Elected representatives, including Aravind Bellad, MLA, and other stakeholders have felt the need for taking into consideration authenticated data and other local factors before finalising the city development plan (CDP) for Hubballi-Dharwad.
This was the overall opinion at a stakeholders meeting here on Wednesday convened to finalise the CDP for the twin cities, which is being prepared by Credit Rating Information Services of India Ltd. (CRISIL), following directions from the Union government.
Mr. Bellad pointed out that there seemed to a discrepancy in the calculation of the population of the twin cities by the year 2041 as the population of Belur Industrial Area near Dharwad had not been considered. And even the impact of the proposed Bengaluru-Mumbai Industrial Corridor had not been considered, he said.
Hubballi-Dharwad Mayor Shivu Hiremath too felt the need for reworking on the CDP as according to him, the immediate requirement for overall development of the twin cities was around Rs. 6,000 crore.
The office-bearers of Dharwad-Hubballi Mahanagar Samagra Abhivruddhi Sangha Vittal G. Kammar and G.S. Byadagi pointed out that while preparing the CDP laying underground utility networks had not been considered. Meanwhile, some of the stakeholders said that as the information regarding the stakeholders meeting was given at the last moment there had been a lot of confusion.
The meeting concluded with Mr. Hiremath announcing that another meeting would be held after informing the stakeholders in advance.
The absence of many councillors of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation at the stakeholders meeting on city development plan drew sharp criticism from stakeholders, especially senior citizens, on Wednesday.
Retired Assistant Registrar G.S. Byadagi termed the absent councillors as ‘irresponsible’ who were not concerned about development.
A few others concurred with him and started criticising the councillors.
As JD(S) councillor Rajanna Koravi and Mayor Shivu Hiremath seemed unhappy with this criticism and the organisers intervened to stop the arguments.
