Rail budget and Belgaum ki aam Janta

by Satish Kumar Sr. Engineer MINDSCAPE (IMG) (Dubai)

A bigger miscalculation and miss out from our public representatives need to be show casted.

In 1982 the former CM (Late) Shri Ram Krishan Hegde (from Sirsi) envisaged the growth for Northern Karnataka, drew attention of Rail road projects, Well K-Ride did not exist though, but there something terribly something gone wrong with infrastructure policy in North Karnataka particularly Belgaum.

Shri. Hegde had evinced and proposed the survey and execution of Belgaum Bagalkote Raichur line and Belguam- Dharwad line in his tenure, there was no state central partnership then so these proposals kept eating dust.

In the recent years we have been hearing Bagalkote- Kudchi line, I am shocked to see the viability of this project, reason being it was actually Belgaum Bagalkote proposed line, Major Cement distribution companies are based in Belgaum for covering North Karnataka region, the belt has spread across from Belgaum Yadwad, Lokapur, Bagalkote and the second belt is of Sedam, Shahbad Gulbarga region so since when the Belgaum Bagalkote Raichur line, took a shift to Kudchi Bagalkote Line God only knows, I pity the foresight of these elected representatives for such non viable projected mess up

I had earlier worked chalked a project for Belgaum Bagalkote line through Sambra as junction plus integrated freight corridor ( the station actually falls off Muchhandi /Ashte village on Belgaum- Gokak road ) and further towards Nesargi , Yargatti Lokapur and Bagalkote, further from there to Bagalkote Hungund till Raichur.

I have observed many times the freight loading earlier done at Belgaum is now carried from Desur mainly Cement and Fertilizer form Zuari Agro/Vasvdatta companies, the latest addition to this will be Dalmia Cement plant commissioning near Belgaum .

Why our district representative don't look forward for such viable and profitable projects, which would give a credible development to be around Belgaum.

Some of major advantages of Belgaum Baglakot Raichur line

1) Connecting of Border districts of Belgaum to main land of North West Karnataka.

2) New access to Raichur, Gulbarga and Hyderabad regions can be another corridor for development, by road Belgaum already serves as gateway to Goa now.

3) Tourism coverage of Sogal, Naveel teerth, Badami, Trogal forts and many more falling under this region.

4) East port linkage for coal supply form Goa port to RTPS (Raichur Thermal Power station).

5) Inland intra port connectivity of Visakhapatnam to Goa ( Naval facilitation for new base at Belgaum)

The second story of Belgaum Dharwad line via Kittur

It was surveyed and open for commissioning since last three government in the state, the key reason being if these line get implemented there will be major shift in all north bound trains from Bangalore terminating at Belgaum, to which the politicians of Hubli are opposed the fact to support this is, twin city Dharwad has to fight for rail extension of many trains terminating at Hubli. What is the use of having SWR head quarter at Hubli though serves no purpose of development of Northern Karnataka.

KRIDE ( a joint venture of State/Central Govt (projects are done cost sharing basis) Karnataka Rail Infrastructure development Establishment) evinced interest in this proposal but MR Bommai Jr. again twisted the seen on Belgaum Dharwad line via Bailhongal , a delay of another decade may be now.

The blind MP and MLAS are driving we Belgaumites vision less and just hardly have vision for City.

Bidar being last bordering district of state getting connected to main land Karnataka through Gulbarga Bidar rail line, Why not Belgaum get similar treatment.

Small cities with quarter population as that of Belgaum have trains connecting to state capital, why are we deprived of same. The new project of Belgaum station renovation will only upgrade building and some recreation facilities, what about coach filling, powering and cleaning facilities? What about shunting lines for Rake facility?

The value of Belgaum being Divisional head Quarter is too low and having N Karnataka Regional commissioner office being based here is still having dearth of these entire basic rail infrastructure requirement. (Something like Chiraag tale Andhera)

The above facts are on the basis of news and articles and my own investigations and findings. This is to make aware and spread the right vision of Belgaumites to look forward for better future , and put across views to right authorities for better future planning of Belgaum.

Pareekshe takes on injustice movie shot near Belgaum

The film, “Parikshe” or “Pareekshe” of the debutant director A R Ravindra is about the injustice and atrocities against lower caste people in North Karnataka.

