Karnataka - Bellary   

Work on Bellary ring road to begin soon

BELLARY: The residents of Bellary can now look forward to a quieter life once the ring road becomes a reality. G. Janardhan Reddy, Minister for Infrastructure Development, performed the “bhoomi puja” for the road here on Friday.

Ever since iron ore, which is available in abundance in the district, saw a boom in the international market, the number of lorries transporting ore passing through the city has gone up tremendously, leading to large-scale air and noise pollution, besides an increase in the number of fatal road accidents. The proposal made earlier for construction of the ring road remained on paper, without any concrete action being taken.

The plan for construction of the road has finally been cleared by the Government and work is likely to start soon. Mr. Reddy told presspersons that roadworks would begin soon and would be executed jointly by the city corporation and the Bellary Agenda Task Force (BATF). To a question, he said the State Government had already given administrative approval to the project and the Deputy Commissioner, who heads the BATF, had been asked to call for tenders and ensure the completion of the first phase of the road, from Halkundi on the Bangalore Road to Kakka Bevinahalli on the Anantpur Road (National Highway 63), at the earliest. “As farmers have agreed to part with their land after being allowed to convert 75 feet of land on either side of the road for commercial use, there should not be any problem in starting the work. The city corporation has set aside a certain amount for the purpose, while the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has promised to donate Rs. 30 crore for the development of Bellary city, with which the work will be completed,” he said. Mr. Reddy said toll would be collected by the corporation only from lorries transporting iron ore. The funds would be used to undertake various other projects of public interest in the city.

He welcomed the move of the district administration for round-the-clock patrolling of Hampi in order to prevent vandalism of sculptures and monuments. Several sculptures at Hampi were disfigured recently.

According to him, teams comprising staff from the departments of Police, Revenue, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the State Archaeology Department and the Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority would patrol the entire area in three batches. In addition, five check-posts had been set up to keep a watch on the movement of people coming in to Hampi, he added.

The park developed by JSW Steel Ltd. at Parvati Nagar here, was also inaugurated on Friday. Mr. Reddy said Sajjan Jindal, Managing Director of the company, had come forward to develop three more in the city.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

459 couples tie the knot
Work on Bellary ring road to begin soon

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu