Thursday, December 1 2005 15:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A strong plea for immediate Central intervention to resolve the long standing Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute was made in the Lok Sabha today (Dec 1, 2005).

Raising the issue during zero hour, Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale said, 'injustice' had been done on Marathi speaking people in the border areas by inclusion of Belgaum in Karnataka after the reorganisation of states on linguistic basis.

He suggested that the Belgaum region be divided with Marathi speaking areas going to Maharashtra while those having majority of Kannada-speaking people be retained in Karnataka.

If that was not possible, then Belgaum should be included in Goa to form "Vishal Gomantak," he said.

The RPI member wanted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a meeting of Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Karnataka and also wanted United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to use her good offices to find a solution to the problem given the fact that both the states have Congress Governments.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee observed that aspirations of different regions could be met through proper attitude and emphasised that unity of the country was important.