Big cinemas Belgaum to open for public on Friday 12 December

The much awaited opening of the Big Cinemas will be done tomorrow on Monday and will open to public from the Friday, 12 December with the film “Rab ne Bana di Jodi.
The mall still looks completely from the outside only the Big cinema floor is illuminated in the night. There is also a pay parking available, but how much space is there has to be seen.

Petrol to cost 51.57 in Belgaum

HC order comes as a relief to farmers

The Karnataka High Court’s interim order has come as a relief to small and marginal farmers who have been fighting to protect their fertile land on the either side of the Pune-Bangalore National Highway (Express Highway) 4.
About 20 families of farmers owning small and marginal land on survey Nos. 628, 629 and 630 on either side of the highway, just 2 km from the Central Bus Stand, have been fighting against the move by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to allegedly hand it over to Parivartan Alpasankhyatara Krushi Sahakara Sangha (PAKSS), a private society controlled by Belgaum South MLA Abhay Kumar Patil of the BJP.
The KIADB had initiated steps to acquire the land against the will of the farmers who were depending on it for livelihood. The PAKSS wanted to set up a cold storage plant there. The National Highway Division, Belgaum, in its notification issued on March 27, 2000, determined the “building lines” and “control lines” and declared that 75 metres on either side of the existing highway as “Green Belt Zone” and banned construction activities and development work in this area.
When the farmers challenged the move to acquire their land in the High Court, the KIADB temporarily stalled the process only on the direction of Regional Commissioner Amita Prasad. But the police started harassing and threatening the farmers.
The High Court recently passed an interim order and asked the Government to respond “as to why the State should not take the responsibility of providing cold storage facilities to farmers as sought to be done by PAKSS for whose benefit the land is proposed to be acquired by the board.”

Source The Hindu

Candle light vigil and torch rally against central govt. on Sunday 7th dec 2008 @5:30 pm at Chennamma circle

KRV Belgaum is organizing a candle light vigil for the martyrs who died in the Mumbai attacks and that will be followed by torch rally which will be like a warning to the central government which has been inefficient and incapable in handling terrorism on Sunday 7th December, 2008 at 5:30 pm at Chennamma circle. The central government is still in diplomatic dialogues with Pakistan; indirectly the central government is buying time and thinks Indians will forget this issue as always and thing will be the same again.
People are requested not to carry any other flags except for the national tricolor flags.
Please ask all your friends to participate in this; this is just another way to show our solidarity towards those who lost their lives. Many may say it happened there and why this show off here, to all of them, it was Mumbai then and it could be us anytime. At this time no caste, creed or language is a barrier we all need to come up and fight this terrorism.

Chinese army arrives in Belgaum for drill

Indicative of the growing military-military cooperation between India and China, a 137-member team of the People's Liberation Army arrived at this cantonment town Thursday for the second joint anti-terror drill with the Indian Army beginning here Friday.
The drill, named Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2008, "is aimed at expanding and strengthening military-to-military ties between the two armed forces”.
During the course of joint training that will last till Dec 14, the Chinese troops from an infantry battalion of the Chengdu Military Area Command and Indian Army troops from for a Maratha Light Infantry battalion "will undergo joint tactical manoeuvres and drills, interoperability training, and joint command post procedures, culminating in a joint counter-terrorist operational exercise with a simulated enemy.The helicopter assets of the Indian Air Force will also be incorporated for conducting special heli-borne manoeuvres and assault operations.
The Chinese contingent had earlier arrived in a military aircraft at Pune. After a brief reception at the Pune airfield, six Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft transported the Chinese army personnel and their stores were to Belgaum.
The joint exercise is the second in the series, the previous one having been conducted in Kunming, China late last year.
Source Who will hear the farmers? Police accused of harassment

The Belgaum Shahar Shetkari Sanghatana, which has taken up the cause of farmers struggling to save their lands from being acquired by Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board, has alleged that police officials and their staff attached to the Malmaruti Police Station are harassing farmers.
A procession was taken to the DC’s office, against the KIADB had proposal to acquire fertile and irrigated agriculture land off Pune-Bangalore National Highway 4 (Express Highway) falling under Survey Nos 628, 629 and 630 only to allot to a private society controlled by BJP MLA (from Belgaum South) Abhay Kumar Patil. This was being done though the land had been earmarked as Green Belt area.
The farmers are small and marginal landholders. They are raising crops such as paddy, wheat and jowar for their living. However, the KIADB had proposed to acquire their land in an illegal manner and without observing procedural norms only to hand it over to Alpasankyatar Krushi Sahakar Sangh controlled by Mr. Patil.
A complaint was also made to the Governor and the High Court following which the Regional Commissioner of Belgaum Revenue division directed the KIADB against pursuing with the acquisition. Yet, the police were harassing and even arresting innocent farmers and creating panic among their families, it claimed.
The police were behaving in a threatening manner instead of providing protection to these poor families, it alleged. Though the matter was brought to the notice of the Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang, there was no let-up in the harassment by police. It was not clear whether the police stood for the politically influential and the rich or the poor and the weak.

This blog has has been following up this story, see earlier stories
http://belgaumblog.com/2008/09/farmers-concerned-over-kiadb/
http://belgaumblog.com/2008/07/farmers-accuse-mla-of-trying-to-grab-land/
http://belgaumblog.com/2007/10/farmers-say-don%e2%80%99t-take-our-land/
Source:The Hindu

St Paul’s 1993 Batch plan a REUNION — they have set an amazing example of using the internet to maintain school bonds

Smart Retail: Reviewed: FIR

The coloured Sky

This is a picture taken by UkMaD on Tuesday evening near TV Centre, The whole sky had a orange colour after sunset.

