Thunder Showers hit Belgaum
7:21 PM Posted by ukmad
Half BANDH Half Chalu
12:19 PM Posted by ukmad
Rains at last have hit on the eve of an annual bandh call
4:31 PM Posted by ukmad
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
Belgaumites making stirdes in IT : From Belgaum concerns
9:51 PM Posted by ukmad
Walking on the Moon, Made easy in Belgaum
3:01 PM Posted by ukmad
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
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.
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
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"
Brief news from Belgaum
2:17 PM Posted by ukmad
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.
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
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
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
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.
FIR: DC warning hears no ears
9:48 PM Posted by ukmad
But these dealers all have deaf ears. Nothing has happened still. I tired to see the truth. I was told I cant book a new cylinder within 21 days of I had got one. So if I have got a cylinder on 1 October I can book a new one only after 22 October and when I book then also the waiting period is another 10- 18 days.
So what can a common man with a single cylinder do? Kerosene is Rs.35 per liter and that also you don’t get readily. If the cylinder is over he/she will have to wait for another one to come for 30 days. Tough in some instances under hand warming can yield you a cylinder in 3-4 days but the warming fees range from Rs.50 – 100 as per your need. One more new thing is the write some number of the cylinder and when the gas dealer comes with the refill cylinder he asks for the same cylinder he had given to you a month back or so. So if you had taken somebody else’s cylinder then he cant get a new one till he gives his old one. What a mess?
My only point is these oil companies don’t hear to the DC then what will they hear to a common man. We all face the same things and just keep quiet. Now is the time we all need to come out of this paradigm.
A request to all those whose relatives or parents still stay in Belgaum kindly ask them the situation how it is in this case? Kindly give comments on this.
Voternama: Marathi 30 others 28
7:43 AM Posted by ukmad
Marathi Speaking 30 members and others 28 (others include 6 from the Sarvapaksha Sarvabhashik Chunavana Samitiand other kannada & urdu speaking candidates)
As on paper the power will land into the hands of the Marathi people but nothing can be said as its a number game. The majority required is 29 Marathi's have 30 as of date if horse trading doesn't happen this may continue or else the others might get the chance.
In all the political situation everywhere is a hung situation with no clear cut result.
The best part of this election is the Corporation will see 47 newly first timers and which is a good sign. 6 former (Mayors & dy.Mayors) could not get elected this time.
The highest margin of defeat was in ward No.17 Pandhari Parab won by a difference of over 1000 votes and the lowest defeat margin was 7 votes.
One more most important message the Belgaum corporation election has given is that all over the sate the candidates filed nominations under their respective national and state parties where as Belgaum was the only one corporation where all were independents. The politics in Belgaum is different that's what I can say.
New comers welcomed by Voters
8:48 PM Posted by ukmad
Now that all results are out, the majority has been Marathi Speaking but the problem in coming to power will be the number of Marathi Candidates being elected as independents. Out of the 20 official candidates the MES had given 14 have won. They had supported another 6 candidates and 3 have won so the MES has now strength of 17 still short of the 29 magical figure. The total Marathi speaking strength is 27 just two away form majority. There are other marathi speaking corporators who will decide the faith. The four time mayor Shambaji Patil has won the most prestigious seat made by the MES and he could be the king maker like Devegowda in Belgaum in the days to come. For the past years he has been the king maker and this time also his may decide the fate of the Belgaum Corporation. Now no doubt Marathi speaking have come but my guess they will not get the taste of power this time.
Counting begins late: MES will make it?
11:21 AM Posted by ukmad
The Marathi people have given their verdict in favour of marathi people it seems from the first phase of counting. All the results of the remaining wards is expected by 8 pm.
The counting which had to begin at 8 am it began at 9 am. The counting process is slow.
Vidya Mali From ward no.41
Santur shetty from ward No.43 wins against Shivaji Suthnkar
Ward No.5 Girish Kammar wins
Ward No.38 Devendra Haval
Sambhaji Patil has won from ward No.15 by a margin of 514 votes against Vijay More.
