Yes, yet another multiples is getting it socks up to start shop in Belgaum. After Big cinemas, Inox Chandan will commence operations within a month or so and then it will be Cinemax.
 
The Cinemax site mentions that MOU have been signed for Belgaum. The proposed theater will have 4 screens in area of 34300 sq. feet.

Now where will Cinemax set shop is the question many and same to me as well. Team AAB is trying to find the exact location but got no response from the Cinemax for calls or emails.
 One thing is for sure they wont build a new multiplex, so they will have convert existing ones and there are few ones remaining which will can be converted. The one with such a huge space to me looks as ARUN (not confirmed) and Arun is closed for renovation which looks similar to making of a multiplex.
May it happen anywhere Cine goers in town will have many options, but hopefully movies will be good.

Tarun Bharat initiated to launch the Gharkul Exhibition in 2003 in association with the Rotary Club of Venugram and the Association of Consulting Civil Engineers Belgaum, to much acclaim. It provided an ideal avenue for the business fraternity to actually display the latest construction materials, trendy accessories, loan schemes, etc. After organising three immensely successful exhibitions, Gharkul’s fourth exhibition is scheduled to begin on the 30th of April and will continue till 4th May 2010.
Venue: Maratha Mandir Near railway over bridge, Belgaum.
Time: 3 pm to 9.30pm
Entry and Parking Free.
AAB candle made by Wax Works will be on display at the Wax Works stall at the exhibition.

Director-General of Police (CID) D.V. Guruprasad is here in Belgaum to review the investigation of online frauds perpetuated against gullible investors reported from Belgaum.
CID had registered cases under Prevention of Corruption Act with the State Lokayukta Police against two police officers for abetting and aiding the accused in different cases. One of them is Suresh Naidu, who until recently was serving as Deputy Superintendent of Police and Investigating Officer in a case against “Swiss Cash” company. The other officer is B.P. Chandrashekhar, who served as police inspector of Khade Bazaar Police Station until recently.
Mr. Naidu had helped the accused and benefited a site through third-party dealing, which he sold it and made money. As per investigation, the money made by police officials amounted to about Rs. 37 lakh.
In the six cases, the money collected by online companies amounted to about Rs. 11 crore invested by more than 8,000 people.
The modus operandi was that the accused companies refunded promised funds to early birds as a confidence building measure among investors while those who joined the schemes late were duped. Giving details, he said, “Reliance Services”, run by accused Anand Nayakwad and others, had mobilised Rs. 3 crore from 4,500 investors by promising Rs. 18,750 after a year for an investment of only Rs. 1,060.
Similarly,“Jeevan Dhan Marketing” which collected Rs. 3.92 crore from 26,161 investors but refunded only Rs. 92,000. The company had promised to return Rs. 75,000 on a deposit of Rs. 1,500.
Four cases have been registered against promoters of IQuiz Prashant Chudankar and others; two with Khade Bazaar Police and one each with the Market Police and the Shahpur Police.
This company had lured 1,415 investors by promising 25 per cent returns for a minimum investment of Rs. 1,250 and collected Rs. 4.48 crore. It also refunded Rs. 4.33 crore.
Source: Hindu

Niyati Creations, Belgaum organizes a photography exhibition of Prof. Saransh Mohite, Mumbai University at Wangmay Charcha Mandal, Kirloskar road Belgaum on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd may 2010 from 10 am to 9pm.
Mr. Saransh Mohite is a Media graduate with his specialization in advertising. Currently he is a faculty member in various colleges under Mumbai University and SNDT University. He has traveled across various countries for his passion for photography and has an excellent collection of photographs from countries like China, Bhutan, Indonesia etc. He is a fashion photographer and has done promotional shoots for films like Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Fashion”.
Mr. Saransh is also a short film maker and his films are screened in internationally acclaimed film festivals like MAMI.
The exhibition will be a novel experience for the Belgaumites. Niyati Creations requests everyone to be a part of this event.
Date: Saturday, 1st may 2010
Time: 10.00 am
Venue:
Wangmay Charcha Mandal
Kirloskar road
Belgaum
Entry Free

About Niyati Creations: Niyati Creations, Belgaum is a group started to provide stage to every talent. The group also makes and produces plays. They organize essay, painting competitions for all.