Anu Prabhakar plays the lead character of Bangari, while there are several new faces. The most prominent among them is Yenagi Balappa, who plays the conscientious village headman.

Politician-producer Sanjay Patil, MLA, and Nataraj (both from Belgaum), Muniraj, Shantamma, Siddaraj Kalyankar, Master Kiran, C.S. Patil and Girish Jatti form the cast. MLA Sanjay Patil is a first tie producer as is the director.

Hemant Kumar provides the music while vocalist Sangeeta Katti, also from north Karnataka, is the only singer for the one song in the film. Sitaram Karant has scripted the story, while Shashidhar Bhat has written the dialogues using typical Kannada dialect akin to north Karnataka, particularly Belgaum district.

The film has been shot in the villages of Hannikere, Gajapati, Bairanahatti, Kukkadali and Bendigeri.

The movie traces the life of Bangari, a Dalit woman, who is subjected to discrimination and false accusations due to her caste.

Bangari faces the wrath of her family and villagers after the village doctor, whose advances she resists, spreads a rumor that she is affected by AIDS. There is a scene where Bangari helps an upper caste woman. Instead of gratitude, she is criticized for touching an upper caste woman.

The movie is all set to release in March.

Source: Rediff & The Hindu

Cable price war in Belgaum

Cable wars are common in metros but Belgaum is now no different to this either. After four years of monopoly of cable distribution of Rdihi Vision one more cable network is trying to eat the market share, namely Vardaraj Cable network which has MOU with Siti Cable Bangalore.
Vardarj Cable is now available for only Rs.60 per month in which one can watch 60 channels and if you want to watch more than 200 channels one needs to buy a set top box and his monthly subscription will be Rs. 175.
On the other hand Ridhi Vision with its monopoly and monopolistic pricing charges anything between Rs.200 in city areas to Rs.300 in up market bungalow areas.
Ridhi Vision says that it has a subscription base of 50 thousand subscribers and Vardaraj has been able to get into 5000 cable homes and aims to get into 30 thousand in six months.
This price war will definitely be favorable for the consumer.
It is notable fact that four years ago Feroz Sait(MLA) had tired to open a cable network in competition to Ridhi Vision but later he had an agreement with Ridhi Vision. But this time Vardaraj is all set to give stiff competition. Vardraj also has a news bulletin in local languages.
Vardraj also plans to enter the rural market like Halga, Hindalga, Sulga, Machhe, Sambra, Muchandi where they would charge as low as Rs.70 a month. Ridhi Vision is already there in this market but they charge Rs.100.
In fact this cable war was visible in the recently held T20 championships in city. The Belgaum Premier League was shown live on Ridhi vision and Belgaum champions league was telecast live on Vardraj Cable network.
May what it be but healthy competition is always good for the consumers and the society. There have been instances of cable being cut and small incidents of beating up each others men but this all part of the game. For the people of Belgaum its another good reason to stay glued to the idiot box.
Source: Rajasthan Patrika

Old Belgaum for you

Sahir Kittur has now become a historian for that matter as he is continuously on the search for old photos of Belgaum and here are some more from his search. (these photos were searched long back but due to Bandh stories this story got todays Mahurat)

The Dhamni a best mode of transport till late 1960's

Fort Moat now no water stands there

MNIK released today Monday 15th Feb

Sharukh Khan & Kajol fans no more looking back, My name is khan has been released today at Big cinemas and Nartaki. An odd day indeed but what can be done.

BIG Cinemas – 12, 3.15,6.30 & 9.45pm.

Nartaki – 3, 6, 9 pm.

Who will bell the Auto drivers

This site has seen some decent (indecent comments removed) discussions on various subjects of importance to all from Belgaum, Belgavi to cutting of trees.

The most significant problem Belgaumites are facing for all these years and to which no authority is looking to correct it is the Auto fares in Belgaum.

For the past three days Autos are off the road and they are holding the regular commuters to ransom for no wrong done by them. The autos are off the roads on the demand that the police should find the culprits behind the murder of their fellow driver Noor who was killed latter part of the week. Even on Friday the whole city there was tension on this issue, where as the police say that the murder was due to family matters and some people tried to give it a communal touch.

My question to all, why is that in Belgaum over so many years and so many great IAS and IPS officers in town no one could start the Autos by Fare meter prescribed by the government. Is it that Belgaum does not adhere to any laws of the land? Only the people sitting as MP's MLAs can answer this, as no one has tried to solve this most common and most important issue, which if solved can help all Belgaumites.

