Kolkata News

[chennaidesi]

Originally Posted by ababhikban74

Kolkatas Skyline Set To Change Again With 245m Skyscraper

Subhro Niyogi & Saikat Ray TNN

Kolkata: The citys maiden skyscraper is finally underway.Located on the venerable Chowringhee,the highrise boulevard that shaped Kolkatas distinct skyline,the super-structure will be more than twice as tall as South City towers.
Christened The 42,the 245-metre-tall building on 42B Chowringhee that once belonged to the Maharaja of Darbhanga is a superluxury residential project.According to Mani Group CEO Sanjay Jhunjhunwala,who is leading a consortium of four groups to develop the landmark,The 42,like Dubais Burj Khalifa,will be the conversation-maker for Kolkata.Alcove and Diamond groups,Kolkata,and Sattva group,Bangalore,make the quartet.
Though the skyscrapers height will be equivalent to an 80-storied building,The 42 will be 62 stories tall,housing 58 bungalow apartments stacked one over the other.The first four stories will make up the lobby and three service floors.There will be a six-level car park for 350 cars and each apartment will get six parking slots.
Hafeez Contractor,the architect,feels The 42 will be an iconic structure.In Kolkata,one is unlikely to get an address more premium than 42B Chowringhee,overlooking the Hooghly,the Maidan,Victoria Memorial,St Pauls Cathedral and Birla Planetarium.It is a picture perfect view,the best one can get in the city, said Jhunjhunwala.
Each floor will house one lavish apartment.Since the Mani Group is also constructing the upscale hotel JW Marriott on EM Bypass,it will also offer the option of fullyfurnished bungalows in the sky.While the building will be a neckwringer for pedestrians measuring it up from street level,it is a huge engineering and technology challenge given the soft alluvial soil and the scale of construction within a confined space between the Tata Centre and Jeevan Sudha buildings.We have roped in the best national and international consultants to guide us, the Mani Group head said.
Foundation piling began twoand-a-half months ago as per specifications provided by structural and civil engineers at Jadavpur University and IIT-Mumbai.Callison Architects of the US is providing the foundation design.ITD Cementation that is doing the 55-metre piling work will do the foundation as well.
The tower contract is likely to be a toss-up between L&T and Shapoorji Pallonji.The exterior of the building will be all concrete with no brickwork.The construction cost is pegged at Rs 300 crore and apartments could sell for Rs 18,000-20,000/sq ft.
Since space relaxation that was granted to the project by the previous board was withdrawn,we decided to comply with every norm in the statute and redesigned the project.Now that construction has begun,we expect the foundation to be completed by February when the project will be launched.The first resident is expected to move in prior to 2015 Diwali, Jhunjhunwala added.

Cool.

[NiladriG]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/17540889.cms

Kala-azar, known to claim a few lives every year in North and East India, including West Bengal, may soon be a thing of the past, courtesy an effective vaccine developed by a city scientist.

Nahid Ali, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) who worked on the vaccine for 10 years, has published a paper on her successful research in an international medical journal last month.

Successfully tried on an animal model, the vaccine is now being further modified to increase its potency. While several other organizations and scientists have been working on kala-azar vaccines, Nahid's paper claims it is the first and the most advanced one so far.

Transmitted by sandflies, kala-azar is caused by the Leishmania Donovani parasite, named after its discoverers. Epidemics were common till 1946. One had even resulted in 7,500,00 people dying in three years in India.

Even though the malaria eradication programme had almost wiped out the disease from 1954 till 1974, outbreaks were reported from West Bengal and Bihar again in the Seventies. Ever since, sporadic outbreaks have been recurring. It is widespread in as many as 48 districts across Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh and around 165 million people are believed to be at risk.

When Nahid Ali started working on the vaccine, several other individual scientists as well as the Central Drug Research Institute had been working on the same.

