Redevelopment projects worth Rs 810 crore give Hubballi a face lift
Hubballi (PTI): Hubballi-Dharwad administration here in Karnataka has completed several redevelopment projects worth Rs 810 crore, including the restoration of a "dying" lake and building a green mobility corridor, under the the smart city mission of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, officials said on Tuesday.
Under the Centre's smart city mission, 63 redevelopment projects were undertaken for the 11 lakh people of Hubballi-Dharwad in a bid to improve the ecology of the city and boost the local economy. Fifty-nine projects of these have been completed, they said.
Tolankere Lake (Tolan means fox, kere means lake), a dying water body with hardly any marine inside or terrestrial life around it, has become a hub of visitors after its redevelopment, officials said.
They said that there was excessive silt collection and very little water holding capacity in the lake and the entire area had become barren and dry.
The project took nearly four years to be completed from October 2018 to April 2022. It got delayed due to the Covid pandemic, Managing Director of Hubballi-Dharwad Smart City Limited (HDSCL) Rudresh Ghali told PTI.
Torenkele Lake is easily the most loved community space in Hubballi and is an excellent example of how a nearly dead lake was brought to life, officials said.
Since its opening, over 500 people visit it during the weekdays, and the number swells to 1,500 on weekends. It has also become the starting or ending point of every public awareness or fitness rally held in Hubballi. Given its popularity, property prices around the lake have quadrupled since its rejuvenation, they said.
"The lake has an area of 39 acres, which was developed at a cost of Rs 25 crore. We have amenities for all age groups, including a children's play area, open area for exercises, food court and an open theatre. A lot of planting has also been done in the area to make the landscape beautiful.
"We have installed proper electric poles and aerators for maintaining the water quality, and keep them on during mornings and evenings. We had a lake here, but there was no landscape, play area and walkway. We now have a walkway around seven metres wide, which has a length of around 1.25 kilometres," Ghali said.
A dedicated area has been earmarked for the physically handicapped to do exercise. From 6 am to 9 am, using Tolankere is free for walkers but after 9 am, the charge is Rs 20 for adults and Rs 10 for kids, he said.
Two artificial islands were created inside the water body, in addition to the already existing island, to attract migratory birds, Deputy General Manager for HDSCL Basavraj Dharmanti told PTI. He added that the park has a basketball court and a volleyball court too.
Mahesh, a local resident, said earlier the place looked like a haunted road, but has now turned into a beautiful spot to visit with ones' families.
"We used to roam here around five to six years ago when I was a student. It was like a haunted road earlier. Now, it has shops everywhere and the road has also been built. A fountain has been constructed between the road which makes it more beautiful and attractive. Earlier, people used to be scared to go to the area. They are now spending time here with family members," Mahesh said.
The high-quality refurbishment of a glass house at the Mahatma Gandhi Park, a landmark lung space in Hubballi filled with large heritage trees spread over a sprawling 7.42 hectares, has made it a popular destination for gatherings and weekend family outings, with people visiting the place from across the city.
A grand glass house is present inside the park due to which it is popularly known as the Indira Gandhi Glass House. The park was constructed in 1977.
It also has a toy train with a 960-metre long track and a musical fountain, with water jets dancing to popular Kannada and Hindi songs, the officials said.
The MG Park has generated a revenue of Rs 20.67 lakh from May 2022 to March 2023, despite a low entrance fees of Rs 20, they said.
The administration has created the Green Mobility Corridor (GMC) in the city in which an unclean, inaccessible urban drain has been converted into a clean, thriving public green space with a dedicated non-motorised corridor.
"There are three things in GMC. We are strengthening the drains by properly constructing the walls to protect it. We can reduce the flood-prone area and by this, 18 areas will be prevented from flooding. We are keeping the drains clean by diverting sewage water. We have built a sewage treatment plant (STP) so that sewage gets treated and the treated water is again released in the drains.
"We have made non-motorised transport (NMT) along the drain where people can walk and ride bicycles. The total length is 9.4 km. It starts from Unkal Lake and a total of 4.5 km stretch has been developed. It is beneficial for people and also time saving," Ghali said.
In the monsoon of 2022, Hubballi received extremely high levels of precipitation but the newly constructed retaining walls were effectively able to control the floods, ensuring zero flooding along the banks, they said.
A three-metre high chain-link fence is erected all along the drain and at all the 12 bridges as a way to earmark the land extent of the GMC. It also ensures protection for the corridor from its misuse after dark, preventing the dumping of solid waste into the drain which was a regular practice prior to the corridor, the officials said.
Officials also said the entire stretch is lit with aesthetic street lights. CCTV cameras are also installed at several places, which are monitored 24/7 by the smart city's Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), making it a safe space especially for women and children, they said.
"The apartment in which I live was flooded during the heavy rains in 2019. Though the rains were as heavy in 2021 and 2022, the GMC project has prevented flooding. We are also happy that a bicycle corridor has been constructed just outside our house connecting important parts of the city," said Dr Vijayalakshmi, professor at KLE Technological University.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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