Boating, amusement park planned at Tolanakere

Boating, amusement park planned at Tolanakere

Staff Correspondent -The Hindu

• Fencing, strengthening of tank bund under way
• Barring one structure, there is no encroachment on the tank area: Deputy Commissioner
• First phase of work likely to be completed in five to six months

Development plan:Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Darpan Jain speaking to presspersons after inspecting ongoing work at Tolanakere

HUBLI: The Dharwad district administration, which has chalked out a plan for the comprehensive development of Tolanakere (a tank) near Ramalingeshwar Nagar in Hubli, will initially begin work on strengthening the tank bund.

Speaking to presspersons after reviewing the ongoing work at Tolanakere on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Darpan Jain said that Rs. 1.8 crore would be spent for fencing the tank area, strengthening the tank bund and other related work in the first phase.

Mr. Jain said that the boundary of the 23-acre tank had been demarcated.

He clarified that barring one structure, there was no encroachment on the tank area. The tank area was being used by brick manufacturers who had set up kilns.

“We have informed the brick manufacturers, and will soon clear the kilns once the work gets going,” he said.

The Deputy Commissioner said the work had been undertaken under the Rs. 100-crore grant sanctioned by the State Government to the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation. The first phase of work was likely to be completed in five to six months.

Second phase

Mr. Jain said that in the next phase, steps would be taken to divert sewage entering the tank. A viewing point would be created and landscaping done. There were plans to start boating once the development work was completed, he said.

“We are planning a children's amusement park and other facilities. We are working out a system to ensure there is no dearth of funds for their maintenance.”

Regarding development of the Unakal tank, Mr. Jain said that sewage entering the tank had been diverted by laying underground drainage pipes in residential areas located around the tank.

Waste management

To a query, he said the district administration had submitted an integrated solid waste management proposal to the State Government and was awaiting its approval.

On unauthorised religious structures in the twin cities and in the district, Mr. Jain said the process of clearing such structures would begin in a day or two.

“Once again our officials have issued notices, conducted spot verifications and interacted with local residents and organisations. We want them to clear such structures on their own and if they don't, we will step in and do it after taking all those concerned into confidence,” Mr. Jain added

HDMC conferred Best Practice Award

HDMC conferred Best Practice Award

TNN, Dec 8, 2010, 08.53pm IST

HUBLI: Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) is perhaps the first corporation in the state to be appreciated by the state urban development department for adopting technology to provide hassle-free services to the public.

HDMC has been chosen for prestigious Best Practice Award-2010 under city corporations' category by Karnataka Urban Development Department (KUDD) in association with City Managers' Association-Karnataka ( CMAK) for its initiative in automized building plan approval system and implementation of volumetric tariff for water supply system.

HDMC is also said to have inspired other corporations in the state to adopt the services being offered by it __ to provide building plans and fixing volumetric water tariff.

According to a KUDD letter available with TOI, HDMC has been chosen for the coveted award "for revolutionizing the way of issuing building plans (building permission)" by adopting technology called Auto DCR software.

Earlier, people had to wait for over 21 days to get building permission. But after the implementation of the new system, people are getting building licence within a week.

The documents furnished by building owners will be loaded into the software. The applicants will be called for clarification, only if found to be violating the norms while constructing building. If not, the licence will be couriered to their address within seven days.

The government is also impressed with the way the corporation implemented the volumetric tariff for water supply in the twin cities. HDMC had earlier fixed flat prices as water tariff. But it has now joined hands with Water Board to introduce volumetric traffic.

Accordingly, the water tariff will be collected as per the consumption of water, instead of fixing uniform tariff to all consumers. If a person uses less water, (s)he will pay less amount.

Speaking to `The Times of India', HDMC commissioner K V Trilokchandra said: "We are happy that the government has recognized our works. The award has further increased our responsibility to deliver better services. We will strive to provide good services to the public."