Thunder Showers hit Belgaum

7:21 PM Posted by ukmad

Its 7pm and LOUD Thunder showers have hit Belgaum city. The showers are not very heavy like yesterday but still all were caught in a surprise.

Half BANDH Half Chalu

12:19 PM Posted by ukmad

Yes the Bandh call has given a mixed response, but the 100% response is seen in the market place where the people are scarce in number than everyday. All the business men are all using this time to wash and clean their shops for diwali.


The picture is from Katives area where the procession of the Rajostav celebrations is going on. You can see the youth dancing on Kannada songs.

Rains at last have hit on the eve of an annual bandh call

4:31 PM Posted by ukmad

Yes after 3-4 days of hide and seek of the sun and rain today at last @ 1631 hours the rains have hit Belgaum. Though the intensity is not so much but has taken a many by surprise. Rains here are due to the cyclonic condition over the Bay of Bengal, which brings monsoon showers in Tamil Nadu. Bangalore was receiving rains daily and today is our day. It has taken me 7 minutes or so to write this but the rain is pouring cats and dogs and it’s become very dark.

In this image you can see how street sellers were caught by surprise by the rain, also seen are school children.

in the second image you can see two old people awaiting the rain to go. and also seen is the rain.







Tomorrow is the 1st of November, Rajostav day and Kala “Black Day” as it is observed by the marathi people, or should I rather say by a few marathi people. As usual a Bandh call has been given which is nothing new for we Belgaumites.
These days are the days of festivals Diwali is on the face and by calling for a Bandh only the businessmen get hit. Infact the sales have been a mediocre says a businessman I spoke to and he said now that all have got their salaries and bonuses we can expect a good sale in the next 10 days or so, but this kind of a bandh call will hit it he added. People coming in from taluka places will avoid coming tomorrow and hence this outlook.

Farmers say don’t take our land

5:01 PM Posted by ukmad




The farmers near to the Bellary nala on the NH 4 gathered in Bogarves and took a procession to meet the DC and give their memorandum. Shri Vilas Pawar was leading this protest. I have just tried to locate it may be it is not excat.

The farmers allege that their 14 acre fertile land is being overtaken by the KAIDB(Karnataka Industries Board) unwillingly and unlawfully. The 14-acre area has been declared has been declared as a "Green Belt" by the BUDA. (Belgaum urban Development authority) The said 14 acres of over hundreds of farmers is being taken by the KAIDB for industrial purposes but the way it has been done is very wrong. A BJP MLA is supposed to have around 5 acres of land near these 14 acres and the farmers allege that he is the king pin behind all this.

See the manner in which the said land has been acquired:
6th December 2006 in Bangalore the KAIDB issued the Gazette
8th December 2006 The KAIDB Dharwad Office makes a note of the same
13th December 2006 Farmers get notices
14th December 2006 gets Diary approval
18th December 2006 invitation for meeting of farmers with KAIDB authorities
All the farmers got the notices only after 20th December 2006
Notices were not published in any newspapers

The farmers have put a writ petition against this in the Karnataka High Court and the court has as usual taken time to study.

The best thing is that the name of KIADB is already mentioned in the Land records.
As it’s a green belt there cannot be any industrial activities in this belt, but the government is trying to acquire fertile land for industrial purposes. What happened in Singur and Nandigram in WB were also on the same lines but seeing the huge protests even Tata had to step back.

The farmers are getting 1.41 lakhs per gunta now when the on going rate is 1.75 lakhs per gunta. The farmers say we don’t want money you will give us 2 lakhs but they say we want our land that’s it we will toil and earn.

This sort of acquisition of green belt will harm the city and the country as a whole. There is plenty of empty land near by the Bellary nala which can be utilized for industrial purposes but that’s not been done only for the cause of some politicians. Come on India be big Sensex hits 20000 and the farmers are getting out of their own land. What a Shame? May be this will stop may another Singur Agitation is required with some blood shed then only will the govt. take it seriously.

Shri Pant Maharaj Punya Tithi

2:44 PM Posted by ukmad

SriKhestra Pant Balekundri. The potrait of Shir pant Maharaj
The plakhi of Shri Pant Maharaj was held yesterday in Sri Khestra Pant Balekundri. Lakhs of devotees had come for the occassion. Today, monday will be the Mahaprasad. All these are part of the yearly Punya Tithi celebrations.


