Guwahati Projects thread

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SAURAV BORA
In Focus
Blossom Kochhar Group, having carved out a niche in the country’s beauty and wellness sector, is planning to increase its footprint in “fashionable and beauty-conscious” Northeast.

“The Northeast is important to us. We will, therefore, try and increase our footprint here through greater reach, availability and penetration into newer markets,” Samantha Kochhar, CEO-cum-managing director of the group told The Telegraph.

The company, formed in 1987, forayed into the region in 2004.

“We entered the Northeast market in 2004. The region has vast potential, with a growing fashionable population, and Guwahati is emerging as one of the biggest branches in the country. People here have a great understanding of well-being and beauty. This is why we get many students from the region for our Blossom Kochhar College of Creative Arts & Design Academy. Most of them go back to their states to open beauty salons,” she said.

In November last year, the leading aromatherapy-based brand, Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic, announced the launch of its new corporate identity. The makeover was in line with the new market positioning and corporate philosophy. Today, it has over 160 products across 32 categories.

“The brand is one of the best in the ‘natural segment’,” she said, adding, “Everything we do is inspired by our enduring mission — to create reliable beauty solutions based on ‘green science’ — a rare synergy of aromatherapy and terratherapy.”

After the corporate makeover, the company launched a new range of products in the region in December. Among them were Activated Bamboo Charcoal Face Pack, Aroma Magic Face Wash and Aloe Vera Cold Cream jar.

Asked about the marketing initiatives, the managing director said, “I think there is huge opportunity to grow, as we perceive the Northeast as a dynamic market. We have a depot in the east for Guwahati, a trained technical team serving salons and Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic sales teams,” she said.

The company’s product repertoire comprises skin and hair care, salon kits, essential oils for the retail sector and a range created for salon professionals. The company, which treads the franchise route, sells its products throu-gh the multiple retail outlets, general stores and salons.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/113020...p#.UQ_sHB1J6CM

[sunny20rocky]

Feb. 10: It’s final now. Northeast’s largest wholesale fish market will be shifted to a 53.5-acre plot at Saukuchi, on the outskirts of the city, from Paltan Bazar.

The Kamup (metro) district administration has ordered Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and the fishery department to immediately shift the market and submit a compliance report within 45 days.

Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Ashutosh Agnihotri on Thursday issued the order because the current fish market, situated within the notified land of Borsola Beel, was polluting the waterbody and affecting the city’s environment.

The order said Borsola Beel acts as a natural water reservoir and haphazard dumping of thermocol containers, fish wastes and plastic bags were polluting the beel, which has been declared a waterbody under the Guwahati Water Bodies (Preservation and Conservation) Act, 2008.

The district administration has also asked the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to prepare an action plan to develop the land, which will be vacated after shifting the fish market, into an eco-tourism centre.

“It has been noticed that the fish market is polluting the beel, in violation of the provisions of law. But Borsola Beel has to be protected, preserved, and maintained as a waterbody where rainwater accumulates and which acts as a natural or stormwater reservoir to protect the city from flash floods or waterlogging,” the deputy commissioner’s order, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, said.

The Paltan Bazar wholesale fish market is the biggest in the Northeast and over 150 tonnes of fish come in from Andhra Pradesh, Kanpur, New Delhi and Mumbai every day and are sold to markets across the region.

The administration had mooted shifting the market in April last year after the wholesale vegetable market was shifted from Machkhowa to Pamohi on the city outskirts. Accordingly, the GMC had selected a plot of 53.5 acres at Saukuchi for the new fish market.

The vegetable market was shifted after the Supreme Court rejected a petition filed by vegetable traders against the move. “The Supreme Court order mentioned that wholesale markets for supplying goods to Guwahati and elsewhere should be shifted to the outskirts or outside the city to avoid problems of traffic congestion, health and hygiene and pollution. At the same time, the fish market has to be developed and modernised for the interest of traders,” the order said.

The order said once the fish market is shifted to Saukuchi, the land vacated at Borsola Beel will be developed into an eco-tourism centre for recreational purposes.

“Under Section 30 of Disaster Management Act, 2005, the district administration is authorised to take any step for prevention and mitigation of any disaster and failure to execute the order will invite action under the act,” the order said.


http://www.telegraphindia.com/113021...p#.URh2CNtYWSo

[Sudden]

Dispur is planning to dredge the Bharalu to ease the city’s waterlogging woes.

