A brief history

Origin and Development of Municipal System in Hubli - Dharwad

The history of municipal government in Hubli and Dharwad, the constituent units of Hubli-Dharwad Corporation, is a long and distinguished one. Both of them had the distinction of celebrating their centenaries. The Hubli Municipal Council was born in 1855, and the Dharwad Council in the following year in 1856.

Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation was constituted in the year 1962 by combining two cities separated by a distance of 20 Kilometers. This is a unique experiment in Urban Development. The area of this Corporation is 181.77 Sq. Kms. spread over 45 revenue villages. The population of the city as per 1981 Census was 5.27 Lakh.

Hubli:

Under the Government of India Act of 1850, the Hubli Municipal Council was established on August 15, 1855. Its membership was fixed at 18, including the President. The Collector of the district functioned as the President, and the members were called commissioners. The government nominated all the members.

The elections were first introduced in 1883. Nine members were elected, and the rest nominated.

It was only two years later, in 1885, that the office of the President was thrown open to non-official members. The first non-official President was Shri. Byahatti Subba Rao. He held office from 1885 to 1888.

Dharwad:

The Dharwad Municipal Council first came into existence on 1st January 1856. The first non-official President of the Council was Shri. S.K. Rodda in 1907, and Shri. S.V. Mensinkai was nominated in the following year.  But the credit of being the first elected President goes to Shri. N.G. Karigudari, who took office in 1920.

Hubli is well-known as a commercial as well as industrial center, where as Dharwad is a seat of learning.  The city is well connected with important other cities like Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad and port towns of Karwar and Goa and eastern and northeastern regions by an excellent network of roads and rail.

The twin-city Corporation occupies in unique place in Karnataka State. After the capital city of Bangalore, this is the largest city Corporation in the State.  It is a major railway center and it in fact, the very heart of the Northern Karnataka Region.  The airport at Hubli is expected to find a place on our national air map.           

The city is situated in the dividing line between Malenadu and planes.  The Malenadu is well known for its forests and forest based industries and the other three-side region are known for their agricultural products like cotton, groundnut, oil seeds Manganese ore and granite stones.  The value of agricultural products coming into Hubli market runs into multiple crores.