With incessant rainfall taking a break for a day, Kalyana Karnataka Utsav (Liberation Day) was celebrated in pleasant weather at DAR Grounds in Kalaburagi on Thursday.
Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who arrived by a special flight from Bengaluru along with his Cabinet colleague and Deputy Chief Minister Govind M. Karjol, participated in the event as the chief guest.
The celebrations were kept low key owing to the COVID-19 situation and the public and schoolchildren were restricting from attending the event. However, the district administration had made arrangements for live streaming of the event to facilitate the public to watch it from their homes online. Arrangements were made in 1200 gram panchayats across the district for people to watch the event live on big screens.
The celebrations began with Mr. Yediyurappa and other dignitaries garlanding the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the morning. The Chief Minister then proceeded to DAR Grounds and hoisted the national flag which was followed by the National Anthem, Naada Geethe and Raitha Geethe.
After inspecting the parade in which several contingents of civil police, District Armed Reserve force, forest guards and fire fighters participated, Mr. Yediyurappa laid foundation stones for several development projects, including the construction of a hospital building for housing a branch of the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research in Kalaburagi.
In his message, Mr. Yediyurappa recalled the freedom movement and the action of the armed forces under the guidance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel that forced the Nizam of Hyderabad to amalgamate the princely state of Hyderabad, of which Kalyana Karnataka region (earlier called Hyderabad Karnataka) was a part, with the Indian Union. He also elaborated in length the initiatives of his government for the development of the backward region and made several promises for the purpose.
The Chief Minister then felicitated freedom fighters on the occasion.
Mr. Karjol, Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board chairman Dattatreya Patil Revoor, Lok Sabha member from Kalaburagi Umesh Jadhav, Kalyana Karnataka Human Resources, Agriculture and Cultural Association chairman Basavaraj Patil Sedam and legislators Ajay Singh, Rajkumar Patil Telkur, Basavaraj Mattimud, B.G. Patil and Avinash Jadhav were among the dignitaries who participated in the event.