Guwahati development department minister Ajanta Neog told reporters today that waterlogging had been identified as the number one problem plaguing the city.

She said the government had prepared a proposal for dredging the Bharalu which serves as the natural drainage system.

Describing Bharalu as the city’s lifeline, Neog said the government had proposed to dredge the river to increase its water-carrying capacity and erect fences on both sides of the river to prevent people from throwing garbage into the water.

Indiscriminate dumping of garbage has also choked Bharalu as a result of which during heavy rainfall excess riverwater spills over and floods the neighbourhood.

As most of the drains in the city have their outlets in Bharalu, when the river overtops there is backflow of water in these drains resulting in flooding of other areas in the city.

“We hope that dredging and fencing of the Bharalu will reduce waterlogging in the city to a great extent,” Neog said.

The minister said encroachment is another reason for reduction in the water-carrying capacity of the Bharalu.

“I have discussed the matter with the Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner and asked him to take necessary steps to remove these encroachments,” she said.

The Bharalu, which originates from the hills in Meghalaya, passes through the city before merging with the Brahmaputra at Bharalumukh.

Neog said the government would take up dredging and fencing of the Bharalu as a priority project.

“The proposal has been sent to the finance department for its approval and we will start work as soon as we receive the clearance from the finance department,” she said.

Neog said waterlogging has now become a chronic problem of the city and it will not be possible for the government to solve it without people’s cooperation.

“We need people’s cooperation to solve the city’s waterlogging problem. We can take up a project, but if someone moves the court against the project then it gets entangled in legal battle and its implementation gets delayed,” she said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/113022...p#.USXH1x2LCz4

[Sudden]

Clean, hygienic pork products from April

The Northeast’s first meat-processing unit here is all set to supply processed pork, apart from mutton and chicken, to residents from April this year.

The Pinecone Premium Meats unit was set up at Panjabari last March by the NEC Food Processing Pvt Ltd to diversify into the untapped business of food processing in the state.

The company signed an agreement with Assam Live Stock and Poultry Corporation Limited, an enterprise of the state government, for public-private partnership operation of their unused slaughtering and processing house for pigs, sheep and goats at Panjabari. The unit has a capacity of slaughtering 1,500 sheep or goat per shift of eight hours and 100 pigs per shift of eight hours.

It has also developed a unit to slaughter and process meat of 150 pigs per shift of eight hours to supply pork. The unit started supplying meat in March last year and its first year’s turnover is expected to cross Rs 1 crore.

“Now we are only supplying chicken and mutton. From April, we will start supplying pork under a separate chain of retail outlet — The Pork House,” said Bhusan Majumdar, general manager of NEC Food Processing Pvt Ltd.

At present, the Pinecone Premium Meats supply processed mutton and chicken through their chain of retail outlets — The Meat House.

The processing unit has 10 outlets at Kumarpara, Beltola, Bamunimaidam, Zoo Road, Six Mile, Hatigaon, Noonmati, Khanapara, Juripar and Chenikuthi.

It has also taken stalls on rent from GMC in five of their markets at Uzan Bazar, Ulubari, Kacharighat, Dispur Supermarket and Ganeshguri to open their outlets by April to make their presence felt at most important areas in the city. The unit has also tied up with at least 15 restaurants in the city to supply meat.

The unit has put up a stall at the five-day Mega Agri-Horticultural Show-2013 that is going on at Veterinary Science playground in Khanapara.

“The show has helped us to popularise our products. Every day our sales at the fair ground is around Rs 10,000,” said Majumdar.

“As of now, almost all our customers are from Guwahati. From April, we will focus on the districts in Upper Assam,” Majumdar said.

Mutton shammi kabab, chicken shammi kabab, chicken seekh kabab, mutton seekh kabab, mutton salami, chicken salami masala, mutton sausages, chicken sausages and chicken herb sausages are some of the products of the unit.

Majumdar said to make the city residents aware of hygienic meat they would launch an awareness drive soon.

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/113022...p#.UShmdR2LCz4

[sunny20rocky]

GUWAHATI, March 16: The government is going to expand the Guwahati metropolitan area in a well–planned manner. This was announced by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday at a press conference in Guwahati.