How many know the exact minimum auto fare? Take a guess! No one !!

the minimum auto fare for Belgaum city is Rs.12 for 2 kms and then Rs.6 per kilo meter.

I need one person who has traveled by paying Rs.12 the minimum fare. The minimum fare charged is Rs.15 straight forward.

Refusal to come near by, excess fare and rude behavior for which auto drivers can be punished under law is the daily practice by them,as there is “NO MAIKALAL” who will ask them.
Earlier attempts were made to impose auto by fare meters but the Auto drivers resented to it and the same could not be achieved.

The auto fare in Bangalore is Rs. 14 per 2 kms and then Rs.7 per km. In Mumbai the minium is Rs.9 per 1.5 km.

If by mistake any of the authorities responsible for this is reading this please try and travel by autos and see how horrible it is.

Most meters on the autos never work (except on the day at the RTO for passing) many don't have one as well. The police never try and stop and ask for a license of an auto driver, especially those running auto at night, who are young kids with no license.

The pre-paid auto at the railway station is also not working in a good manner due to the wrong intentions of the auto drivers.

My question to the auto drivers-

If there is a law why is not applicable to you in Belgaum?

Are these auto drivers not bound by law?

Some important points one should know:

1. For every Kilometer -Rs. 6-00 (for 3 passengers)

2. The Minimum Fare -Rs. 12-00 (for 3 passengers)
(for the first 2.00 Kms.)

3. Waiting charges for first Five Minutes- FREE

4. After Five Minutes For every Fiteen Minutes or part thereof - Rs. 1-00

5. Luggage charges for First 20Kgs.- FREE

6. After 20 Kgs. For every; 20 Kgs. Or part thereof - Rs. 2-00

7. Maximum passenger Luggage to be carried is - 50Kgs.

Fare at Night- One and half times of prescribed fare to be charged from 10.00 pm to 5.00 am.

And is there any “MAIKALAL” who will take this mater to conclusion.

God bless Belgaum.

Source: RTO Bangalore, RTO Mumbai

Angol road Then and Now

Under the Then and Now series, in this particular story the time gap between Then and Now is hardly 4 days.

For development trees are chopped and made way for a more widened road on which we can ply our vehicles and emit more CO2 and the trees which used to absorb them have been cut.

THEN: photo taken on Angol Road on Tuesday 9^th February

NOW: photo taken on same spot Angol Road on Saturday 13^th February.

See the difference between the two images.

This is the tree which has been cut just near to the Shri Aai Kalavati Devi temple.

Najar milate hi hua asar sarab ke tarah

ki o haqiqat gujar gaye ek khawab ki tarah

hosh me jo aya to saya bhi na unaka

payadil ke chaman ke halat thi ujade bag ke tarah.

No flowers for youngsters on Valentines day

After the most unhappening last week Sunday also seems to be getting some lime light as it is Valentines day and the Sri Ram Sena has warned the flower vendors across the city not to sell flowers to youngsters and hotels.

Sena said that it will not allow the youth to celebrate Valentine's day as it is not part of Indian culture. They also added that they wont intervene if celebrations do not hurt Hindu culture.

Sena activists would keep a vigil on the movements of youths. The Sena has asked social organizations, hotels and business firms not to organize functions.

Total Bandh

The Sri Ram sena called Bandh has evoked good response and total city is shut with very less traffic on the roads.

There have been some small incidents of stone pelting in the early hours of the morning. The Police were seen asking the people not to open shops and not to be in groups of 4 as sec.144 was imposed. Some snap shots for you. All photos: Team AAB

Saturday Bandh call by SRS auto drivers murder sparks tension

The Sri Ram Sena has given a bandh call for Saturday 13^th February. All schools & colleges have been declared a holiday.

Belgaum even yesterday was disturbed and tension prevailed the whole day and the main reason of the tension was the murder of a auto rikshaw driver.

The reason for violence in Belgaum is said to be the murder of an autorickshaw driver in Marihal police station limits on Thursday night. Noor Ahmed (40) was murdered and his body dumped near Kalkhamb in Marihal police station limits on Thursday night. Tension prevailed in the area Friday afternoon after the news spread.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the murder of Noor Ahmed was owing to personal reasons. Unfortunately, it became a communal issue because of his religious identity and violence erupted.