Belgaumites making stirdes in IT : From Belgaum concerns

9:51 PM Posted by ukmad

This story has been published in my associate blog: http://belgaumnri.blogspot.com
Startup Vayavya unveils automated device driver generator
BENGALURU, India — Vayavya Labs is launching an automated device driver generator framework that the company claims will bring discipline through its formal language-based approach. Device driver generation is error prone and hard to maintain since there is no standard process across diverse platforms. Vayavya said its DDGen generator framework addresses these problems while reducing development time and coding effort.
The beta version, now undergoing testing with two semiconductor manufacturers, supports PCI drivers and will eventually support USB and Ethernet. It currently supports Linux and TI BIOS operating systems.
"Device generation by tools has mainly been a research topic. Those who attempted it did so purely from a hardware (device) aspect or from a software point of view," said R.K. Patil, CEO and co-founder of Vayavya (Belgaum, India). Patil said some researchers focused on "how to capture the register and its programming part, and then went on generate various device access methods. But for some reason, no attempt to capture the software needs while generating the device access methods was made." Read Full Story

Walking on the Moon, Made easy in Belgaum

3:01 PM Posted by ukmad

Yes Belgaumites, it’s the truth. See these two pictures. One is taken from the Internet, which shows the surface of the moon and another one shows the Roads of Belgaum.


The difference between the two is very minimal.
These pictures are taken on Congress Road. Potholes are on both sides of the road. But the commendable thing is that all of them are in the center of the road. All these are in the road being maintained by the Cantonment Board. The congress road till Kagal(Nanawadi)cross is under the cantonment board Belgaum. The authorities had to fill these potholes with mud atleast have done nothing. See the video also its exactly in front of the main gate of Military Mahadev. This is the most dangerous one Infact daily people going in speed have to put on brakes and at least a couple of people fall down nearby this potholes braking in speed.

Not only this road but also many roads in the outer suburbs are in more bad condition. But amongst them all those coming under the Cantonment board are the worst. The roads leading to City Bus stand it feels like you are traveling in a boat, up and down and up and down.

This problem of potholes is universal, but we have to do something. Our money paid, as taxes should be used in a good manner for these roads.
A request all those in Belgaum just send in the Pictures of potholes in your area to ukmad@yahoo.com. See that they are under 100KB in size and in JPG format. I will try and upload those on the blog. Also don’t forget to mention the area (if possible exact spot).

Rains do Semolanghan

9:27 PM Posted by ukmad

A very very Happy Dasara to all readers.

The Belgaum had a over cast sky since two days but today at 5 pm it grew darker and at 6 pm it started to pour down and the intensity increased with time. Till nine pm it was raining heavily which busted the spirits of the people who had been to Jyoti College ground for the Semolanghan. Camp area which witnesses the procession of Goddess Durga was also a bit mild because of the rain.

RSS Dhwaja Sanchalan

4:33 PM Posted by ukmad


These are exclusive pictures for this blog.
They are from the Dhwaja Sanchalan of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ) Belgaum Shaka. Around traditionally attired 1,000 and more Swayamsevaks marched through the city.
It was a visual fete from a 6 year old to a 80 year old Swayamsevak taking part in the march.
Every year the march is conducted on the eve of Dasara. The police also after a long time had a nice march with the sevaks.

Navratri Festivites in DHOOM

1:37 PM Posted by ukmad

Todays Tarun Bharat and Sakal have highlighted this picture of the HADGA. This photo has been published in TarunBharat.
This was held at Lele Ground, Tilakwadi. The attendance was immense from a 4 year old girl to a 91 year old grandmother all saying" Aailama pailama"

