Piuc: Handover process of the apartments has been delayed by months, say affected familiesHubballi: Thirty-six families who agreed to vacate their homes for road-widening works have urged the govt to provide immediate compensatory accommodation, drawing parallels with the swift rehabilitation extended to residents of Kogilu layout in Bengaluru.The families said alternative houses have already been constructed for them in Vidyanagar under the Smart City project and that they were assured possession by Deepavali. However, the handover has reportedly been delayed, allegedly due to the absence of a formal inaugural event. As a result, residents have stopped maintaining their existing houses and are living in deteriorating conditions.The affected houses, built under the Akram-Sakram scheme, are located in the Hosur area near Vanivilas Circle. Authorities decided to vacate them to facilitate road widening and ongoing flyover work. Residents said many were hesitant to reveal their identities for fear of losing their compensatory accommodation.A woman resident said officials initially informed them in Sept that they should be ready to move into the new houses by Dasara. “Later, they said Deepavali, and then postponed it to Jan. We don’t know the reason for the delay. Because of this uncertainty, we did not even paint our house for Deepavali,” she said.Another resident said a family wedding had to be postponed. “The marriage was planned during Kartika Maasa (Nov–Dec), but we couldn’t proceed as we were unsure when our house would be demolished. Officials warned us that the demolition could happen soon,” he said.Residents also claimed that while officials told them power connections had been provided to all the new apartments, they were still not being informed about when they could occupy them.Several families expressed anguish that while govt acted promptly to rehabilitate Kogilu residents in Bengaluru, the Hubballi case was being neglected. We have lived here for more than three decades and have faced displacement threats repeatedly. Some of us have been relocated two or three times in the past, they said.Responding to the concerns, MLA Mahesh Tenginakai said the delay was due to issues related to power connections. “Each beneficiary was initially asked to pay Rs 10,000 for the connection. Considering their financial condition, we intervened and instructed the HDMC to bear the cost of Rs 3-4 lakh. This has now been done,” he said.He added that houses were being allotted through a lottery system to ensure transparency. “We will convene another meeting with officials and ensure that the residents are allotted their houses at the earliest,” he assured.
