Road to Hubli airport to get makeover

Road to Hubli airport to get makeover
BS Reporter / Chennai/ Hubli January 30, 2007

The Gokul road in Hubli, which leads to the airport, will be made a four-lane road with assistance from the state and Centre under the Assistance to States for Developing Export Infrastructure and Allied Activities (ASIDE).

Karnataka revenue minister Jagadeesh Shettar told reporters here on Monday the Centre and the state governments would give Rs 9 crore for the purpose. About Rs 2.5 crore had been released already.

He said the government had initiated steps to acquire additional land for developing Hubli Airport into an all-weather international airport. The land would be handed over to the Airports Authority of India.

Shettar said as per the Nanjundappa Committee’s recommendations, the government had formulated the new industrial policy, which proposed to give incentives and tax exemptions to industries that are to be established in backward regions of the state.

Earlier, the minister inaugurated the hi-tech intensive care unit and hospital ‘Lifeline 24X7’, a unit of the Logicare Health Solutions Private Limited on Gokul road here. He also inaugurated the state-of-the-art equipment procured by the Karnataka Material Testing and Research Centre (KMTRC).

Green cover faces HDMC axe

Green cover faces HDMC axe
MANU AIYAPPA - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
30 Jan, 2007 2314hrs IST

HUBLI: About five dozen trees, including 10 aged 50-80 years, will face the axe to make way for widening of the Hosur-Unkal stretch of Old PB Road.

The road-widening is being undertaken as part of the road upgradation plan to ease traffic on the bustling Hosur-Unkal stretch, which had witnessed a spate of road accidents in recent times. Last year, about three dozens trees were axed on Club Road, connecting Hubli-Bijapur highway, as part of road widening work, that attracted a lot of public wrath.

HDMC commissioner P Manivannan said the feeling of trees on Hosur-Unkal stretch will begin in the third week of February. The road updgradation project includes widening of road, construction of footpaths and medians. "We are bound to lose some precious trees, but it is unavoidable since the city is also growing in leaps and bounds", Manivannan said.

A meeting to review the shifting of electrical installations and standing trees was held under the chairmanship of Dharwad DC M S Srikar which set a February 15 deadline for Hubli Electricity Supply Company (Hescom) to complete shifting of electric poles. "The felling of trees will begin soon after the electric poles are shifted", Manivannan said.

Several trees in and around the twin cities have been victims of urbanisation and nature's fury over the last few years resulting in ecological imbalance in the twin cities which is already being polluted by dust. However, the HDMC or the forest department have not made any efforts to compensate such losses.

Expressing concern, some environmentalists contended that HDMC should ensure a contingency plan for plantation of shady trees in vacant areas to compensate such losses. "It is not just the green cover or shade that will disappear now, but their usefulness in several other ways, including in maintaining the ecological balance, subsoil water and providing shelter to human friendly birds, will also be lost in the name of development", rued S N Girish, an environmentalist.

As per the afforestation clause, he said the forest department is supposed to plant 10 times the number of trees felled. "But that is not happening here. This is not good for the city or people", he alleged. Environment watchers also pointed out that HDMC, some time ago, had also initiated a special scheme to plant 65,000 saplings in the twin cities to improve greenery in the twin cities.

Under the scheme, it had also announced that it will give stipend of Rs 150 per year for any person who safeguards such plants until it matures as a tree. But the campaign failed make much impact, largely due to poor public response.