HDMC to relaunch encroachment clearance drive

Dharwad: Earthmovers will be back in action in the twin cities of Hubballi and Dharwad as the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation will relaunch the encroachment clearance drive soon.
Speaking at the HDMC general body meeting held at the corporation’s office in Dharwad on Friday, HDMC commissioner Siddhalingayya Hiremath asserted that the officials will not succumb to any kind of pressure tactics and go ahead with the demolition of structures on the encroached land.
This demolition drive will be launched during the first week of January and will continue till twin cities are made free of encroachment, he added.
Disclosing the details of the demolition drive, the commissioner said that during the first phase, encroachments on Subhash Road and Jakani Bhavi area in Dharwad will be cleared. In the second phase, market area in Dharwad and Hubballi and at KC Circle in Hubballi will be freed. Even the parking lot identified by the HDMC has been encroached upon at a few places and the unauthorised shops will be cleared, he added.
Survey on Neeligin Road in Hubballi has been completed and the drive will be launched shortly, he added. The drive will be completed by the end of January.
Encroachment of footpath on the Station Road too has been reported and this will be cleared. During its last operation, the HDMC had cleared the parking lot in commercial complexes. Some owners have once again closed the parking lot and have constructed walls. The HDMC will be penalising them besides initiating legal action, he said.
The survey of such properties will also be taken up and in a phased manner and all the parking lots will be cleared, he added.
Earlier, Congress corporator Ganesh Tagragunti drew the attention of the House asking it to come up with concrete measures to make twin cities free from traffic congestion and solve the encroachment menace.
BJP corporator Veeranna Savadi sought to know from the commissioner why the HDMC ended its demolition drive abruptly. He also said that there were rumours that the HDMC was demolishing the properties of poor people and the rich businessmen were spared.
Corporators Shivu Hiremath and Sanjay Kapatkar said that the HDMC officials were taking bribe from a few stalls and though the names of the officials were furnished to the higher authorities, no action was taken. They demanded that the encroachment in market area should be cleared first and then operation has to be carried out in extension areas.
Floor leader Ramanna Badiger said, due to lack of interest by the HDMC and the Police, no pro-people projects or programmes could be implemented. None of the elected representatives have raised their voice against the demolition drive, but still, this operation was shelved. Now, people are blaming the corporators for the mistakes of the officials, he added.
Congress corporator Yasin Haveripeth said that the roadside shopkeepers were paying cess to the corporation and hence, they should not be displaced. The HDMC should construct a hawkers’ zone and then shift them, he added.
Cutting across party lines, all the corporators raised objection to his remarks.
Poorna Patil, Ganesh Tagargunti and Altaf Kittur asserted that the commercial complexes were not allowing people to park vehicles in the parking lot and this has forced people to park on the road. They demanded the HDMC to issue notices to owners of these commercial complexes.
Corporator Shivanand Muttannavar said that cops in Bengaluru act tough on the people who park vehicles haphazardly on the roads and the BBMP imposes hefty fine on putting stalls on footpaths. But, such action is missing in HDMC area, he noted.
Chairing the meeting in the absence of mayor Manjula Akkur, deputy mayor Laxmi Uppar directed the HDMC officials to relaunch the footpath and parking lot clearance drive.
BOX
Pension row: Corporators decide to exert pressure on CM
A heated debate took place during the HDMC general body meeting held in Dharwad on Friday regarding the pension row of the retired HDMC staff. The corporators stated that the state government has maintained an outstanding pension amount of Rs 80 crore and is delaying its release.
Raising the issue, BJP corporator Veeranna Savadi said the HDMC is meeting the pension demand from the general budget and this has resulted in scarcity of funds for development works.
He said corporators have to unanimously bring this issue to the notice of the district-in-charge minister and draw his attention to forward this plea to the chief minister.
Joining him, corporator Shivu Hiremath and Ganesh Tagargunti proposed to form a committee to take up this issue with the State Government.
Raising his objection, nominated corporator Anandsinghnath said that it is unfair to put all the responsibilities on the district-in-charge minister. Let leader of opposition in the assembly Jagadish Shettar take up this issue in the assembly and draw the government’s attention, he said.
This led to verbal clash between the Congress and the BJP corporators. Corporator Shivanand Muttannavar said, if minister Vinay Kulkarni does not bring this issue to the notice of the chief minister, the corporators will stage an indefinite dharna in front of Kulkarni’s house, he warned.
The meeting also discussed installing LED bulbs to the streetlights. HDMC commissioner Siddhalingayya Hiremath said that at present the HDMC is spending Rs 12 crore for maintenance of streetlights and by replacing them with LED, Rs 6 crore can be saved. The savings can be used for maintenance of streetlights and other HDMC works. A plan to this effect has been formulated and will be implemented soon, he added. By March-end, all the streetlights in twin cities will have LED bulbs, he assured.
Protests held
While the general body meeting was going on, some homeless people staged a protest inside the HDMC premises demanding the council to pass a resolution to allot them houses at the earliest under various government schemes.
Contract employees of the Water Board too staged a protest demanding regularisation of their services and fulfilling their other demands.
Caption: BJP members Poorna Patil, Shivu Hiremath and Sanjay Kapatkar raise an issue at the general body meeting of Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation held at Dharwad on Friday.(TOI)