Conservation work and cleaning at the historical fort would also be taken up. A sum of Rs. 4.15 crore had been sanctioned to create infrastructure at the Rajhansgadh on the outskirts of the city.

The Government had provided Rs. 2 crore each for the sound and light show at Kittur fort in Belgaum district and in Bijapur town.

Bhoomi Puja was conducted today by Mr.P V Pradeep, Joint commissioner at the site.

Initially only a compound wall be built.

This is the same space where private bus (RR) and tempos used to park and this was being used another small bus stand. This land belongs to the Income Tax department and today the bhoomi pooja was done.

The CPWD will built the quarters. Sources from the IT department said that, they had taken all the regulatory approvals from the designated authorities to build there.

The private bus operators were shocked on this wall building as they will have no space to park and they said their business will get affected and also people traveling will face hard ships if we are told to park else where, as this place was near to the central bus stand.

A few voices of resent were also heard at the site with a few heritage lovers taking a opposition that this will be within 100 mtrs of a heritage building.

But the IT dept says that they have all the regulatory approvals with them.

The new law also states that, “ any construction – whether it is private or government – is punishable if it is done without the clearance of the concerned officials in the archaeological and heritage department.”

The one day conference began with the lighting of the lamp by the guests at the VTU auditorium. MP Suresh Angadi, MLA Sanjay Patil, Maoyr Nirwani, Anil Potdar, Brigadier Sangam graced the occasion.

Dr.Nitin Khot was felicitated on the occasion as he has been appointed the special advisor to the govt. of Karnataka. Dr.Khot has also played a very important role in Belgaum next.

Noted cinematographer M B Gowda filmed the entire event.

The conference began with Mr. Sree Kumar from SCE India, who spoke about Leveraging GIS for Infrastructure Development & Planning. His talk was widely accepted and the use of GIS in infrastructure development was a accepted thought by the august gathering. The gathering also followed the session with questions, to which Sree Kumar answered promptly.

The second speaker was Mrs. Tusharamani M V Administrative Officer, Directorate of Urban Land Transport, Karnataka. Her presentation on the traffic of Belgaum and the data stunned the audience and she spoke about what a city would need in phases. She gave concrete data on many roads and urged the need of a inner ring road along with the ring road proposed by BUDA.

Mr. Karan Dhaul, Director, Global Energy Pvt. Ltd. Spoke on the use of alternate sources of power and about sources of alternate renewable sources of power generation which will have nil or very less carbon foot print.

Mr Sanjib Nayak IL AND FS cluster development initiative LTD, spoke about how a cluster of industries could be developed to attract investments.

In the next session Mr.Rabindra Sahoo (Public-Private Partnership) Expert, Asian Development Bank and advisor to the Government of Karnataka on Infrastructure Project in Public-Private Partnership spoke on the importance of PPP model and how this model can be used in various areas of public development.

Mr. Raj Bhandari MD, Adam Partners realty, spoke on Sustainable Neighborhoods and how one could build one in Belgaum and what does Sustainable Neighborhoods require to survive.

In the same session, Mr.Surya Prakash from Group SCE, spoke on urban renewal model and how Belgaum can be remodeled based on various functions such as education, leisure. He comprehensively explained with maps what needs to changed and how roads need to connect to each other so that the fort can be easily accessible as a tourist destination to the visitor to RPD college.

Questions were posed by the learned audience for every session and the interaction was very good.

Everyone appreciated Belgaum Next for organizing such an enlightening event which will eventually make all to think over to do something for Belgaum.

Guests patiently listening

Volunteers from the Bhartesh College of administration & computer applications (BCBA), KLE MBA saw to it that all went according to plans.

Anil Potdar asking a Question

The Belgaum next team along with AllAboutBelgaum & ITBelgaum and the whole group of Volunteers worked hard for the success of the conference.

For us this is just a beginning, Belgaum next will not die, after this, Belgaum next plans to come back again & again to make Belgaum the “City of Pride”.