"I worked independently like so many others did. The extent of parasite-level reduction in my animal model trial was substantially more than other experiments have managed. I am still involved in developing the vaccine further. Certain modifications are needed to increase its effectiveness. I expect to do it in the next few months," said the scientist.

Kala-azar is a slow progressing indigenous disease caused by a protozoan parasite of genus Leishmania. In India, Leishmania Donovani is the only parasite causing this disease. The parasite primarily infects reticuloendothelial system and may be found in abundance in bone marrow, spleen and liver.

Post Kala-azar, Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL) is a condition when Leishmania Donovani invades skin cells, resides and develops there and manifests as dermal lesions. Some of the kala-azar cases manifest PKDL after a few years of treatment. Of late, it is being believed that PKDL may appear without passing through visceral stage. However, adequate data is yet to be generated on course of PKDL manifestation.

Nahid's paper was published in the prestigious "Journal of Molecular Pharmaceutics". While it has been hailed as a potentially pathbreaking discovery, Nahid said she hoped it would be made a vaccine soon. "Once I am through with the research, my job would end. I can't play any role in marketing the vaccine," she said.

Once it is developed, the vaccine will help reduce number of deaths and prevent epidemics, said T Bhattacharya, tropical medicine specialist.

"Kala-azar is still common in northern and eastern parts, including Bengal. Only an effective vaccine can help to reduce the disease load. Mortality rate is quite high, especially in the interiors of Jharkhand and Bihar. There have been outbreaks in Bengal as well. Thus we need the vaccine," said Bhattacharya. Nearly 6000 cases were reported from Jharkhand in 2011, after having dropped to less than 500 in 2003.

The vaccine could help to eradicate kala-azar for preventive measures will never be foolproof, according to Debashish Basu, preventive medicine specialist.

"Every year, thousands succumb to malaria, dengue and kala-azar. While there are no vaccines yet for the other two, a good kala-azar vaccine might pave the way for them. It will help to save lives," Basu added.

An effective vaccine for kala-azar or black fever has been developed by a city scientist. Successfully tried on an animal model, the vaccine is now being further modified to increase its potency. Nahid Ali, a scientist at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) who worked on the vaccine for 10 years, has published a paper on her successful research in an international medical journal last month. While several other organizations and scientists have been working on kala-azar vaccines, Nahid's paper claims it is the first and the most advanced one so far. The vaccine could help to save millions of lives in north and east India, including West Bengal, where kala-azar is still prevalent.

Transmitted by sandflies, kala-azar is caused by the Leishmania donovani parasite, named after its discoverers. Epidemics were common till 1946. One had resulted in 750,000 people dying in three years in India. Even though the malaria eradication programme had almost wiped out the disease from 1954 till 1974, outbreaks were reported from West Bengal and Bihar again in the Seventies. Ever since, sporadic outbreaks have been recurring. As many as 48 districts across Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are endemic. Around 165 million people are believed to be at risk.

[niljee]

A full circle I guess - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upendranath_Brahmachari

[Samrat]

The list of highrise towers "Tallest in Kolkata" shown above needs some correction:

(a) Urbana tower 1 is of 41 floors which is not 168 metres tall but towers 2 to 6 are of 46 floors which are 168 metre tall

(b) The V is not 150 metre tall but the "Westin" which is taller between the two

(c) Ideal Unique, Calcutta Riverside(Princep) are not shown in the list as these are taller than the ones shown at serial Nos.9 and 10

(d) There is also DLF new town heights which is still U/C or not I don't know

Lastly, is Rameshwari Heights U/C ? If yes, then I don't find any thread on it.

[anan355]

Hindustan Motors Ltd (HM) may not have yet upgraded the diesel variant of its iconic Ambassador car to comply with Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) emission standards, but it has managed to persuade Kolkata’s road transport authorities to bend environment laws to keep the cars alive as taxis on the streets of this city.


