The KLE's Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) Musical fountains will be reopened for public.
This could be treat for the kids and elders as well, it is holiday time and one can entertain one self here.

Dear Belgaumites:
Off late we all are seeing some activity taking shape for the development of Belgaum, after years of effort by our people to convince the State Government to pay much needed attention to the overall development of Belgaum has yielded some results. You all must be aware that Urban infrastructure in Belgaum is taking shape and we are in the initial stage of this urban revolution that is going to change the face of this city and region. The State government has been releasing funds for development and Mr.B S Yedurappa, the CM of Karnataka has assured 100 crores of funds for the Urban development of Belgaum.
We have exceeded a population of 700,000 which helps us to automatically qualify for JNNURM fund (Jawaharlal Nehru Nation Urban Renewal Mission) which is a central Government fund from Ministry of Urban Development. This fund helps cities like Belgaum to develop its urban infrastructure. We would be getting around 500-600 crores every year and the State Government would also give us 100 crores, plus the Corporation collects taxes. The state government through its other departments is also funding various projects for example the UGD project (Underground Drainage) which is estimated around 170 odd crores, so let’s say we would be getting around 800 crores for the city’s development. With Belgaum gaining the second capital status (unofficially) and a lot of investors interested to setup business activity here Belgaum has definitely gained a lot of importance in this region.

We have already received the first installment of 100 crores from the state Government and waiting for the Gazette notification of NURM funds to Belgaum. Before the first installment of 100 crores, we had received 18 crores special fund, and some fund was received for preparations of World Kannada Meet and the First Winter session. All these funds were used for repairing and re carpeting roads. It was our bad luck that the first installment of 100 crores was wastefully used for re-carpeting roads which were already re-carpeted or repaired. This valuable fund could have been used for other Urban infrastructure which the city is craving for and there has been a lot of public demand but the officers nor the local political system agreed to their demand.

Our local government Bodies (Corporation or Urban Development Authority, tourism) work in the age old fashion, we have a 100 year old Urban planning method and the work methodology is redundant and un-scientific. There is a limited role of public and NGOs in the decision making process.
Our urban design is outdated and there is no scope for newer objects of Urban infrastructure. An outdated land-use planning system, Age old transportation systems, improper & unscientific solid waste Management, Hardly any urban greening measures, No plan or sense of direction when its concerned to energy efficiency, No steps taken for disaster mitigation and absence of multi-party participatory processes.

This is an ideal time for us to participate in a multi-party participatory process because we feel this is an initial phase for the development activities to begin in Belgaum and “We” can together make the required change. When we thought of this opportunity we were considering a Conference or a simple get together of like people minded people from different walks of life who are passionate about Belgaum’s growth and development. We wanted an event of development and infrastructure for Belgaum. But then We realized that in the name of development most cities in India and elsewhere have had severe environmental irrevocable damages. We don’t want concrete Jungles with temperatures rising every year, Cities on the name of development have lost their green cover and are overly depending on the countryside regions for everything like power, food production, etc. re-engineering of these cities or Concrete Jungles is a humongous and a tedious task which will cost us millions of rupees and a social, political desire to make the changes.

If we want Belgaum to grow, it should grow systematically with the right components of Urban infrastructure and least environmental damages, Urban development which is sustainable in the longer run. If the whole process is well planned we wont have huge concrete jungles in the years to come, smaller and choked roads, higher amount of pollution, absence of green zones or lung zones.

This is the right time, and We all need to get together and participate in this event which will have key speakers talking on:

• Urban Planning
• Use of Greener and efficient energy
• Good and Bad practices in Developing Cities
• Modeling the complexity of the evolving city
• Integrated Infrastructures for Sustainable Cities
• Necessary infrastructure required for Industrial development of Belgaum.
• Sustainable water conservation systems.

Anybody interested could offer suggestions or if you are good enough on this subject you can be a speaker in the conference.
This event should help us at least to create a Blue print and put forward our demands and tell the state government about our actual needs for urban infrastructure and development in Belgaum. We don’t want just development but well planned and systematic development to make Belgaum a model eco city.
AAB will act as a facilitator for this conference and on-line media partner. All are requested to leave comments and same would be forwarded to the organizing committee of the conference.