Big Cinemas Belgaum launch postponed

The much-awaited launch of Big Cinemas in the Nucleus mall has been postponed with no new formal date for the launch, it was earlier planned to be opened on fifth of December.
The Management in its email has only communicated & I quote “We have postponed the launch of BIG Cinemas in Belgaum. Shall keep you posted on the same”.

Load Shedding timetable changed: Evening time no power cuts

The load-shedding timetable has been changed. The hours of power cut remain the same 3 hours, but the power cuts being done in the evening will now be done in the afternoon.
Every Monday the time will be shuffled, like if it was 8am to 10 am this week, next Monday it will be 6am to 8am.
Source: Tarun Bharat

Rapid action force in Belgaum

After the attack on Mumbai, men of the Rapid action force have been seen in Belgaum. They are here to assess the security position of the city.
About 20 odd jawans are here and they visited all the police stations in the city.
See [IMAGE]Many were astonished to see the RAF men in Belgaum. However, this time the govt is not taking any chances, I guess. In addition, as in the past Belgaum has seen some terror related activities the central Govt has deployed them here.

Police launch Crime Prevention month: safety tips issued

The Belgaum district police has launched the Crime prevention month and has laid down the following safety tips to all.
According to Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang, residents should avoid keeping large amounts of cash and valuable ornaments in their houses and instead opt for safety lockers in banks.

They should install a door with iron bars inside their house, superior quality night latches and special eye lens on the main door.

Ideally, interaction with strangers and vendors should be through the grilled door.

High wattage light source with pilfer proof cover outside the main door should be installed for better illumination around the house.

While they go outstation, residents should not only inform their nearest police station but also their neighbors.

To take precaution against chain-snatchers, women going for a morning or evening walk should cover ornaments properly with their sari or dupatta.

They should not entertain unscrupulous elements coming home under the pretext of cleaning/polishing golden ornaments and other valuables.

Persons traveling in auto rickshaws should note down the registration number of the vehicles before boarding them.

She said the residents should check the antecedents/credentials of security guards and domestic servants before hiring them. They should insist on references and photographs.

They can also furnish particulars of domestic help and guards to the police.

They should avoid discussing money transactions and other important family matters in the presence of servants and outsiders.

People should be vigilant and inform the police about suspicious happenings or unclaimed objects found in suspicious circumstances and strangers moving suspiciously in their areas.

Thoughts on this please. Even after doing all this something happens who will take the responsibility, common people or the police or the Govt.

Source The Hindu

Belgaum ATS sleeping: Waiting for a Attack on the city

Those 60 hours everyone was glued to the TV screen to know what’s happening in Mumbai. Now that one chapter is over and the 2nd rounds of political deaths around have a look at the Belgaum ATS.
We have yet been not a part to an attack but no one in this country is safe, now that Mr.Chidambaram is home minister we should just hope that he brings down Terrorism just has he brought down Share prices.
Though Belgaum is a known ‘sleeping cell’ for Islamic terrorists, the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) located in the city doesn’t have the teeth to fight or tackle possible terrorist attacks.
Established about six months ago, the ATS staff does not possess modern weapons, bulletproof jackets or even the necessary vehicles. Even the staff is not trained to the required standards to face terrorists. Then why call it ATS?
The ATS does not have a separate office from where it can work. At present, the civil police staff is used for ATS operations. It does not also have a professional informers’ network.
Belgaum is believed to be a ‘stopover’ for terrorists going to or coming from Mumbai. ATS sources confirmed to this website's newspaper that often, terrorists come to Belgaum to hide, after bomb blasts in Maharashtra.
Belgaum has been a den of terrorists since long. The arrest of terrorists - Liyaquat Abdulganni Sayyed, Naseer Ahmed Liyaquat Ali Patel, Nadeem Abdul Raheem Sayeed, Imtiaz Dalayat, Ijaz Hussain, Tanveer Mulla, Iqbal Ahmed Jakati and several others in Belgaum, while they were planning to cause violence in the city as well as in the district, speaks volumes about the growing terror activity in the region. During interrogation, they revealed that terrorists had also planned to blast a polling booth near Tilakwadi during the 2008 Assembly elections. One of the top terrorists Dr Munroz, who was arrested in Indore a couple of months ago, hails from Belgaum. A more shocking revelation was that these terrorists had also planned to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi when he addressed the public in Belgaum during the Assembly election campaign.
Even after such serious developments, the state government has not woken up. They are not trained even to identify terrorists, let alone fight them. A senior officer told to this website's newspaper that the staff posted for ATS were mostly those considered ‘unwanted’ in the police department or those transferred as a means of punishment.
In case of a bomb threat, the ATS staff does not have the expertise even to detect explosives. Though they have the necessary equipment, they are not trained in their use.
ATS has just 11 members, a ridiculously low number, given that it is there to fight high-profile terrorists.
Sources said that the ATS had already submitted a proposal to the Home Minister requesting him to provide modern weapons and bulletproof jackets for the staff, apart from increasing their numbers substantially with trained personnel. Its proposal, however, is lying in cold storage.
After reading all this you will feel ashamed on any government, its only acts when something happens. All governments have been reactive, they should be proactive. They will only get up when something happens. Wake up politicians, WE need security, you live in full fledged security but what about the common man.
Your thoughts are a must please comment; speak out, if you don’t speak now you will never then.
Source: Express Buzz

Still a bumpy welcome to Belgaum