates would go up.

Since his statement drew ire from many quarters, especially the Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who had carved out the Ramanagara district from Bengaluru Rural district back in 2007 when he was the Chief Minister, Sivakumar rethought the plan. He said he now plans to rename Ramanagara to Bengaluru South, without changing the contours of the district.

“The people of this region belong to Kempegowda’s Bengaluru,” he said, with a clear wish to not only be associated with the megapolis and reap its benefits, but also to try to consolidate all the regions ruled by modern Bengaluru’s founder Kempegowda, into Bengaluru.

This has drawn mixed reactions on the ground. While there is some enthusiasm about land prices increasing and development (good roads and industries) coming to their towns, not everybody is convinced by what a name change can achieve. They argue that more needs to be done to develop the district adjacent to Bengaluru, instead of only making it ripe for Bengaluru’s expansion.

In a district traditionally driven by rain-fed agriculture and sericulture (it has one of the largest silkworm cocoon markets in Asia) and little else by way of employment opportunities, its proximity to the growth engine of the State, Bengaluru, seems to be the advantage it has always wanted to leverage.

The present Ramanagara district has five taluks — Ramanagara, Channapatna, Magadi, Kanakapura, and Harohalli. Ramanagara and Channapatna taluks — 50-60 km away from Bengaluru’s Central Business District (CBD) — are along the newly developed 10-lane Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway that has significantly crunched travel time.