IPL finals of tomorrow will be shown on a big screen at Nucleus Mall.
Ticket charged is Rs.100.
From the banner it seems that this has been privately arranged by some group. And I dont think the match will be live in the Big Cinemas screen as nothing specific is mentioned.
Call on those numbers in the image for more details.

At around 3 it started to get dark and by 3.30pm slight rain started and then it got converted into a hailstorm and it was heavy for a while in some areas.

Rain stopped at 5 pm and weather is now cool.
Photos: Ram Mallaya 

These ares some images of the temples as seen in 1860. No one knows where are these located today and whether they have been demolished.


Team AAB did try to get info but hard luck no information was available regarding these temples whether they really existed in the Fort.
Photos found on Ebay.

Normally by this time all parents whose “lucky” kids have got through the LKG admission process would have had a sigh of relief. But this is not the case this year.
As usual the govt. authorities under the education department and ZP CEO Ekroop Caur defined a program and regulations for the said admission process.
Most schools distributed the admission forms from 5^th April and were supposed to put up the first list after 20 April. But the authorities decided otherwise and mentioned specific dates on which the whole process will begin and end.
The authorities declared that admission process of listing the selected candidates will begin from 15 May and end on 28 May. All this was done for the betterment and for making the admission process easy, it was said.
In reality, the scenario is completely different. School reopens on June 1, and if a child does not get selected in any school what will the parents do in 3 days as May 28 will be the last day for admissions.
Sanjay, a parent said that this year admission process is the worst. We had filled forms on the 5^th and were expecting list to be out on 21^st but now the list will be out only on May 15. He also asks the same question what if my child is not selected. What can I do in 3 days.
Many parents allege that this has been purposefully done so that huge donations can be collected as there would be very little time for parents.
The Right to education bill has been passed but what about Admissions first.
My personal experience speaks that, my child was not selected in any schools (5) and last had to strive hard to get her in school and all was possible as the process had begun in April itself which gave us time of a month.
A parent told this blog, why did the education dept come into the picture, all was well till they entered the frame.
This year the parents will face a tough time and all we can say is God Bless them.

All these photos have been taken in 1860 and team AAB found this on Ebay.

by Satish Kumar
The long awaited Belgaum University (Veer Rani Channama) at Bhutramatti is taking shape, though it has come after lot of struggle and not by government self initiative, and moreover I must complement KRV for taking this struggle along with ABVP to Vidhan Saudha Bangalore. It was also a collective effort besides, Mr Sanjay Patil and Mr Angadi elected representatives also put on pressure on this demand.
 A meeting was convened recently by university's special officer B.R. Ananthan ( though his name has popped up in some controversies) for new courses from current academic year itself, which is indeed a very progressive move, I always had a dream for new university would look like and made a small layout posted along, may be this would turn out to be a reality soon, but its my earnest request to state government to fulfill the following important things:
 A futuristic Areal view of expected development of VRC University
 
1) Government should come up with a nice ergonomic Gothic architecture since this university has lot of natural beauty and surroundings of mountainous green zone.
2) Belgaum Division Education Commissionairate office should be relocated back to Belgaum form Dharwad all other division offices are in their own respective places only in case of Belgaum it was moved two years back by Mr Horrati to Dharwad. ADP, and Jt.director officer from Dharwad back to Belgaum.
Why should we accept Belgaum division office in Dharwad strictly believe that it doesn’t make any logical sense.
3) The education consortium should be formed under special officer to lease out land to other foreign universities to establish joint research programs. Since there are new engineering and management colleges coming up in this area, this can lead to creation valley of academic excellence.
4) There should be ample transportation and accessibility to university from CBT to University, Tilakwadi to University, VTU to VCU, Sulebhavi to University and also from other remote places such as Halga, and Eastern part of Belgaum.
5) VCU should include Bagalkot and Bijapur and Karwar under this university jurisdiction.
6) VCU should facilitate benches of other universities especially Marathi and Konkani language since Belgaum houses large communities of bordering people to help students of other medium schools in border area to benefit, education should be means to unite the country regions and boundaries.
7) VCU should be given lead role in establishing academic around educational development for north Karantaka.

In the various government departments there is only one department which always surpasses its set target of collections, and i.e. the EXCISE department.

Last year 2009-10 Belgaum District had a target of selling 13 crore liters of Liquor(IMFL) which it surpassed and sold 14 croes 40lakhs 5949 liters of liquor and 43 lakhs liters of BEER.

