New-look Kittur Channamma Circle by January-end

New-look Kittur Channamma Circle by January-end
The Hindu.com

Work on the beautification project of the corporation begins

• Project being implemented in coordination with PWD and NHAI
  
• Seven roads to be developed
  
• Medians being built on public-private partnership basis
  

GETTING A FACELIFT: Kittu Channamma Circle in Hubli which is being beautified.
HUBLI: Kittur Channamma Circle here will wear a new look by January end. Work on the circle and adjacent roads has begun.

An action plan chalked out by the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation is being implemented in coordination with the Public Works Department and the National Highways Authority of India as the roads come under these departments.

Parapet

According to the plan, a parapet will be constructed around the statue of Kittur Rani Channamma. Within the circle, a lawn will be raised.

As part of the beautification project, the corporation will develop seven roads. The corporation wants these roads to be asphalted from footpath to footpath and it has agreed to pay the additional cost to the Public Works Department.

S.S. Phatke, Executive Engineer, Hubli (North) of the corporation, who is supervising the project said the corporation has deposited Rs. 10 lakhs with the Public Works Department and another Rs. 10 lakhs will be paid to the department.

Agreement

Similarly, asphalting of roads coming under the purview of the National Highways Authority of India will be done in coordination with the Public Works Department. The corporation is hopeful of signing an agreement in this regard at the earliest, he said.

The corporation will spend Rs. 50 lakhs on the beautification of the circle and asphalting of roads between the circle and Basava Vana, circle and the ESI Hospital, Basava Vana and Gali Durgamma Temple, and Basava Vana and IT Park.

In addition, a stretch between Neeligen Road from Eureka Tower up to the Traffic Police Station at the New Cotton Market will be asphalted. A sum of Rs. 1 crore will be spent on the project. New traffic signals will be installed at four points, he said.

Mr. Phatke said Neeligen Road is being developed to provide an alternative thoroughfare for VIPs visiting the twin cities. While some roads leading to Neeligen Road will be developed under the Rs. 30-crore Road Development Project, a few others will be developed by the National Highways Authority of India, he added.

Meanwhile, the corporation has begun building medians on Old National Highway opposite the Old Bus Stand and on Lamington Road on a public-private partnership basis. Some of advertising agencies here have come forward to develop medians and to construct three foot over-bridges.

More cities in state to be renamed

More cities in state to be renamed

Business Standard

Press Trust Of India / Gulbarga December 19, 2005: After Bangalore becomes Bengaluru, Gulbarga may be renamed Kalburgi, Mysore ‘Mysuru’, Mangalore ‘Mangaluru’, Hubli ‘Hubballi’ and Belgaum ‘Belagavi’.

There were proposals to rename the towns of Karnataka and the state government was considering them, chief minister N Dharam Singh said on Sunday.

“We will support them (the proposals)” and send them to the Centre for approval after discussion in the state cabinet, which will be held after this week’s zilla and taluk panchayat elections, he told reporters here.

Defending renaming of Bangalore, Singh said the proposal had come at a meeting of litterateurs on the eve of “Suvarna Karnataka” (golden jubilee year of the formation of the state after the reorganisation of the states in 1956) celebrations.

The new name will come into vogue from November 1 next year. He said the move to rename Bangalore has been welcomed by intellectuals and others.

Water project work in final stage of completion: Minister

Water project work in final stage of completion: MinisterWednesday
Newindpress.com

December 7 2005 08:44 IST
DHARWAD: Minister for Municipal Administration and District In-charge S R Morey has said that the State government had prepared an action plan worth Rs 303 crore for supplying drinking water to Hubli-Dharwad and out of which works worth Rs 108 crore were in final stage of completion.

Speaking to reporters after reviewing the undergoing works at Amminabhavi Water Treatment Plant, here on Tuesday, he said that this work was undertaken as part of Urban Water Zone Development Project with the assistance of World Bank to supply drinking water to twin cities.

The work (worth Rs 31.83 crore) of laying 1,168 mm direct pipeline from Amminabhavi to Nrupathunga Hills was under progress and it is being expected to be completed by October 2006, he said.

