the Government of Karnataka and later dissolved the council. Following this incident, in the following year's election, Prashanta Budavi, wife of KRV (Karnataka Rakshana Vedike) City President Shantinath Budavi was appointed as mayor of the Belgaum City Corporation. Maharashtra has asked to bring 865 disputed villages including Belgaum under centre's rule until Supreme court's final verdict. N.D. Patil, head of legal-committee appointed by Maharashtra government said that Karnataka is intensifying the problem. He added that Marathi people of border region are not able to live with honour and dignity under Karnataka's rule pointing out to the 'unconstitutional' dissolution of Belgaum city corporation and manhandling of Belgaum mayor by Kannada activists at Bangalore. Even though case is pending in supreme court, in 2019, Deputy CM of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar called for the incorporation of Belgaum along with Karwar and Nipani area in Maharashtra citing it was of dream of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, a statement reiterated by CM Uddhav Thackeray in January 2021. Thackeray went on to term the region as 'Karnataka-occupied areas'. The case regarding the dispute is pending before the Supreme Court for many years. Economy The city's humble industrial growth begin when an entrepreneur named Babu Rao Pusalkar set up a small unit in city over a century ago and that transformed Belagavi city into foundry and hydraulics base. Belgaum is an important source of vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, fish, mining production, and wood (due to heavy rainfall, rivers and the abundance of water). Trading in North Karnataka is mainly with Goa and Maharashtra along with major cities like Pune, Bangalore and Mangalore. Rich deposits of Bauxite are found in Belgaum district and have led to the creation of the Indian aluminium-producing company Hindalco Industries of the Aditya Birla Group. Uranium deposits have been found at Deshnur, a small village near Bailhongal town. A Special Economic Zone (India's first Private Aerospace SEZ ) is being set up along the Pune-Bangalore National Highway (NH-4) to cater to the precision engineering requirements of the global aerospace, automotive and industrial verticals. Defence training centres Belgaum's salubrious climate, proximity to the coast and strategic position near Portuguese Goa commended it to the British as a suitable location for an army training centre and cantonment, which it continues to be today for the Indian Armed Forces, along with an air force station of the Indian Air Force. The British had a sizeable