The day long conference began with the lighting of the lamp by  Mr. Suresh Angadi, Mr. Sanjay Patil and other guests.

The response to the conference by Belgaumites was very encouraging.

Keep visiting this page for the live updates of the conference.

Update 1 :

Mr. Nitin Khot felicitated

The conference will be aired live on a news channel(we will confirm the channel) and also we are trying to web cast the conference live on the internet. All those who cant make it, visit belgaumnext.com or even AAB for the live web cast.

The conference’s agenda is to ensure sustainable development.

So what is sustainable development? The most popular definition of sustainable development could be described as ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet theirs”. Though there are different views and interpretations, it could be loosely defined as an ideal system with a set of wishful characteristics.

The conference aims to get experts from various fields, who will enlighten us on development model with sustainability.

Belgaum Next is a people’s endeavour to bridge the gap between good and bad governance on the strength of an open citizen’s platform and is steered by passionate people from across Industry, government, academia and other organizations. The platform stands for one voice that is focused on one agenda: the all round development of our city. Where every voice has weight and no idea is considered too small.

The speakers:

R.S.Naik will speak on Augmentation of supplies and efficient distribution, sustainable water harvesting, finance models.

Karan Dhaul, Director Global Energy Pvt. Ltd. Will speak on How to tackle present power issues new strategies to overcome ever growing demand of power.

Tusharamani Malgi Consultant, Directorate of Urban Land Transport, Bangalore will speak on Development of Hub and Spoke model for roads, and improvement of public and mass transit system,Transit Oriented Development model.

Sanjib Nayak, IL&FS Cluster Development Initiative Ltd will speak on planning and creation of basic infrastructure to attract investments.

Mr. Surya will speak on Urban Renewal, town Planning & Capacity building.

Mr.Raj Bhandari, MD Adam Partners will speak on planning sustainable neighborhoods.

Sanjib Nayak, IL&FS Cluster Development Initiative Ltd will speak on Public Participation in development and decision making process.

Dr.Nitin Khot, will speak on Heritage Conservation and Tourism Infrastructure.

The VTU auditorium which will be host to this event, will be first kind of an event to be held in Belgaum on such a scale. Hoardings in the city are getting the eye of the passerby which in turn will help Belgaum Next gain a wider audience.

Government officials will take part in this conference, hence the next time they have to implement a plan they will refer to the guidelines discussed, hence a more sustainable developed Belgaum.

Earlier programs have been arranged on a smaller scale but this is a mega event, with experts from their fields who will share their thoughts with Belgaumites who in turn can come together and give the next generation a environment which will be sustainable, even then, twenty years down the line.

R.S.Naik will speak on Augmentation of supplies and efficient distribution, sustainable water harvesting, finance models.

Karan Dhaul, Director Global Energy Pvt. Ltd. Will speak on How to tackle present power issues new strategies to overcome ever growing demand of power.

Tusharamani Malgi Consultant, Directorate of Urban Land Transport, Bangalore will speak on Development of Hub and Spoke model for roads, and improvement of public and mass transit system,Transit Oriented Development model.

Sanjib Nayak, IL&FS Cluster Development Initiative Ltd will speak on planning and creation of basic infrastructure to attract investments.

SCE India, will speak on Urban Renewal, town Planning & Capacity building.

Mr.Raj Bhandari, MD Adam Partners will speak on planning sustainable neighborhoods.

Sanjib Nayak, IL&FS Cluster Development Initiative Ltd will speak on Public Participation in development and decision making process.

Dr.Nitin Khot, will speak on Heritage Conservation and Tourism Infrastructure.

Many are apprehensive as to what this conference will achieve. To them Belgaum Next has a simple answer- We are a group of people who want to see Belgaum developed in a sustainable manner meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet theirs.

AAB is proud to be associated with, Belgaum Next.

The entire stretch is of 81.89 kms and the entire project cost is Rs.359 crores. The project is a Public Private Participation on Design, Build , Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) Toll basis project.

