BELLARY - PAST GLORY: Bellary was earlier part of Madras presidency and it enjoyed the status of Divisional Head Quarters with all Divisional Offices located in Bellary. A big contingent of British army was stationed here and it was on the air map of India much than Bangalore.   In fact the inaugural flight from Karachi to Madras carrying JRD TATA was given a warm welcome when the plane landed in Bellary in 1923.   Duke of Wellington who becomes Lord Nelson also had a short stint in Bellary as an Army Officer, before he went to England. Sir Thomas Monroe who became Governor of Madras started his career as Collector of Bellary. Justice Mack who became Chief Justice of Madras High Court, served as District Judge of Bellary for more than 3 years. Of course Bellary attained pinnacle of its glory during the reign of Krishnadevaraya, when Hampi then capital of vast Vijayanagara Empire, outclassed Rome then considered as seat of world culture and civilization.   Bellary:   Duke of Wellington who becomes Lord Nelson also had a short stint in Bellary as an Army Officer, before he went to England. Sir Thomas Monroe who became Governor of Madras started his career as Collector of Bellary. Justice Mack who became Chief Justice of Madras High Court, served as District Judge of Bellary for more than 3 years. Of course Bellary attained pinnacle of its glory during the reign of Krishnadevaraya, when Hampi then capital of vast Vijayanagara Empire, outclassed Rome then considered as seat of world culture and civilization.   After the merger with erstwhile Mysore state in 1953, all the Divisional Offices were shifted to other places. Although Bellary, Hospet region had the world’s richest Iron and Manganese reserves, no new industries were setup and the steel plant that was supposed to be located in Torangallu was put in cold storage. There were no significant cultural and social activities. Coupled with very bad dirty roads, acute water shortage, severe summer, it became virtually a decaying and dying city indeed.                 INTRODUCTION OF MEDICAL COLLEGE:    In 1958 there were only three Government Medical Colleges located at Bangalore, Mysore and Hubli and there were no private medical colleges in the state .There was no Medical College in the entire Hyderabad – Karnataka and Old Madras regions of the state. There was great demand and pressure on the Government for starting a New Medical College in the state. Sponsoring committees at different places including Gulbarga, Belgaum, Mangalore, Davangere were formed for getting a medical college. At Bellary in 1958,a Sponsoring committee was constituted, comprising of then stalwarts Tekur Subramanyam, then M.P of Bellary,M.M.Patil(Father of Shri.M.P.Prakash), H.Linga Reddy, Y.Mahabaleshwar