Administration of Belgaum district is carried out by dividing the district into a number of different administrative units. Placed high on the Western Ghats mountain range, Belgaum district is one of the most important districts of Karnataka.
The administration of Belgaum district is carried out by dividing the area into 10 taluks. The largest among the different taluks is Athani taluka, with an area of 1,995.70 Sq. Kms. The smallest among the different taluks is the Raybag taluka, covering a total area of 958.8 sq. Kms. The district comprises of three Revenue Sub-divisions and six Police Sub-divisions. Apart from the Belgaum City Corporation, there are 17 Municipalities, 20 Towns Panchayats, 485 Gram Panchayats, 1,138 inhabited villages and 26 un-inhabited villages. Belgaum is also the headquarters of the Belgaum Revenue Division.
Broadly, the administration is divided into:
1) District Administration, Belgaum
2) Zilla Panchayat, Belgaum
The Deputy Commissioner is the head of the district. The Head Quarter Assistant (HQA) will assist him in all the administrative activities of the district. There are three Sub-Divisional headquarters, namely: Belgaum, Bailhongal and Chikodi which are headed by the Assistant Commissioner.
1) Under the Belgaum Sub-Division there are three talukas: Belgaum, Khanapur and Hukkeri.
2) Under the Chikodi Sub-Division we have three talukas: Chikodi, Athani and Raybag.
3) Under the Bailhongal Sub-Division there are four talukas: Bailhongal, Ramdurg, Saundatti and Gokak.
Each taluka is headed by a Tahasildar. The major activity of the District Administration is Revenue Collection and other Revenue Related Activities.
Zilla Panchayat is an agency which looks after the development activities in the district. It has the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as the head. The Zilla Panchayat Adhyaksha will be the head of the Elected Representatives. Zilla Panchayat is an agency which implements and monitors various development schemes of the Government like The Jawahar Rural Development plan (i.e. Jawahar Gram Samruddhi Yojana), Ashraya Yojana, Indira Aawas Yojana, Slum Development Plan, The National Savings Scheme etc.
Belgaum district is one of the fastest growing, redeveloping districts of Karnataka. The nearest well-developed districts located next to it are Hubli and Dharwad from Karnataka, Panaji from Goa and Kolhapur and Sangli from Maharshtra. Belgaum district is located exactly at the centre between Bengaluru and Mumbai.
