The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : New site for Suvarna Vidhana Soudha likely

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Saturday, Aug 16, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

New site for Suvarna Vidhana Soudha likely

T.S. Ranganna

It may come up at Halga Bastvad or Kamkar Hatti
A site along the national highway favoured

BANGALORE: The proposed Suvarna Soudha at Belgaum for housing the State Government’s second secretariat and for holding the legislature session will be located either at Halga Bastvad or Kamkar Hatti on the Bangalore-Pune Highway and not at the Government Vaccine Institute at Tilakwadi.

The then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had laid the foundation for the second secretariat at Tilakwadi. The BJP Government, headed by B.S. Yeddyurappa, had now opted for a change of site.

According to sources, the high-level committee headed by the Legislative Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar and comprising the then Legislative Council officiating Chairman N. Thippanna, MPs, MLAs and MLCs and senior officials of the State Legislature and the Public Works Department had inspected four sites. The committee is scheduled to meet again on August 18 at Vidhana Soudha to finalise the site after the return of Mr. Shettar, who was away on a foreign tour.

The committee, the sources said, had visited Halga Bastvad, Kamkar Hatti and Bhootaramana Hatti which were 8, 11 and 18 km respectively from Belgaum.

Sources said security experts had expressed the view that the Tilakwadi site on Mondoli Road was not safe.

Unlike the Vidhana Soudha, which had four exit points , the Vaccine Institute built during the British period had only one exit and that too on a 15-foot wide road.

The Bhootaramana Hatti, where the Karnataka University’s postgraduate centre is functioning is built on a 150-acre Forest Department land and the Centre’s environmental clearance was a must for constructing the Suvarna Soudha here.

It is forest land and the Centre is not concerned about it because of the educational centre, but may object to the Suvarna Soudha proposal, given the sensitive border issue. It was stated that there was opposition by environmentalists to the Tilakwadi site, because this was the only lung space in the heart of the city.

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