The sale of cars not compliant with BS-IV norms was banned in 13 cities, including Kolkata, in 2010 by the petroleum ministry. Over the past two years, the ban has been extended to six more cities.
A BS-III compliant car emits at least 30% more air pollutants than one that complies with the BS-IV standards, according to S.N. Ghosh, an environmentalist and one of the oldest campaigners against vehicular pollution in Kolkata.
Yet, the Ambassador, which largely serves as taxis and runs on diesel, wasn’t banished from Kolkata, with the state government putting off the implementation of the ban, citing the inability of manufacturers to meet the demand for BS-IV vehicles.
The sole beneficiary of the government’s move is Hindustan Motors.
What is more, the state government of West Bengal, where the car is produced, continues to provide financial incentives for taxi operators to remain loyal to the Ambassador.
Not surprisingly, the HM-made curvy yellow Amabassador taxi remains an enduring symbol of Kolkata.
Under a six-month facility launched in August, road transport authorities in Kolkata have been allowing taxi operators to replace ageing cabs with new Ambassadors, treating it as a “special case”.
At least 3,000 taxis, aged above 15 years, will get replaced by new ones—the diesel variant of the Ambassador—under this facility, say transport department officials.
To give the Ambassador a fresh lease of life beyond these six months, HM is preparing to launch a BS-IV compliant diesel variant early next year. The company is developing it jointly with a foreign partner, HM’s managing director Uttam Bose said, while refusing to name the collaborator.
BS-III compliant Ambassador cabs are being allowed registration in the metropolitan area of Kolkata because upgraded variants of the car are not immediately available, said B.P. Gopalika, principal secretary in the state’s transport department.
“We couldn’t snatch the livelihood of so many people,” he added, referring to Kolkata’s taxi operators, who remain loyal to the Ambassador.
The state government has been illegally protecting the interest of “a local car maker” without caring for pollution, said Subhas Dutta, a Kolkata-based environmentalist and legal activist.


West Bengal provides a cash subsidy of Rs.25,000 when an Ambassador is bought to serve as a so-called meter taxi. The state also waives the road tax for the first year to encourage taxi operators to retire cars aged 15 years and more. The cost of a 1.5 litre diesel Ambassador is around Rs.4.5 lakh.
Besides these incentives, HM pays Rs.50,000 for an old Ambassador cab if replaced with a new one, making it almost impossible for competing cars such as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s WagonR and Tata Motors Ltd’s Indigo to break the Ambassador’s stranglehold over Kolkata’s meter taxi market. The WagonR and the Indigo are the only two cars, apart from the Ambassador, which are allowed to serve as meter taxis in West Bengal. The WagonR has found no takers, while a few Indigo taxis were launched in the past two years.
Kolkata, where almost all commercial vehicles run on diesel, has some 35,000 Ambassador taxis.
The Ambassador is manufactured only at HM’s Uttarpara factory, 10km from the fringes of Kolkata. It has around 3,000 employees, according to a spokesperson for the company, and the Ambassador accounts for 90% of the revenue earned from vehicles manufactured at Uttarpara, he said.
The company has a capacity to manufacture up to 1,000 Ambassadors a month at its Uttarpara factory, but currently produces only 250-300. At least half of them end up on Kolkata’s roads as meter taxis, while the rest go to institutional customers such as governments and the armed forces, the spokesperson added.
To be sure, HM has already upgraded the petrol, liquefied petroleum gas and compressed natural gas variants of the Ambassador to comply with BS-IV standards, but sales of these models are insignificant when compared with the diesel variant.
To be sure, West Bengal’s moves may be motivated by a desire to ensure the livelihood of the people who work at HM’s Uttarpara factory. The factory could face closure if the company is forced to suspend production of the Ambassador, or so feared the state government, show internal notes of the transport department that have been reviewed by Mint.
For instance, in a note in September 2010, the then principal secretary of the transport department, Sumantra Choudhury, said that operations at HM’s Uttarpara factory would be impacted if the law banning BS-III complaint cars from metropolitan cities was implemented in Kolkata.
To circumvent the law, he suggested that Ambassador cabs be granted registration outside the metropolitan area of Kolkata, but allowed to ply in the city and its suburbs without having to pay any extra fee.
Choudhury suggested this as a temporary measure to give HM time—around three months, according to the note from September 2010—to launch a BS-IV compliant diesel variant of the Ambassador by January 2011.
In October 2010, when the WagonR and the Indigo were allowed to serve as meter taxis in Kolkata, Choudhury wrote in another note that the category was almost always reserved for the Ambassador “as a policy of the state government” so that HM could run its Uttarpara factory “properly” without having to retrench people.