Hadga or Bhondla Festival:
The nine days and nights festival immediately preceding the most important festival Dasara is celebrated all over India with different traditions. The very first day of this 10 day festival, idols of Goddess Durga are installed at many homes. This installation of the Goddess is popularly known as Ghatsthapana. During this period, little girls celebrate 'Bhondla/Hadga' as the Sun moves to the thirteenth constellation of the zodiac called "Hasta" (Elephant). During the nine days, Bhondla is celebrated in the garden or on the terrace during evening hours by inviting female friends of the daughter in the house. An elephant is drawn either with Rangoli on the soil or with a chalk on a slate and kept in the middle. The girls go around it in a circle, holding each other's hands and singing the Bhondla songs. All the Bhondla songs are traditional songs passed down the generations. The last song typically ends with the words '...khirapatila kaay ga?' (meaning 'What is the special dish today?'). This 'Khirapat' is a special dish / dishes often made laboriously by the mother of the host girl. The food is served only after the rest of the girls have guessed the dish/dishes correctly.

Brief news from Belgaum

2:17 PM Posted by ukmad



Some Briefs from Belgaum:


This photo has been published in the Hindu, where we can see the tiles being put up. This is College Road. The beautification is being done from the Kannada Vishwa Sammlean funds. The work is very similar to all public works. The Tarun Bharat in yesterdays issue had highlighted on the front page about the Vishwa Kannada Sammelan being postponed forever as the government is no more there in the state.


I say let it be anything Kannada or Marathi or Urdu Sammelan some of our money paid as taxes is being utilised for some good cause, i think I should be a Little more than happy.




Yesterday, i.e.Monday the BJP had convened a rally on the Sardars ground on College road to tell the people of Belgaum how the JDS had cheated them. A lot of people had gathered there but I could not make it there. It was just another political rally and may be a kick off to the assembly polls in the state.


Durga Daud:

The daud is a huge rally of people mostly youngesters who run in the wee hours of the morning of all the nine days of the Navratri. Each day a specified area is there from where one starts and gets over at a temple of an area. Around 15000, fifteen thousand people run in this daud and the scene is majestic.
This picture is published in the Tarun Bharat.
The Dandiya is there in many places, but the one in Millenium Garden is getting goods crowds. Dandiya is also organised in Gujrat Bhavan, Gomtesh Vidyapeeth.

Real estate prices boom: Thanks to Govt.

1:09 PM Posted by ukmad

Guidance value of immovable property increased by 30% to 60%

 

Dreaming about buying a property in Belgaum, then be ready to spend a few more bucks as the state government has increased the guidance value of immovable property by a whopping 30%. This is the rate at which you need to pay your registration fees for the property you buy even if you actually get the property in a less rate. As this has been increased you will have to pay by this rate only and the same has become effective from 01-08-2007.

 

The increase in the land prices will definitely help the sellers gather a few more bucks but the buyers will have to feel the pinch. One more bad news is that now you will have to pay you corporation property tax on the basis of these rates, so be prepared to spend a few more thousands.

 

Till 30-09-2007 we used to pay by the rates decided in November 2004. Now the increase is about 30% to 60% from the earlier rates.

 

Earlier Rates/Guntha

New Rates/Guntha

% Increase

Khade Bazar

2400000

3267000

36.13

Kirloskar Road

2400000

3267000

36.13

 

The funniest thing I observed is that the rates in some specific language speaking areas the rates have been fixed at 234000. These areas include Mal maruti, Anjanneya Nagar, Shiv Basav Nagar, Shri Nagar, Mahantesh Nagar. The fact here is the prices here have risen more than in other parts of the city but the Guidance value has been kept low by the govt. just to please a few I believe.

 

The rates of a few different areas is given below:

 

Rate Per Guntha in Rs.

Sq/Ft in Rs.

MalMaruti/Ashok Nagar

234000

214.88

Shivbasav Nagar

234000

214.88

Shrinagar/Mahantesh Ngr

234000

214.88

Kasai Galli

270000

247.93

Mahadwar Road

340000

312.21

Bhagya Nagar

375000

344.35

Govaves Circle

640000

587.70

Tilakwadi Internal Areas

870000

798.90

Rande Road,Hindwadi

960000

881.54

Kaktives Road

1000000

918.27

Subhash Market,Hindwadi

1121000

1029.38

Bsavan Galli

1300000

1193.76

Samadevi Galli

1600000

1469.24

Khanapur Road(Tilakwadi)

