Buses damaged during protest in hubli

Buses damaged during protest in hubli
The Hindu - Staff Correspondent

DSS agitation against desecration of Ambedkar's statue turns violent
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# No permission was taken for the protest'
# Seven city buses damaged
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SHATTERED: Buses were damaged during the protest by Dalit Sangharsh Samiti members in Hubli on Thursday.

HUBLI: Seven buses belonging to North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) were damaged during a violent protest by members of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (DSS) in Hubli on Thursday against the desecration of Ambedkar's statue in Kanpur of Uttar Pradesh.

The snap protest took the police by surprise as the DSS members had not taken permission from the Police Department for the protest march.

The protest march, which began peacefully, turned violent with a few protesters throwing stones at the city buses.

As there were no police personnel around, other protesters were "encouraged" to throw stones at the buses creating panic among the commuters.

By the time the police arrived at the spot, seven buses were damaged.

Senior police officials rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. The incident also led to an altercation between police officials and the protesters.

Later, the DSS members, led by Pitambrappa Bilar, took out a protest march via Kittur Rani Channamma Circle condemning the desecration of Ambedkar's statue. They said that such incidences were recurring at regular intervals because of the "failure" of Police Department.

Following the stone throwing incident, the city buses were taken off the road by the (NWKRTC). However, the bus service resumed after an hour.

The police have not made any arrests in connection with the incident. Police Commissioner Narayan Nadamani told The Hindu that seven persons involved in stone throwing had been identified.

He said the department had taken the incident seriously, as the protest march was held without permission. "We have information about the miscreants who threw stones, and they would be caught," he said.

Demolition drive at Navanagar

Demolition drive at Navanagar
The Hindu - Staff Correspondent

Drive to clear encroachments on roads

HUBLI: Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation will conduct a "mini demolition drive" at Navanagar, here, on Thursday to clear the encroachments on roads and drains.

The demolition drive is scheduled to start at around 7 a.m. and will continue until all the roads in Navangar are cleared of encroachments.

The demolition drive is aimed at making the roads of Navangar "wider" as most the roads in the area have been encroached by gardens outside houses. Shopkeepers have encroached the HDMC property for widening the area of their "operations".

According to HDMC sources another major area of concern to the authorities was illegal constructions over the drains.

The blocks over drains were resulting in water clogging, and damaging the roads, they said.

Roads in Navanagar are nine to 12 metres wide. However, they have been reduced to six to three metres at few places, affecting the vehicular movement, they said.

About 80 persons from the HDMC and other agencies would be participating in the drive under police protection.

Hubli airport expansion: survey of houses to begin today

Hubli airport expansion: survey of houses to begin today
The Hindu - Staff Correspondent

Residents' committee to accompany the survey team
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# About 120 houses have to be demolished: Srikar
# Survey work will be completed in 10 days
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DISCUSSION: Hubli-Dharwad Deputy Commissioner M.S. Srikar (right) at a meeting with the representatives of residents' associations in Dharwad on Wednesday.
DHARWAD: Survey on ascertaining the number of houses to be demolished for the expansion of Hubli airport will begin on Thursday.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of 25 representatives of 10 residents' associations of the areas around Hubli airport here on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Commissioner M.S. Srikar.

Mr. Srikar said that 100 to 120 houses had to be demolished irrespective of the Government's decision to acquire 446 acres or 650 acres of land for the purpose.

Mr. Srikar gave a presentation on the airport expansion plan and displayed photographs and a map of the project.

He said the survey work would be completed in 10 days.

Warning the residents against middlemen, he asked them not to believe any person who promised them to get their houses dropped from the list of houses to be demolished. It was decided in the meeting to form a committee of residents to accompany the survey team.

A six-member committee comprising of Sridhar Pujar, B.G. Belliraya, G. Durgappa, L.S. Toravi, C.S. Bidari and Krishna Mane was formed for the purpose. Hubli tahsildar S.S. Nagathana was asked to provide necessary information to the survey team and the residents.

Mr. Srikar told the meeting that the survey was likely to take ten days to complete after which another meeting would be held to discuss various other related issues including acquisition process, compensation and so on.

Mr. Srikar said that no organisation or individual was entrusted with the work of ascertaining the number of houses to be acquired for the expansion project.

He asked the residents to approach the district administration for clarifications about the implementation of the project.

Assistant Commissioner Mohan Sasanur, and Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board Development Officer Ramakrishnappa were present in the meeting.

Airport land survey begins today

Airport land survey begins today
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

30 Nov, 2006 0032hrs IST
DHARWAD: The owners of the 100-odd houses coming under the project to expand Hubli airport as an international facility seem inclined to agree for consensual acquisition of their properties if the compensation offered is fair and reasonable.

This emerged at a meeting of representatives of resident welfare associations (RWAs) of the affected colonies called by deputy commissioner M S Shrikar here on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

The district administration will undertake a detailed survey of the additional 600 acres of land required for the expansion project from Thursday jointly with representatives of the people affected by the project.

Five representatives of RWAs of the colonies to be acquired for the expansion work as per the master plan prepared by the Airports Authority of India will join the survey team to make it a transparent exercise.

Shrikar told The Times of India after the meeting that he assured the affected people that the number of houses even under the revised master plan will remain unchanged at between 100 and 120 as the additional land was agricultural.

He said it was impressed upon them that instead of acquiring their properties under the Land Acquisition Act, it would be mutually beneficial if they agreed for consensual acquisition to avoid delay and litigation.

The deputy commissioner said they were agreeable to the consensual acquisition option if the compensation package offered to them was "fair and reasonable"taking into consideration the prevailing land and building costs.

The RWAs also agreed to nominate five representatives for the joint survey work to finalise the list of houses actually affected by the project so that the details of acquisition and compensation could be worked out.

Shrikar advised them not to fall prey to middlemen who were falsely promising them exclusion of their properties or a better compensation package in case the acquisition was unavoidable.

"I impressed upon them to come forward to clarify their doubts and directly deal with the district administration as far as the question compensation was concerned,"he said, and added "they agreed with my suggestion."

As per the master plan prepared by the AAI in September, 461 acres of additional land is required to upgrade Hubli airport as a national and 650 acres to make it an international facility.At present, it can take only up to 50-seater aircraft