Source

[anan355]

Source: Anandabazar, 12th December, 2012
http://www.anandabazar.com/12cal4.html

Translation:

CESC is starting a smart grid system in a multi-storied apartment complex around EM BYepass. They had asked for a global tender and 18 companies had applied top get the work. Survey work for the project would cost Rs. 3.5 crore and would be funded by US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) whose purpose is to increase the business of smart grid in India. CESC would fund the entire project expense.

Some of the salient features:

1. Real time meter and tariff update through SMS
2. End to end software enablement of the system
3. Disconnection of electricity connection for an defaulting subscriber through a computer "click" and many more.

[studdmanster]

this is already underway in Jodhpur park...

[NiladriG]

Originally Posted by anan355

Hindustan Motors Ltd (HM) may not have yet upgraded the diesel variant of its iconic Ambassador car to comply with Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) emission standards, but it has managed to persuade Kolkata’s road transport authorities to bend environment laws to keep the cars alive as taxis on the streets

Source

I have always wondered what is it between the HM and govt.? Why such undue nepotism? Once the Metro routes become operational gradually, taxis will start losing out on long distance travel. They have already lost a lot of business to auto. We have to bear with the Ambys for sometime more.

[NiladriG]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/17593110.cms

Just when the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) top brass is struggling come out of the trident light muddle unscathed, here comes a 'red alert' from its finance department.

It is learnt that the civic authorities have sounded an alarm bell and urged all officials to strike a balance between the earning and the expenditure. If steps are not taken immediately, the civic body won't be able to pay salaries to around 30,000 staffers on time in January, it has been said.

"We are passing through one of the worst financial crisis in recent years. A dwindling revenue earning and a simultaneous rise in expenditure have pushed the KMC to the brink of a financial collapse. If we fail to check the situation, we will not be in a position to offer salaries to our employees on time next month," said a senior official of the KMC revenue department.

That the situation was going out of hand was first indicated by Debatosh Dasgupta, the Controller of Municipal Finance and Accounts (CMFA). In a letter sent to municipal commissioner Khalil Ahmed recently, he had mentioned clearly that unless attempts were made to boost revenue collection, the financial situation would nosedive.

In his letter, Dasgupta had suggested some austerity measures like restrictions on grant of rampant overtime allowances and car-hire charges. And to raise revenue, the CMFA had suggested the civic top brass to crack down on major property tax defaulters, ask the state government to enhance the KMC's share of entertainment tax, pay a part of the motor vehicles tax, among other measures.

Despite collecting Rs 259.29 crore from the property tax waiver scheme, the economic situation of the civic body has not improved. While the KMC has a balance of Rs 494.20 crore in bank accounts, including a fixed deposit of Rs 255.00 crore, the general account (revenue and deposit fund) shows a balance of Rs 93.54 crore. However, current liabilities on general account stand at Rs 373.73 crore. This means that the civic body needs to earn Rs 280.19 crore to tide over the crisis. The KMC needs to pay Rs 233.73 to the CESC and Rs 140.33 crore to the contractors immediately.

After Trinamool came to power last year, it implemented various beautification projects - riverfront beautification, installation of tridents, painting the city white and blue, beautifying the road medians - spending crores. This has adversely impacted the civic body's financial health, according to a section of the KMC employees.