He said that Quick Fix Measures were undertaken by Water Board to stop the leakage and improve the water supply system at a cost of Rs 6 crore and was expected to be completed by June next.

He said Water Board had sent a proposal to the Government to improve the workability of main pipelines at an estimated cost of Rs 7.74 crore including the construction of two reservoirs of 10-lakh litre storage capacity and one of 20-lakh litre capacity in Dharwad for smooth supply of water to city.

Besides, four upper level reservoirs of 15 lakh litre capacity and four ground level reservoirs of 25 lakh litre would be constructed for supplying water to Hubli city, he added.

He said once the project was completed, there would be a separate system for supplying drinking water to Hubli and Dharwad and each citizen would get 135 litres of water daily by 2031.

It would save electricity bill of about Rs 2.5 crore per year besides curtailing 20 per cent of water leakage during supply, he added. He disclosed that water bill collection of twin cities was around Rs 1 crore a month and efforts were on to increase the revenue.

Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of Water Board, Hanumanthappa Betageri, Mayor, Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, Ravindra Bhat, Chief Engineer of Water Board were present.

“It will save electricity bill of about Rs 2.5 crore per year.”

Hubli-Dharwad, Bangalore in urban renewal plan

Hubli-Dharwad, Bangalore in urban renewal plan

Business Standard

Vidya Kulkarni / Dharwad December 06, 2005: The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, will be a boon to Hubli-Dharwad. The twin cities have been included in the list of cities chosen for implementing the mission. Hubli-Dharwad, along with Bangalore city, will be covered by the mission.

The sub-mission launched by the Union ministry of urban employment and poverty alleviation aims at providing basic services to the urban poor in 63 select cities across the country.

In Karnataka, Bangalore has been selected under cities with a population of over four million and Hubli-Dharwad under the category of cities with population of over one million population. With the inclusion of the twin cities for implementing the mission, all projects for the creation and development of infrastructure could be taken up under the JNNURM.

The mission will be implemented in 2005-06 and all works taken up under the mission need to be completed within seven years. Minister for municipal administration S R Morey, who is also the minister in-charge of Dharwad district, told this correspondent that the mission will be a boon to the twin cities.

He said, Hubli-Dharwad could secure assistance to the tune of Rs 500 crore in course of seven years to develop the infrastructure. This will enable the twin cities to attract investments and generate employment.

The minister has instructed the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal commissioner Manivannan to prepare plans and proposals with the help of expert consultants and send them to the central sanctioning and monitoring committee in the ministry of urban employment and poverty alleviation for approval within a month.

As per the financing pattern of the mission, Hubli-Dharwad will get 80 per cent of the project cost from the Centre while Bangalore will get 50 per cent. The remaining has to be borne by the state urban local body (ULB) concerned.

The main thrust of the sub-mission on basic services to the urban poor will be an integrated development of slums through projects for providing shelter, basic services and other related civic amenities to provide utilities to the urban poor.

The admissible components of the mission include integrated development of slums, projects involving development and maintenance of basic services, projects of water supply, sewerage, drainage, community toilets, baths and other amenities, affordable houses, street lighting among others.

The state governments and the ULBs/parastatals will be required to execute a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Centre that include their commitment to implementing the identified reforms.

The MoA will also spell out specific milestones to be achieved for each item of reform. Signing of the tripartite MoA will be a necessary condition to access central assistance. The agenda of reforms include mandatory reforms and optional reforms.

The National Steering Committee has been constituted to steer the objectives of the mission. The Union minister for urban development is the chairman of the committee and minister for urban employment and poverty alleviation the co-chairperson.

The five members of the committee are secretary (UEPA), secretary, Planning Commission, secretary (expenditure), national technical advisor and secretary (urban development).

The state-level steering committee will decide on the projects and their priorities for inclusion in the NURM programme. It is headed by the chief minister as chairperson and includes minister for urban development as vice-chairman, mayor of ULB, MPs/MLAs concerned, secretary, finance, secretary public health engineering, secretary, municipal administration, secretary, housing and secretary and urban development as members.

