BELAGAVI
Goans and other visitors hoping to stay in Belagavi will have to rethink their plans, as the city’s hotels and lodges are packed to capacity ahead of the Winter Session of the Karnataka State Legislature, running from December 9 to 19.
The 10-day session will be held at the imposing Suvarna Vidhan Soudha (SVS) spread in the campus of about 100 acres, about 12 km from Belagavi on NH748. Government of Karnataka will be spending around Rs 12 crore this session, 50 per cent lesser than the last year’s expenses. The bicameral Legislative house has 225 MLAs and 75 MLCs.
Hotel owners have requested their guests from Goa and other places to avoid visiting the city for about 12 days commencing from Sunday.
Apart from giving the facelift to the city to welcome the state government machinery, elaborate security arrangements have been made in wake of the top politicians and bureaucrats staying in Belagavi for over 10 days. Government of Karnataka is contemplating to set up a five-star hotel in the SVS campus.
Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Roshan said that 2,756 rooms were booked in different hotels and government and private guest houses in the city for the accommodation of the VIPs and VVIPs, including ministers, legislators, officials, marshals, and media personnel, and they were already allocated.
Deputy Director for Information and Publicity Gurunath Kadbur said that over 150 rooms have been booked only for media personnel as teams of various TV and print media will be arriving in Belagavi from Sunday.
President of the The Belgaum Hotel Owners Association Ajay Pai said that the hoteliers have been directed by the authorities to make every room available for the official guests from Bengaluru and other places. “Since last few days we have asked our regular guests from Goa and other places to avoid visiting Belagavi as all the available hotel rooms have been booked,” Pai said.
City Police Commissioner, Iada Martin Marbaniang, said more than 6,000 police personnel are being deployed in Belagavi city and SVS during the winter session. This includes six SP-level officials, 38 DySPs, 100 Circle Police Inspectors and 230 Police Sub Inspectors.
“About 580 CCTVB cameras and 10 drone cameras will be surveilling the SVS premises,” Marbaniang said.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the Karnataka State Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti who arrived in Belagavi on Saturday said that in order to avoid inconvenience to tourists and visitors to Belagavi during the winter session every year, the government has planned to set up a hotel in the premises of the SVS. “The government is taking steps this year on a proposal given by the Taj Group and KLE Society,” Horatti said.