While funds were flowing out of KMC coffers steadily, the civic top brass did not bother to raise revenue accordingly. On the contrary, they took various steps that went against the interest of the civic body. For example, the license department had stopped taking fines from traders for late deposit of fee for renewal of trade licenses. "Earlier, we would charge penalty from any trader who would deposit fee six months after the deadline. Now, we have withdrawn the deadline giving a scope to more than 6 lakh traders to enjoy renewal of the licenses at their own will," said a KMC license department official. This apart, revenue from the KMC advertisement department has gone down following the decision not to carry raids on illegal hoardings.

[NiladriG]

Finally she confessed!!!

http://www.telegraphindia.com/112121...p#.UMlD_oPBPoI

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee publicly backed mayor Sovan Chatterjee in the trident-lamp controversy on Wednesday, saying that whatever he did was right.

“He worked under my guidance. I had asked him to distribute the contracts among small groups. The idea was that it would speed up work and the quality of work would also not suffer,” Mamata said at the inauguration of a musical fountain at Rabindra Sarobar.

“I did the same thing when I was in charge of the railway ministry. I asked him to follow the same model,” the chief minister declared.

Mayor Chatterjee, seated in a corner of the dais when Mamata spoke, smiled when she turned to call him by his pet name, Kanan.

That the mayor still enjoyed his leader’s support had become apparent when she returned to him the civic tax assessment and collection department a few days ago.

The public affirmation came on Wednesday.

Mamata said she had had a detailed discussion on the trident-lamp controversy with Chatterjee on Tuesday evening, when they were out for a walk in Kalighat between 8 and 9pm.

“I asked him why he looked so serious. He said that he was depressed over false news reports that were coming out in some of the newspapers almost every day over alleged discrepancies in the installation of trident lamps,” Mamata said.

The chief minister said she asked the mayor what the fuss was all about before advising him to continue whatever he was doing.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation had split the project into over 230 contracts, dispensing with the process of formally inviting bids.

[mountaincloud]

i am sure the dijain was also chosen by her. she has no idea about many things but wants to impose on others (now others mean millions of people) whatever is going on in her mind at any point in time. she has horrible taste. she needs telus around her all the time who will support her horrible taste and ways of doing things. kanan is an adult; not a child. he has a mundu also above his shoulders. i hope his mundu can think and respond.

[anan355]

Originally Posted by NiladriG

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/17593110.cms






Despite collecting Rs 259.29 crore from the property tax waiver scheme, the economic situation of the civic body has not improved. While the KMC has a balance of Rs 494.20 crore in bank accounts, including a fixed deposit of Rs 255.00 crore, the general account (revenue and deposit fund) shows a balance of Rs 93.54 crore. However, current liabilities on general account stand at Rs 373.73 crore. This means that the civic body needs to earn Rs 280.19 crore to tide over the crisis. The KMC needs to pay Rs 233.73 to the CESC and Rs 140.33 crore to the contractors immediately.

Perhaps this is possible only in WB. A municipality keeping 250 crores + in FD.....when several projects need to get completed fast !!!!! Are they crazy?
Seems like they have kept almost the entire money collected from the waiver scheme in FD. They should immediately start multiple flyover projects and underground sewerage system projects as well as the drinking water projects....

And the reporter also to blast the govt does not raise that issue.... he assumes the govt needs to pay the entire money from general account .....

[mountaincloud]

http://www.telegraphindia.com/112121...y_16312237.jsp

Land deadline met but not distance
- Synchrotron slipping away as govt offers far-flung sites
ANASUYA BASU

The Mamata Banerjee government has offered land in Bankura, Purulia or Birbhum for a Rs 6,000-crore synchrotron project that Bengal would lose if the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics cannot find a 100-acre plot within 50km of Calcutta.

The director of the Saha institute, Milan K. Sanyal, received a letter last week that said the government could at best provide land not less than a four-hour drive from the city.

Land reforms commissioner R.D. Meena, who is also the principal secretary of the land and land reforms department, asked the institute to take its pick from three districts whose headquarters are 174km (Bankura), 186km (Birbhum) and 250km (Purulia) from Calcutta.