“Pinewalon ka Pine ka bahana Chaiye” and this is what must be assenting the yearly targets.

All the other departments are not able to even collect what they had collected the previous year, like the City corporations.

You may blame it on the people or the govt. self which is sort of promoting the sale of Liquor.  

ITBP Additional Director General of Police Anirudh Uppal performed the bhoomi puja and laid the foundation-stone for the construction for ITBP Battalion Headquarter and Training Center at Halabhavi, about 20 km from Belgaum.
The centre will train a battalion of 1,200 personnel. Inspector General of Police (Northern Range). State Government had provided 250 acres of land free to establish the centre.
 The functioning of the battallion and the training center will begin in another six months in temporary structures. The Central Public Works Department will undertake construction of permanent structures at a cost of Rs 48 crore.
 1,200 ITBP personnel will be stationed at the proposed center and the training programmes include - professional training in anti-insurgency and commando techniques.
 The para-military force is meant for duty on the Indo-China border and after a certain period, the personnel on border duty will be deputed to the proposed headquarters and the training center for relaxing and refreshing the training they underwent earlier, a permanent battallion will also be stationed here.
The proposed center will encourage the youth from Karnataka to even join ITBP. There will also be recruitment drive at the center.

Gopal Ganesh Chitnis also known as German Chitnis was born on the 16th of December, 1928 in Tadsinhal, a small village in the Chandgad District of Maharashtra.
Very early in his life, he showed signs of the drive and determination that would become his trademark characteristic. In an era when any form of education was deemed as optional, he fought the odds that were against him and completed his primary and secondary education.
In 1948 he decided that there was more to learn, and decided to join the College of Engineering in Pune, which he did despite all the odds of a poor village boy ever doing so. In 1952, he successfully completed his course in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
At this point, he set himself another challenge - to continue his education in London and to gain work experience there. With the help of a loan of Rs.200 from Shri Baburao Pusalkar, he set On the 4th of September 1952, this village boy landed in London, where he proceeded to work and study, eventually earning his Higher National Certificate from the Hendon Technical College in 1955.
Thereafter, he joined AEG Germany as a Trainee Engineer, rising to be a Project Engineer in the newly formed Rourkela Cell at AEG.
In 1957, he left AEG to start his own import/Export and Consultancy business, focusing on the Oil Hydraulic line. As a side business, he decided to enter the tape-recorder business, and at the age of thirty became the youngest tape-recorder manufacturer in the world.
In 1959, he met his benefactor Baburao Pusalkar again in Germany, and arranged a collaboration with Vogel & Co. for him, for the manufacture of hydraulic presses - the first of its kind in India.
In 1961 he married Monika Barthel, his erstwhile secretary. A German by birth, she was the ideal partner in his career, and has stood by him through thick and thin ever since.
Through the 60's, he continued his businesses, focusing more and more on the import and export of engineering goods. But the urge to return to India and get into the manufacture of hydraulics became stronger and stronger, more so with the birth of his two sons, whom he wanted to raise in an Indian environment. In 1969, he returned to India after almost eighteen years in Europe. In 1972, his wife and sons followed him to settle in India.
In 1970, he established his first unit - Standard Hydraulic (India) - in Belgaum. This firm was followed by more and more such units - each one focusing on a particular field in oil hydraulics, such as Hydrokraft for presses, Hyguri Hydraulik for hydraulic motors, Chitnis Machine tools for hydraulic application machinery.
His hydraulic pumps, valves, presses and other hydraulic machinery can be found all over India and across the world. His constant innovations and design improvements gave rise to hydraulic equipment his customers swear by. And his vast knowledge in the field made him a much sought-after consultant in the field of hydraulics.
The Government of India recognized his efforts by awarding him the much coveted Udyog Patra, considered to be the "Industrial Nobel Prize" in India.
Mr.Chitnis traveled often. Not content sitting on his laurels, he could be found wherever the action was - just like that boy back in the 1930's in the small village of Tadsinhal - the little boy who stood up and said: "I can!".
He spent his later years in retirement, often spending time in the villages that he grew up in, only to emerge with new ideas that he was always keen to discuss with people who wanted to follow in his footsteps.
Mr.Chitnis passed away on April 6th, 2009, leaving behind a rich legacy of industrial development and advancement that he could rightfully claim credit to.