Time alloted for completion of construction work only is 30 months.

GVR is a Hyderabad registered company.

About the Company:

GVR Infra Projects Limited, an ISO 9001:2008 certified company originally incorporated in 2001 as “GVR Construction Private Limited” made rapid strides in the infrastructure space thanks to the civil engineering expertise of Sri. G. Venkateswara Rao, Chairman, GVR Group and the dynamism of the Managing Director Mr. K. Ganga Prasad. With an annual turnover of INR 800 Million in 2004, the company has grown leaps and bounds and has achieved a turnover of INR 2224 Million by 2007. Having attained an annual turnover of INR 4210 Million during the financial year 2007 – 2008, and INR 6280 Million during 2008-2009, GVRIPL is poised for a truly phenomenal growth aiming to reach INR 10000 Million mark by the end of the financial year 2009 – 2010.

Recognizing the growing importance attached to the infrastructure field in India, the GVR Group has carefully nurtured and built a well equipped organization to meet the challenges and surge forward to become a market leader in the field of infrastructure development in India.

M/s. RMN

GVRIPL is at present executing along with M/s. RMN as many as 13 major irrigation projects involving construction of canals, lining of the existing canals, etc in the state of Andhra Pradesh at a total value of INR 8800 Million. Besides, GVRIPL has also bagged major water supply & drainage works in and around Bengaluru,Karnataka at a value of INR 1800 Million to be executed for Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) through joint-venture with M/s. RMN Ltd. a seasoned infrastructure player from Andhra Pradesh.

Details of 4/6 Laning of Belgaum-Goa/Karnataka Border Section

Take this for example, yesterday some barrels were put in the middle of the road near the Cantonment CEO’s residence with the intention that they will block the traffic of heavy vehicles. As this road leads to Thimmaya road on which the Kendriya Vidyalaya is situated.

This road joins Khanapur Road to Savntwadi Road or Ganeshpur road via St.Pauls which is again a heavy traffic prone area.

Mr.Govind a resident on the same road raised a concern about accidents happening as these barrels are in the center of the road.

Today afternoon when Team AAB was there to take the picture a heavily loaded truck made its way through these barrels(we could not catch it in our camera).

So when a truck can pass through them why need to put it there is the question.

Belgaum a growing city with 3 universities and many reputed colleges,a favorite buying destination for Goans, people who visit Belgaum once always want to come back. Belgaum is a paradise for the senior citizens.

With Belgaum coming under the purview of JNURM, the city will get a lot of funds from the central government for cities development in various sectors. The funds under the said scheme could range to about Rs. 7000 crores over a period of years.

But do we as citizens of city know what a city needs for a sustainable development of infrastructure. Do we really know over years what a city needs to sustain the population. All our needs will multiply multi folds.

Water needs, solid waste management, power crisis, transportation, infrastructure to attract more investments, remodeling of some areas, public participation in development works, conservation of heritage all these points will be discussed and experts in this field will enlighten us.

Hence we at Belgaum Next have planned the first conference on Sustainable development & Infrastructure for Belgaum at Auditorium, Vishveshvaraya Technological University, Belgaum on September 4, 2010.

1^st Conference on Sustainable Development & Infrastructure for Belgaum

Date: 4^th September 2010, Venue: Auditorium, Vishveshvaraya Technological University, Belgaum

Belgaum one centers were sanctioned long back on the same lines as Bangalore One success.

These centers will be a one stop single window center for major government related work and various bill payments.

Govaves, Ashok Nagar, TV center BUDA complex & Old corporation building will house these centers.

Water bills, electricity bills, House tax and insurance premiums payment will be accepted to begin with and later the services would be increased. Various other documents like Passport forms, Forms issued through Nemmadi centers will also be issued from here.

The Government of Karnataka is keen to provide integrated services to the citizens deploying the tools of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) so as to enhance Speed, Convenience, Certainty and Accountability in providing such services through the concept of a ‘One-Stop-Shop’ facility.