1600000

1469.24

Old Dharwar Road

1670000

1533.52

College Road

1700000

1561.07

Huns Talkies Road

2100000

1928.37

Nargundkar Bhave Chowk

2400000

2203.86

Market

2425000

2226.81

Ramdev Galli

2530000

2323.23

Maruti Galli

2755000

2529.84

Ganpat Galli

2830000

2598.71

Khade Bazar

3267000

3000.00

Kirloskar Road

3267000

3000.00

Bogarves

3267000

3000.00

 

 

If you had planned to buy some property in Belgaum then think over, if you wait may be next time the rates will be a bit higher again. You can never time a market. But if prices in Govt. Gazette go up so high then its is sure that when you want to buy on ground the real estate prices will be definitely more than what is mentioned above.

 

Happy tax paying and buying folks…

 

Information gathered from Sakal, Internet, Real estate agents.

Thank you for your support

9:59 PM Posted by ukmad

It has been 2 months today that I started this blog.
On August 7, 2007 I thought of this and when I am writing this 2915+ visits of all you people has made me more than happy and I did not expect such a good response to my small little blog.

Many of you have signed up for the email subscriptions and today 25 people have subscribed who receive updates from this blog. All you others almost 67 people on average daily visit it and its is seen from many continents. In India it is viewed 44%,USA 28%,Australia 15%,followed by UAE,Singapore,Saudi Arabia, Qatar,Hongkong and other countries.

I can only write, I will try my best to give you unbiased information about your city. If you have any suggestions kindly send them, i would love to read them.

Yours, UkMaD

Corporate Retail is a Challenge for local retailers

12:07 PM Posted by ukmad

The Belgaum chamber of commerce and industries yesterday had conducted an interactive workshop on ‘Impact of corporate Retail Trade (Threat of Malls)’ at its Udaymbag office.

Dr.A.Bkalkundrikar, principal Gogte College of Commerce, Dr.S.G.Kulkarni, Gogte College of Commerce, Dr.S.C.Chiniwar, IMER Belgaum, Shri.Dilip Kamat Social Activist and Shri.Vinod Deshpande Prof.VTU discussed about the same.

The small and local retailers should take the entry of malls as an opportunity to see where they fall behind or lack with the malls. Stopping malls, as reliance Fresh is being withdrawn from UP, West Bengal etc is not always possible.

Vinod Deshpande & Dr.S.C.Chiniwar spoke in favor of the malls very strongly and said that by coming of malls people will get more options, more variety and a huge choice before he/she buys anything. Malls will also in general benefit the government, consumers and the farmers. They also said that the local small trader would not feel the effect.

Dr. S.G.Kulkarni presented the other side of the coin. Due to malls the consumers fall prey to emotional buying and they normally end up buying things that they hardly ever use or wanted. All the malls are now equipped with CC tvs and this will cause breach of privacy. These malls will hit the small trader and these corporate retail chains will not survive for a long.

Infact nothing great came out of this discussion. The fact is that at least we had the chamber organize something of this kind of which I thank them. The points expressed by the learned lot were correct on their part. Some points though I really could not understand. CC tvs will cause breach of privacy- it can be done any where why only malls. I guess they were referring to those news bits that cams are put in trial rooms also, but that does not happen always. Malls will benefit the farmers. I doubt how? May be by contract farming etc but we are very far off from that space still.

In all a never-ending discussion. According to me face as it comes, change is inevitable, take it as it comes.

Bhartesh BBA college student dies in accident

6:43 PM Posted by ukmad


Bhartesh BBA college student dies in accident

One college student doing his bachelors in business administration Rohit Ramesh Jain aged 19, died near Bhutramatti( VTU) on the NH 4 in an accident involving a car and truck. He was the only son. His parents survive him.

Five college friends had been there for lunch in a dhaba in a Skoda car. A truck suddenly put the brakes and the skoda crashed into the truck causing the accident. The other 4 have escaped with very minor injuries namely Tejas S Bhandari, Raju Gaikwad, Mihir A Potdar & Manjunath Gavji. The accident occurred at around 2pm on Thursday.
The last rites will be done at the Shahpur Crematorium at 9.30 am.
This is a great to loss to me as I knew him from the time he was kid.