Why BOOT when you can just B&F?
While the rest of the world is busy with fancy models like Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT), Belagavi has proudly patented its very own desi innovation — the Build & Forget (B&F) model. The idea is simple: spend crores constructing something, and then… absolutely nothing. No inauguration, no usage, no clue.
Let’s take a quick ride (on a donkey cart, because smooth roads and functioning infrastructure are not part of the plan) through Belagavi’s greatest hits:
- Khasbag Vegetable Market – Built like a world-class facility, but vendors still happily squatting outside under the sun. Inauguration? Maybe after the next Ice Age.
- Fruit & Veg stalls near Fire Brigade, Khanapur Road – Stunning structures. Just one problem — nobody uses them. It’s as if they were built to win an architecture award and then vanish from memory.
- Swimming Pools – Constructed to make swimmers out of Belgaumites… only now they serve as reservoirs for dust, dry leaves, and missed opportunities.
- Cycle Track – A visionary project that could’ve encouraged eco-commutes. Instead, it’s now a linear marketplace with potholes. You need a mountain bike and a prayer to get through it.
- The New Mall at Kalamandir – Completed and gleaming… and mysteriously locked. It’s ready for shopping but not for shoppers. Maybe the ribbon was lost in transit?
- And the crown jewel of B&F: The Underpass near the DC Office connecting the Court – If ever there was a monument to the B&F philosophy, this is it. Built with vision, left to rot with confusion. No usage, no maintenance, not even accidental curiosity. A true B&F legacy. If there were awards for world-class abandonment, this one would take the gold.
So here’s to Belagavi’s Build & Forget model — the only place where projects are built for brochures and forgotten before the cement dries. Urban planning meets time-pass.
PS: There could be so many more, please leave a comment, so we can add them as well.
Well said such massive misuse of public resources, hope one day some visionary will value these assets and allot them generating employment to few needy ones but not until these things will rust and die
Amusing but serious & thanks to the Editor for highlighting this issue. I get the impression that the older citizens of Belagavi are very complacent and accommodating to a fault while the younger generation has little time to bother about community issues. I can think of the Smart Toilets near Bogarves, the Smart LED Signs at Bus Stops giving “Real Time Updates”
The People of Belagavi Must wake up and change the ruling political party and politicanes running the city
Change is law of nature and we must change
Brilliantly highlighted to awaken the conscience of the people who sit in the corridors of the power to be and the local authorities who watch it on a daily basis but still does nothing. Title you have chosen is apt and we the people aghast at the apathy and continued negligence despite spending crores yet allowed to rot at the cost of public.
I think we have forgotten Art Center ( behind Sangolli Ramanna first grade college), many glass house specially in north Belagavi
We people of belgavi are lazy and think this leaders will do the work we should unite and make them do the development of our city these leaders are public servents so make them do the work or kick them out Vaccine depot glass house killa lake centre garden shivaji nagar complex all works inferior wake up we are the real suffered it’s our money that is being wasted
Aptly tittled, just a small twist in the forget
BUILD FOR- GET-ING 40%. ?
Smart City project is funded by the GoI, it should have a mechanism of an independent consulting engineer(ICE) to monitor the progress of and deliverable mile stones of a PPP( Infrastructure) project, look at new Raipur Smart City project, which has become s bench mark for successful PPP project.
We people of belgavi are lazy and think this leaders will do the work we should unite and make them do the development of our city these leaders are public servents so make them do the work or kick them out Vaccine depot glass house killa lake centre garden shivaji nagar complex all works inferior wake up we are the real suffered it’s our money that is being wasted
Nehru nagar beside parsi graveyard corporation started construction of some huge building stopped halfway spents crores all gone down the drain wasting public money and every year increase tax in the name of shortage of funds.
The road connection between Bank of India chowk to Old Dharwad road. The completed road has been handed over to land owner due to non payment of land acquisition payment. May be the only example in the world.
Good satire on administration of Belagavi, hope some heads will roll soon…
I fully agree with B & F model unique to Belagavi vs BOOT model across world
We call it a smart city and get large funds from centre but completely wasted and miss handled by creating infrastructure without knowing what to do with facility and upkeep is most pathatic in nature
In Ramathirth Nagar we have Cricket ground never seen in use and next to that new creations of basketball pad and Deshpande Smarak library and some more work on near Power Grid etc
No one knows what all is being created and is complete miss use of taxpayers money and no public servant bothered and political will is missing at all levels irrespective of political parties
Now new sanctions to develop Kila Lake ,only God know what next
We citizens are in bad state and helpless