All is Bandh today same for tomorrow

All was BANDH today in Belgaum after a person of a community died who was injured yesterday night.

The police have imposed Sec.144 and all shops in the main market area, Shahpur Vadgaon were closed by 3pm.

Shops in Camp and Tilakwadi were running.
There were many reports of stone pelting on shops and damage to property. Situation is tense but under control.
City buses and Autos were off the roads completely and same can be expected for tomorrow as the Ram Sena has officially called for a BANDH tomorrow. Dont beleive on rumours which are spreading like fire.

Nothing grave has happened but situation is tensed for sure.

Update at 8.13pm: 51 persons arrested
Sec.144 untill 8pm tomorrow
SRS says tomorrows BANDH Will successful and peaceful

No MNIK in Belgaum see Crazy Kutumb

After all the Hoo Halla My Name is Khan is not getting released in Maharashtra and Belgaum as well.

But there is one film releasing this week which has a Belgaum connection.

Its the Kannada movie 'Crazy Kutumba' the remake of the Marathi movie 'De Dhakka'. All of the ‘crazy’ characters along with two musicians travel from Belgaum to Bangalore in a malfunctioning autorickshaw so that Gowri can participate in a dance competition. Their encounters, both funny and grievous, on this journey form the better part of the film. The dialect is from north Karnataka but it has been kept simple enough for comprehension.

ACTORS:Ramesh Aravind, Ananth Nag, Sana, Rajinikanth, Dhanya, Harish

the movie is running at SWAROOP for regular shows 12.15,3.15,6.15,9.15pm.

VP again mentions Belgaum in Maharashtra

Which bug has bitten the Vice Presidents office of India is unknown, but certainly something is wrong with his office.

Just after a week of apologizing for mention Belgaum as a part of Maharashtra, VP's office has done it again mentioning Khanapur Belgaum in Maharashtra in a reply to a letter from Arun Dattatreya Sirdesai from Khanapur.
Arun had written a letter to the VP to get his attention to some unconstitutional activities of Raju Shetty, MP from Kolhapur (Maharashtra), Belgaum MP Suresh Angadi and Uttara Kannada MP Ananthkumar Hegde and the problems of naxalism in India on November 26, 2009.

Source: Express Buzz

Movies as on 12-02-2010

Theater	Movie	Timings
Big Cinemas	3 Idiots	3.3
	The Wolfman	10.45am,9.45pm
	Ishqiya	12.45
	Rann	6.45
Nirmal	Ram (K)	12.15pm,3.15,6.15,9.15
Huns	Rakshkudu (T)	12,3,6,9
Arun		12.30,2,4,7
Roopali	Gouramma	12.15,3,6,9
Balkrishna	The Wolfman(Hindi)	12.30,3.30,6.30,9.30
Chitra	Porki (K)	12,3,6,9
Swaroop	Krazy Kutumb (K)	12.15,3.15,6.15,9.15
Hira	Veer	12.15,3.15,6.15,9.15
Prakash	Maat Maatalli (K)	12.15,3.15,.615,9.15
Nartaki	3 Idiots	11.45,2.45,5.45,9.15
Santosh	Janmad Jodi	3.15,6.15,9.15pm
Globe	Bandit Queen	12.15,1.45,3.45,6.45
Kindly check the exact timings with the theaters

Disturbances 11 Buses damaged

Updated 5am 12 Feb 2010
About 11 buses have been damaged and shops in Maruti Galli and Gapat Galli also faced some stone pelting. One tanker was tired to set a blaze at Sangolli Raynanna Circle.

An auto was also attacked and driver and two commuters were injured.

Stones were pelted at Ex MP Amar Sinh Patil residence. Police has tightened security in communally sensitive areas.
City bus service and inter city bus service has been halted since night.
Sri Ram sena has called for a Belgaum BANDH on Saturday.

A series of stone throwing on cars and buses has been reported from various parts of the city in late evening.

A honda City car was damaged on College road, a Tanker and other few buses were also damaged by alleged Sri Ram sena Supporters in response to their chief being blackened today at Bangalore at a gathering.

Lot of rumours are going around, but situation looks normal till this post was being made, but broken pieces of glass were visible across major roads.
Dont believe on rumours and contact the nearest police station in case of need.