The construction work of the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Halaga has now commenced 3kms from the Suvarna Soudha.
The contract has been awarded to the Pune based Gharpure Constructions.
Earlier when the land was acquired the Farmers present there protested this act of the Corporation and administration and said they have just sown the land and getting earth movers to level the land is very unwarranted.
The government had first acquired 40 acres of fertile land for the STP in Belagavi city in 1974 but gave up the idea for the sake of the farmers. Another STP project was proposed in 1977 but was dropped once again for the same reason.
Some 10 years later, the government acquired 145 acres around Alarwad on the city’s outskirts for an STP and spent over Rs 7 crore on laying pipelines there. But the project was suspended midwayeged, deploring that now an STP was planned at Halaga on fertile land.
In April 2018, the KUWSDB called a meeting of municipal administration minister Ramesh Jarkiholi with the farmers to convince them to give up their agricultural land. But the farmers had then refused.
Now that the protests have calmed down the actual work on the STP has commenced.
The BCC even completed the laying of underground drainage lines. But the Pollution Control Board objected, stating that the plant was too close to residential areas and public places.
In 2017 the court rejected the farmer’s plea but due to protests work hasn’t been started.
Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) has planned to set-up an STP on 17 acres and 30 guntas of land at Halaga village, close to Suvarna Vidhana Soudha (SVS).