The scheme will be implemented through a state-level nodal agency designated by the state government. The funds will be released in four instalments by the ministry of urban employment and poverty alleviation as additional central assistance. The first instalment will be released on signing the MoA.

The balance will be released after the receipt of the utility certificate.

North Karnataka's investment potential showcased

North Karnataka's investment potential showcased
Hindu.com


BRIGHT FUTURE: Malcolm Wagget, Chief Operating Officer, HSBC, Hyderabad, delivering the keynote address at the launch of BIC Society in Belgaum on Wednesday. Development Commissioner for North Karnataka V. Umesh, KLES Chairman Prabhakar B. Kore, and BIC President B.S. Patil are seen.

Belgaum: BIC (BPO-ITES-CRM) Society's launch here on Wednesday showcased the investment potential in north Karnataka in general and Belgaum in particular for the prospective investors in the information technology sector, including MNCs.

It is for the first time that an organised and consistent process has been initiated to project the "unexploited" infrastructure facilities, skilled manpower and intellectual resource available in the region. The message BIC sought to send across is that Belgaum has best of the "untapped" infrastructure facilities and a congenial atmosphere and that it can be a good host among the secondary cities in peninsular India for all those companies and investors who are looking to expand or launch fresh ventures in the sector.

In a brief chat with presspersons that followed the launch, though Malcolm Wagget, Chief Operating Officer of HSBC, Hyderabad, maintained that HSBC has no plans to come up with more units in India, he kept his options open. He also said that the company will keep an eye on the market in reply to a question whether one of the biggest banking and financial organisations would be interested in making investments in Belgaum.

Apparently, the four hours he spent in the city is too little to decide on crucial issues such as investments of vast nature. Yet, a silver line and a moral booster for BIC came from the fact that Mentek IT Solutions became the first company to announce the setting up of a small facility in the IT sector in Belgaum in the next three months.

"The process has indeed begun," said founder president of BIC and former Chief Secretary, B.S. Patil. The BIC will keep marketing secondary cities such as Belgaum, Hubli-Dharwad in north Karnataka (and Davangere), keep inviting chief executive officers and industrial leaders so that they themselves can ascertain infrastructure available in the region, including educational institutions, medical facilities, skilled and talented human resources, a congenial working atmosphere and moderate climatic conditions.

It may not happen in a day or two. Yet the efforts to draw the attention of the investors in the IT sector would continue as there is abundant potential and talent in the region, which, for some reasons, could not be marketed or projected sufficiently to ensure investment commitments.

Earlier, Mr. Wagget, who lit the lamp to mark the launch of BIC, briefly spoke about the activities of HSBC, which, he said, was reaching out secondary cities in India and other countries. He said the country has a large pool of technically qualified English-speaking men. Other indicators of growth included the ability of Indian vendors to push operations rapidly, focus on cost-effective business model and importance of profitability.

The Karnataka Lingayat Society Chairman and MLC, Prabhakar B. Kore, who took the lead along with the Karnataka Law Society Chairman, S.M. Kulkarni, and two other educational institutions, People Education Society and Bharatesh Education Society, in signing memorandums of understanding with BIC to train young commerce, science and arts graduates and make them ready for the IT sector or any other industry, attributed the growth of the IT sector in Bangalore to the talent from north Karnataka.

At least 40 per cent of the workforce in IT industries in Bangalore is from north Karnataka, including some of the top executive and leaders. "All of them have graduated from Hubli and Belgaum. But we could not use their talent due to lack of investments," he said.

The Development Commissioner for Northern Karnataka, V. Umesh, appealed to the STPI Director (Karnataka), B.V. Naidu, to expedite the proposal for setting up STPI in Belgaum in this financial year itself.

Mr. Naidu said though the Governing Council of STPI had considered the proposals for setting up STPI parks in Belgaum and Gulbarga, the Union Government had decided to set up the park first in Gulbarga and then in Beglaum.

The Deputy Commissioner, Shalini Rajneesh, the Chief Executive Officer of Manthan Services, Bangalore, Gururaj Potnis, and the Chairman of BIC, M.S. Subhas, spoke.