Belgaum: With a committee of the Supreme Court headed by retired judge, Manmohan Sareen, looking into the boundary dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra, the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) has begun a secret campaign to collect all possible facts and figures relating to the history and geography of the border cities and towns of the state
The MES has been meeting Marathi leaders and people on the border to prepare a pro-Maharashtra report which will be submitted to the Sareen committee and also the Maharashtra government to help it stake its claim to all the border areas in Karnataka.
According to sources, an MES team headed by Belgaum South MLA, Sambhaji Patil, has already collected information about areas surrounding Belgaum and is doing the same in Bidar and Bhalki districts.
A police case was registered recently against Mr Patil in Bhalki for holding a meeting without prior permission after some local organisations tipped off the police about it.
Many pro-Kannada leaders and organisations have expressed concern over the ongoing MES exercise in the border areas and feel the state government is not serious about its own case in the Supreme Court .
“The state government should revamp the Boundary Advisory Committee to ensure that its case in court is fought strongly by its counsels,” they insist, also advising the government to start collecting data about the border areas and their strong historical links with the state.
The Maharashtra Border Advisory Committee had camped on the state's border a few years ago to collect similar information and also held meetings with many top pro-Marathi leaders in the region, inviting outrage even then from Kannada leaders.