Ward No.6 Sambhaji Chavan wins
Ward No.32 Shubhangi chitragar wins
Ward No.35 Muzzamil doni wins
Ward No.17 Pandhari Parab
Voternama: Peaceful 60% voting
9:50 PM Posted by ukmad
The counting will take place on Sunday and if something has to happen it will happen on Sunday. The voting was mostly peaceful with one incident of snatching ballot papers in Khadak Galli being reported and some lathi charge in old Vadgaon area. The turnout was about 60% and the higher class wasn’t seen voting this time as many said they never know which is their ward and where they have to go for voting. The few that came were discouraged when they did not find their names on the roll.
The most important fight on which all eyes are on is ward No.15. It’s Ex-mayor Vs Ex-mayor. Sambhaji Patil Vs Vilas More. More is the same Ex-mayor who was mishandled by Kannada activists last year in Bangalore. Huge police force was in the ward but all went very peacefully there.
Now we will wait till Sunday…
Voternama
10:01 AM Posted by ukmad
Vote for Democracy its your right & duty also. Don’t forget to take anyone identity proof with you while you go for voting any ID proof will do. Use of Voter ID card is not made compulsory so all those who don’t have it (I also don’t have) can also vote in this election.
Buried memories of the last session
11:50 AM Posted by ukmad
I am talking about the Special Legislature session that was held in the city at the Jirge Hall of JNMC College. The session was held here for 5 days. The aura of glory and festivity then prevailed in the city as trees were planted on the dividers of the roads, street lights were put up new roads were built. But it’s just a year away and nobody even remembers it. I guess only The Hindu has written about it in its paper today.
The foundation stone for the Suwarna vidhan Soudha was put in the last month but nothing has happened after that stone laying ceremony there. Infact I had raised the same question when I started this blog why such a hurry?
When asked a few people around, nobody remembered. They said no doubt one year has passed and the fact that nobody remembers it, by this only you can understand the importance of it. It was a political stunt then and stunts are to be treated as stunts.
Ganpati still on their journey
10:46 AM Posted by ukmad
All was peaceful and the police must now be taking a good days sleep before they get ready for another job the Belgaum muncipal election on the 28th.
Ganpati Bappa Morya ! Phudchya Varshi Lavkar ya
9:28 PM Posted by ukmad
FIR:Ganesh Visarjan 2007
5:56 PM Posted by ukmad
Ganesha Visarjan procession began at 5 pm at the Hutatma Chowk, Belgaum. I am uploading this pictures @ 5.57pm this is the fatest I could have done. hope you all like it. The rain has taken a break and thats a very good sign.
FIR: Big Bazaar Belgaum
3:11 PM Posted by ukmad
The place is built ok but parking is huge problem to begin with. About 10 cars can park in front and all the two wheelers have to be parked on either side of the road. The first impression is the last impression so, be careful while getting into the Big Bazaar as the concrete slabs are uneven and the rains have added fun to it, as you step on one it might just splash some water, it happened with me today.
Now the inside, the same as any other store of the chain. 54000 sq feet is a good place for some walking around. Nothing very spectacular at the entrance or so. The goods are placed in a nice manner as it is normally done elsewhere. I did ask a couple of Belgaumites as to what they liked most they said nothing great but all is in one place and seeing all in one place for a Belgaumite in Belgaum is for the first time. I could see a host of college going students who used to sit in the canteen otherwise was using this new bazaar as their playground. Many school students were also seen inside in groups as the schools were left of early keeping in mind the Gansesha visarjan Procession. About the goods I cant comment all have seen elsewhere the same goods are here also. There was not much rush today being Tuesday also but I did find a lot of businessmen (including me) using their weekly holiday to see the new chap on the street.
It’s a new hangout and as its new to Belgaumites the new hangout will do good and brisk business for sure as anyone who goes in, even me for that instance came out buying a water seat.