KHB Colony will soon get amenities

Hubballi: Residents of Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) Amargol Phase 2 Colony have submitted a petition to the Taluk Legal Services Authority here seeking amenities in their colony.KHB officials submitted a report along with the TOI report — which highlighted the issue recently — to the urban development department seeking action. The report, headlined ‘Infrastructure challenges plague housing board's colonies on Jan 2, 2024', also flagged a delay in handing the colony over to Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC).Earlier, KHB had approached HDMC to take over the colony. After a joint survey was done to check the facilities, HDMC asked KHB to pay Rs 11 crore for the handover. But KHB claimed it was unable to pay the big amount, and also wrote to higher officials about the handover charges. After the residents moved court, the latter directed KHB officials to pay Rs 8 crore to HDMC for the development of the colony. The court ordered KHB to pay within a month.Mrutunjay Matti, resident of KHB, Amaragol, said: "We have submitted a petition, along with the TOI report, to the court, and finally we got justice. Thanks to the court and TOI for this. As soon as the colony is handed over to the corporation, the latter should start development works like roads, drainage, drinking water, streetlights and others," he said.KHB executive engineer said the court has directed the board to pay Rs 8 crore to the corporation within a month. "We received the order last week. The process of handover will start soon," he added.