Funds to be sought for Malaprabha project

Funds to be sought for Malaprabha project

Staff Correspondent - The Hindu

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Meeting on August 12 to discuss water woes of Hubli-Dharwad

A sum of Rs. 160 crore needed for improving drainage system in the twin cities

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DHARWAD: A high-level meeting will be held in Bangalore on August 12 for finding a permanent solution to the drinking water problem in Hubli and Dharwad, Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani has said.

Addressing presspersons after chairing a district review meeting here on Wednesday, he said that the meeting would discuss issues regarding finding a permanent solution to the drinking water problem and funds mobilisation.

The State Government had released Rs. 50 crore for the Malaprabha Third Stage Drinking Water Project in the last financial year, and work was under way.

In the budget presented recently, the Government had earmarked Rs. 136 crore for it. But the amount was insufficient for finding a permanent solution to the problem, he said.

Mr. Nirani said that the meeting would discuss the issue, and added that he would urge the Chief Minister to release additional funds for the project.

To a query, he said that Rs. 160 crore was needed for improving the underground drainage system in the twin cities.

He said he would make efforts to get funds for it.

The Minister said that the Government was planning to acquire 500 acres of land for expanding the Belur Industrial Estate near Dharwad. The Government was contemplating on taking back land allotted to those who had failed to set up industries.

Survey for four-lane road project begins

Survey for four-lane road project begins

Staff Correspondent - The Hindu

HUBLI: Minister for Public Works C.M. Udasi has said that survey for the four-lane road between Hubli and Dharwad has begun.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Udasi said that it was the stretch between Hosur Circle in Hubli and Jubilee Circle in Dharwad that would be made four-lane.

The Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited allotted the work to L.S. Kadiyali Associates, New Delhi, on July 7. The survey would cost Rs. 16.35 lakh.

The firm had been asked to submit report in four months, Mr. Udasi said.

The Minister said that the survey had begun on Tuesday and engineer A.T. Patil of Kadiyali Associates had conducted first round of discussions with officials of the Public Works Department.

According to the initial assessment, the four-lane road would be around 42 to 44 meters. Two flyovers would have to be constructed at Hosur Circle in Hubli and Court Circle in Dharwad, he said. Mr. Udasi said the State Government had plans to construct peripheral ring roads in five cities, including Hubli, in the State.

With reference to the consultant company, which was entrusted with the task of finalising alignment of the half-ring road, proposing an alignment that passed through two proposed railway stations, Mr. Udasi said he would look into the issue. The proposed half-ring road connects National Highways 218, 63 and 4 and was granted approval by the Union Government in 2005. Accordingly, work on conducting a survey and finalising an alignment were entrusted to SWIN Consultancy Company. But the alignment proposed by the company passed through the land acquired in 2004 and handed over to the Railways for construction of railway stations.

Pralhad Joshi, MP from Dharwad North, has urged the Government to recover the amount paid to the consultancy firm.

Arriving soon: New version of an IT park

Arriving soon: New version of an IT park

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

 

GIVING IT A FILLIP ACROSS THE STATE

Bangalore: The IT City will soon have another IT park, but with a difference.
   The 2,000-acre facility housing IT, BT, hardware, nano and aviation industries, will come up not on a single piece of contiguous land but will be more like a chain of industrial areas linked by good roads. It will be set up under the public private partnership (PPP) mode.

Katta Subramanya Naidu
   IT-BT minister Katta Subramanya Naidu told reporters here on Wednesday that such an effort will not only retain industries in Bangalore, but also invite more industries to the city. “We have received several requests for large tracts of land by many industries. This project will fulfil all their needs,’’ Naidu said.
   According to him, the government plans to drop the process of compulsory land acquisition for this park and explore other options. A smaller IT and small and micro industries park will come up in Bangalore on a 25-acre area. Nearly 300 firms have already submitted requests for land in the park. It will be taken up under the PPP model by the staterun electronic industries corporation Keonics.
   The state also plans to set up a 500-acre IT park in Hubli and a 200-acre IT park in Belgaum. The minister has already met representatives of the chambers of commerce and industries from Hubli and Belgaum.
   “IT parks will also come up in other tier-II cities like Shimoga, Gulbarga, Mangalore and Mysore. The state is considering a request by Wipro technologies for a 100-acre land in Mysore for a faculty training university,’’ he said.

Shortage of parking space continues to plague Hubli

Shortage of parking space continues to plague Hubli

Girish Pattanashetti - The Hindu

Several commercial buildings in the city do not have the facility

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Only 294 of 554 commercial complexes in Hubli and Dharwad have parking facility

Plan to construct multi-storeyed parking lots in the preliminary stage

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Callous: Vehicles parked haphazardly on the Dajibanpet Road in Hubli on Sunday.

HUBLI: Parking has been a problem in Hubli for several years and increase in the number of vehicles has only added to it.

“Park as you please” has been the mantra of most vehicle users in the city, as their chances of being penalized for parking vehicles in restricted areas are less.

Earlier, two-wheelers and sometimes even four-wheelers used to be parked on pavements, leaving no space for pedestrians to walk. However, after the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation raised the height of pavements, people have little scope for parking vehicles on them.

It is common to see vehicles parked haphazardly even on busy roads in the city.

Towing vehicles

Although the Hubli-Dharwad Police Commissionerate has towing vehicles, they are used mostly when VVIPs visit the city.

No space

One of the main contributing factors for the worsening of parking problem in the city is the lack of adequate parking space in most of the commercial buildings.

According to officials of the HDMC, there are 554 commercial complexes in the twin cities and only 294 of them have parking facility.

When Ajay Nagabhushan took charge as Commissioner of the HDMC he had said that action would be initiated against owners of the buildings that did not have adequate parking space. However, the HDMC is yet to take steps in this regard.

Several new buildings in the twin cities do not have adequate parking space. As a result, people who come to these buildings are forced to park their vehicles outside.

Sealing drive

In fact, the drive to seal commercial complexes built in violation of building bylaws, during the tenure of the former HDMC Commissioner P. Manivannan, had some effect. Owners of such complexes cleared basements to provide parking space. However, introduction of the Sakram scheme by the State Government in 2007 forced the HDMC officials to stop the sealing drive.

Meanwhile, the HDMC’s plan to construct multi-storeyed parking lots in the twin cities is still in the preliminary stage.