Power plays truant
9:51 AM Posted by ukmad
Many could not watch the live telecast of budget presentation
Many farmers could not watch the live telecast of the budget presentation made by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Thursday, owing to scheduled and unscheduled loadshedding in urban and rural areas.
There was no power supply for a major part of the day in several villages in Belgaum taluk and city, including border villages of Hindalga and Sulga and such as Sahyadri Nagar, Hanuman Nagar and T.V. Centre. Power went off frequently and people could not watch the Budget presentation live on television.
Those who were waiting to watch BJP’s first budget were disappointed.
A farmer in Hindalga, Yeshwant Monappa Savgaonkar said he had read in newspapers that Mr. Yeddyurappa would be announcing some relief for farmers and hence he was curious to see the Budget presentation on television. But, there was no power supply.
On the promise to provide free power supply, he said that the Government should first ensure regular and quality power supply every day. “We have learnt to live without regular power supply for years and do not know for how many years this will go on.”
A majority of small and marginal farmers did not have Irrigation Pump sets and depended on rainfall for crops. Was there anything in the Budget for such farmers, he asked. Anandrama Gadakari of Sulga, who is a marginal farmer, said that the Governments had been making so many promises for alleviating poverty. But the fate of his family had not changed in the past six decades. He was unaware of the proposal on complete eradication of poverty. A resident of TV Centre said that the Hubli Electricity Supply Company should have ensured that there was no power cut on the day of budget presentation.
Without power supply, there was no meaning in television channels providing live coverage of the proceedings, he added.
Karnataka Budget 2008-09 What Belgaum Gets
7:15 AM Posted by ukmad
Acquiring 370 acres of land will also expand the airport at Belgaum.
Proposed major industrial corridors with 8 lane roads are:
Bangalore-Belgaum via Davengare-Hubli
For the Vishva Kannada Sammelana to be held in Belgaum this year a sum of Rs.25 crores has been provided. A cell for providing information and support to non-resident Kannadigas will be set up in Bangalore (NRI Cell).
Preparations are being made to start Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belgaum and hold an assembly session.
The foundation stone for the construction of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha at Belgaum has been laid some time ago even though the work has not yet commenced. The work on this project will be accelerated this year utilizing an allocation of Rs.50 crores provided in the budget.
Financial assistance of Rs.One crores for development of Sangolli Rayanna Memorial at Belgaum.(This should be Nandgad 36 kms from Belgaum the place where he was hanged to tree)
For the development of second tier cities such as Mysore, Mangalore, Belgaum, Hubli-Dharwad, Davanagere, Bellary and Gulbarga it is proposed to provide Rs.100 crores each to the municipal bodies of these cities over a period of two years. During this year, upto Rs.50 crores each will be given to these municipal bodies for specific projects.
A cement zone will be established for Belgaum and other districts.
Keeping in mind the natural and human resources in the State, six special industrial zones will be developed on the Public Private Partnership basis. A garment zone will be established in Belgaum For the above purposes Rs.500 Crores will be spent by KIADB during the year 2008-09.
An IT – BT zone will be established in Belgaum
A Suvarna Karnataka development corridor programme will be implemented throughout the length and breadth of the state for industrial development. For this purpose Rs.10 Crores will be allocated for preparing the project plans for the following corridors
Bangalore-Belgaum via Davengare-Hubli
It is proposed to set up IT and BT parks in cities like Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Gulbarga, Shimoga, Davangere, Mangalore through joint ventures of private participation and Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board. KEONICS will be provided with a capital contribution of Rs.10 Crores to promote the above development.
In order to address the shortage of trained drivers for the heavy vehicles four training centers will be established, one each in the revenue divisions, at the cost of Rs. 5 Crores. Truck terminals will be established in Belgaum through public private partnership.
The number of Bangalore One centers will be increased from the present 34 to 75. Similar centers will be opened in Belgaum. (Bangalore One Centers are places where in you can pay all the Govt Taxes and other services under one roof.
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'No' to merger with M'rashtra
10:29 AM Posted by ukmad
Source: Deccan Herald
Ever since the reorganisation of Indian states in 1956, Karnataka's border dispute with Maharashtra over parts of Belgaum district, has been rearing its head at regular frequency. How do voters in the state respond to this issue?
Respondents to a survey were asked if they had heard about the dispute. Those who replied in the affirmative were further asked whether the demand to merge the areas claimed to be Marathi-speaking with Maharashtra was in any way justified or was unjustified. Across the state, less than half the respondents had heard about the border dispute with Maharashtra. The level of awareness about this dispute was expectedly much higher in the Mumbai-Karnataka region. Respondents in the Coastal Karnataka region too were more aware of the existence of a border row. In the Hyderabad-Karnataka region there was greater awareness of the issue as compared to those in Central Karnataka, Southern Karnataka and Bangalore. The survey was conducted in six of the 18 constituencies in Belgaum district. Not surprisingly, the level of awareness about the border dispute was much higher in Belgaum district with nearly two-thirds of the respondents claiming to be aware of the issue.
It was noted that more than two-thirds of those who took a stand on the issue felt that it was unjustified to demand for the merger of what is termed as the Marathi-speaking regions with Maharashtra Among those who said that the demand was not correct, an overwhelmingly large percentage of them said that the demand was totally unjustified. It is important to record that in the Belgaum district too, nearly 60 per cent of those who took a stand on the issue said that the demand was unjustified. Here too, a significantly large proportion opined that merging the so-called Marathi regions with Maharashtra was unjustified.
Belgaum will vote on 22nd May
6:19 PM Posted by ukmad
Date of Issue of Gazette Notification will be 26.04.08 (Saturday).
Last Date for making Nominations would be 03.05.08 (Saturday)
Last Date for withdrawal of candidatures would be 07.05.08 (Wednesday)
Polling date:22.05.08(Thursday)
Counting will be done on 25-05-2008
50 crores for Suvarna Soudha at Belgaum
9:28 AM Posted by ukmad
Mr. Chidambaram presented the budget proposals for the State for 2008-09 in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The budget allocates Rs.1 billion for upgrading airports in Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Bijapur, Shimoga, Hassan, Gulbarga, Karwar, Bidar and Belgaum.
An amount of Rs.500 million is earmarked for a new state secretariat building, Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum.
