The Hubballi-Dharwad Development Forum, an advocacy and facilitation group for the industrial development of the region, which was inaugurated on Saturday has sought a ‘Special Investment Region’ (SIR) status for Hubballi-Dharwad.
After Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mines and Coal Pralhad Joshi, and State Minister Jagadish Shettar inaugurated the forum here, the forum, led by chairman Vijay Sankeshwar and others, submitted a memorandum to them and urged them to enact a State Act on the lines of Gujarat’s SIR Act-2009. 
Vice-chairman of the forum and vice-chancellor of KLE Technological University Ashok Shettar said that after 36 years, the same party was in power in both the State and the Centre and there was a need to reap the benefits of this opportunity.