Public Works Department Minister C M Udasi said construction of Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum will be completed by December this year.
The winter session of the State Legislature will be held at Suvarna Soudha in January 2011, Udasi added.
The photos are taken by Sheri Sundeep while traveling on the highway. Not all are allowed inside and hence team AAB could not get pictures from close.

All images found on Ebay by Team AAB.

Dr R.H. Patil, is a sharp, honest and extremely low-profile, and could harness the best ideas from a young and dedicated team and push for appropriate regulation to implement them. He was a rare individual who turned down the offer to be Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), although the government was willing to change the rule to give him a term beyond 62 years. Dr RH Patil is the moving force behind the success of National Stock Exchange who, unknown to many, repeated his success in the government securities market.

 Dr. R H Patil was born in a small village called Nandgad, about 32 kms from Belgaum (Khanapur Taluk). His father was a landlord. He completed his matriculation from the Mahatma Gandhi High school Nandgad and then went to study at Karnataka College in Dharwad between 1955 and 1957. He then got bored with Dharwad and shifted to Pune’s Fergusson College. He had scored well in SSC. Everybody said he should go in for medicine or engineering, but he wanted to be different. He thought medicine meant cutting bodies and, being a vegetarian, that didn’t appeal. Engineering meant working in a factory or field sites he didn’t want that either. At the pre-graduate level, he opted for economics, which he liked very much and chose sociology as his second subject. After graduating, he wanted to join the best school in economics, which was the Bombay School of Economics those days. That is how he landed in Mumbai.
Dr. R. H. Patil is presently Chairman of Clearing Corporation of India Ltd. and was ex-Managing Director of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE).Dr. Patil has been associated closely, during his career, with the financial sector in various capacities, particularly with the Capital Market. He has also been associated with various Expert Committees including High Powered Committee on Stock Exchange Reforms, Committee on Secondary Market for Debentures and Committee on Trading in PSU Bonds and Units of Mutual Funds. He has been associated with establishment of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE), Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. (SHCIL) and Credit Analysis and Research Ltd. (CARE). Currently, he is also Chairman of Disinvestment Commission and Local Advisory Board of BNP-Paribas and Director on the Board of 7 companies, including National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE), National Securities Clearing Corporation Ltd. (NSCCL), National Securities Depository Ltd. (NSDL) and Credit Analysis and Research Ltd. (CARE). He has worked with Faculty of Post-Graduate Dept. of Economics, University of Mumbai, Reserve Bank of India, Economic Dept. and Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) as Sr. Executive Director in charge of Loan Operations and Treasury functions.
That is the kind of person Dr Patil is – unassuming but fiercely competitive; intensely focused on the cause of the institution he works for; remarkably entrepreneurial but totally ethical; an institution-builder but only of the public-service variety. He belongs to a rare category – serial institutional-entrepreneur.
Dr.Patil is a true example of what one can achieve in life. Coming from a small village of Nandgad to setting up of NSE he dreamt big and hence achieved his goals in life. He is simple down to earth person in life. We still wonder why he hasn't been awarded the Padma awards still. A selfless person dedicated to work all time around.
Team AAB salutes Dr.R H Patil and his vision of NSE which has transformed securities trading in the country. 

The City corporation from beginning of this year has taken efforts to renovate the gardens in the city and results are quite amazing after they have been renovated.
The process is still on and many gardens are still being developed under funds from various schemes.

Now a request to the public at large please maintain cleanliness and keep the gardens beautiful.

Reliance Retail Limited (RRL) will launch its flagship apparel, luggage and accessories store, Reliance Trends, in Belgaum at Nucleus Mall on the first floor. The store will begin in short time.

About Reliance Trends:
Apart from the ready-to-wear garments, the store also caters to consumers who prefer to shop for fabric and tailor their clothes. Reliance’s captive brands include Pureza, Network, Netplay DNMX and Graviti for men and Sparsh, Hushh, Panda and Frendz.

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