The land offer has come within the deadline set by the Saha institute but the choices given have almost killed the possibility of the synchrotron coming up in Bengal. “There is no way a synchrotron centre can come up in these districts,” a source in the institute said.

According to him, Delhi was keen on handing the project to the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore. “The state’s bargaining power had already declined once Trinamul pulled out of the UPA. There are several eager contenders for the prized project and Delhi doesn’t want to wait any longer for the state government to provide the parcel of land a science centre of this stature requires,” the source said.

The Saha institute had sent a reminder to the Mamata government in June about time running out for Bengal. In several letters addressed to the chief minister, the authorities iterated that they were looking for land near the city to enable top scientists, many of them visitors from abroad, to work on the project.

A plot in Rajarhat would have been ideal but the Saha institute agreed to look beyond the city once it became clear that Hidco wasn’t going to provide one. The next option is Kalyani in Nadia, around 47km from the city and close to insititutions such as the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research and the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics.

“We suggested Kalyani after learning that 100 acres of contiguous land are available there. But these three districts are so far away,” director Sanyal said.

Meena was unavailable for comment but sources said encroachment was one of the reasons why the proposal to allot available land in Kalyani hadn’t worked out so far.

Officially, the Saha institute hasn’t given up yet. “I am still positive about getting a parcel of land within 40-50km of Calcutta,” Sanyal said.

According to scientists, the proposed synchrotron centre would be worth the trouble of finding land, providing a fillip to research on advanced material development, particularly in energy and disease biology.

A synchrotron centre is a storage ring of electrons moving at very high velocity and energy that gives out intense light, from infrared to X-ray. Synchrotron radiation sources reveal information invaluable in numerous fields of research.

The Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, had pitched itself as the frontrunner for the project but the Planning Commission chose the Calcutta institute, founded by the physicist Meghnad Saha.

While the land and land reforms department, which functions under Mamata, has suggested Bankura, Birbhum and Purulia, Trinamul MP Saugata Roy said any potential plot must be close to the airport.

[AbhishekDatta]

aah that sucks if true

[niljee]

Bunch of Kalidases. However, I don't understand why they could build the synchrotron in Chitradurga that is 200 Km away from Bangalore, but not in Birbhum or Bankura. Its not that IISC is providing them with land in Bangalore.

[shuvro]

Originally Posted by AbhishekDatta

aah that sucks if true

What about the land in Baruipur - or is she so egoistic that she won't accept the land organised by previous govt. Surely, they can't let go of this project.

[AbhishekDatta]

I guess more news on this will come out soon.. since its telegraph i doubt their intention..they didn't come up with the original news which said land will be given by govt. despite campaigning for months on the topic...after a lull of weeks this is what they published.. but anyway i am not much bothered about where they get the land as long as they get it and it stays in bengal..if land is available in baruipur as suggested by Sujon Chakraborty it will be excellent...we can not loose this project...

[DFan]

See here another article on the same issue :

Nano a no-no for Mamata, but nano-science fine

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-...e1-965327.aspx

Now totally confused that which one should be taken seriously.

All these media are busy in spreading their views rather than actual news.

[CalcuttaChromosome]

Can anyone post the matter in the PS Blog and bring it to his notice?? That'll be great.....

Last time I heard one CPM member wrote to Mr Sanyal and Writer's that there is a contiguous land available somewhere in South Kolkata. If he can let his ego go for this ambitious project why can't TMC?

Also anyone who has a twitter account make D O'Brien aware of this and post in Mamata's FB as well.

[NiladriG]

Originally Posted by shuvro

What about the land in Baruipur - or is she so egoistic that she won't accept the land organised by previous govt. Surely, they can't let go of this project.

Infosys project is moving towards a dead end. They may hold the land but won't start the project. If SINP project is also lost to some other state, Mamata won't have anyone else to blame except herself.