In the face of rapid increase in population in the capital city, expansion of the periphery areas is being considered on the lines of National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi. The Chief Minister said that a Planning Commission would be set up for the city’s expansion.

On Friday, officials of the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) had given a presentation before the Chief Minister regarding the expansion of the Guwahati metropolitan area.

Gogoi said, “The city is witnessing growth in an unplanned manner. The drainage system of the city is under threat. It has become necessary to carry out the city’s expansion in a planned manner.”

The Planning Commission, he said, will have experts as well as GMDA officials.

Indeed, Guwahati is expanding rapidly and is fast turning into a concrete jungle. The GMDA and the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) had earlier announced many plans to expand the city in a planned manner. However, even before any of these plans were executed, concrete buildings came up rapidly in the city. Buildings have come up in areas like Lokhra, Panjabari and Azara in no time and surprisingly, the authorities concerned have given permission for construction of these buildings. So although the government has announced yet another expansion plan for Guwahati, only time will tell how well this plan is executed.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister on Saturday also held a meeting with PWD, Water Resource Department, Guwahati Development Department and Finance Department officials regarding the problems of the city. He laid thrust on finding a solution to the problem of artificial floods in the city.


http://www.sentinelassam.com/ghy_cit...7&ppr=1#152982

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March 17: The Ahmedabad-based Centre for Environment Planning and Technology, which has been entrusted with the task of delineation of the Guwahati metropolitan region, has asked the GMDA to look into the prospect of a joint venture with government and private developers to create planned townships.

The suggestion was put forward during a presentation given by Utpal Sarma, project director, faculty of planning and public policy of the institute, before chief minister Tarun Gogoi and other GMDA officials recently.

The institute, which was selected after a competitive bidding process, has completed the draft exercise of delineation of the metropolitan region and has called for extending the GMDA boundary from 328 square km to around 1,700-2,000 square km.

It has also asked the GMDA to delineate a new area to accommodate around 2.3 million people by 2025 with all the required infrastructure and facilities.

There is a plan to develop some other towns like Morigaon, Jagiroad, Nalbari, Rangiya, Mangaldoi, Hajo, Chaygaon and Rampur, which will act as satellite towns with all facilities.

“Places like Jagiroad, Nalbari, Morigaon can be developed,” a GMDA official said, and added that the delineation of a new Guwahati metropolitan region can take care of the city’s housing problems for the next 50-75 years.

The official said a lot of serious thought has been put into the delineation process to minimise hiccups when the plan is finalised.

“The development of townships will need time and resources and there is no other way than to go for a joint venture. But the development of such a partnership will require a lot of work as a lot of issues will have to be discussed,” another GMDA official said.

He said there would not be any shortage of resources, as funds will be arranged through financial institutions.

“Since land acquisition is a time consuming and complicated process, the GMDA may go for land pooling system with active public participation. The authority may also create a land bank to take up development activities. We are not going forward in a haste with the plan and there will be public consultations before it gets notified,” he said.

Guwahati’s strategic location, connectivity and economic opportunities have fuelled the process of urbanisation to make it the biggest and most important city in the Northeast.

The city, during the past few decades, has witnessed unbridled expansion and a steep rise in population.

But the exponential increase in population and unplanned growth over the years has created enormous pressure on its environment, availability of land and infrastructure, which has resulted in a major crisis in the urban landscape in the form of disrupted natural ecosystem, annual flooding, absence of basic infrastructure and others.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/113031...p#.UUb1QtufhPE

[sunny20rocky]

March 26: The Guwahati development department (GDD) today formed a 13-member committee to study the new building bylaws of Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA).

The committee has been formed with the principal secretary to the state government, senior GMDA and Guwahati Municipal Corporation officials and four public representatives — former vice-chancellor of Gauhati University Nirmal Kumar Choudhury, consultant engineer J.N. Khataniar, Architect Association of Assam president Pradyut Morol and professor of Assam Engineering College Jayanta Pathak.

The members will study the new building bylaws of GMDA and also the delineation of the metropolitan area. The committee has been asked to submit the report within two months from today.

The GDD stopped giving building permission from June 11, 2012, on the plea that there would be a revision of the existing bylaws. However, in August 2012, only permissions for G-plus two residential buildings and all pending applications were cleared with some restrictions on construction at hill slopes and riverside.

The GMDA and GMC do not allow any permission for residential building above G-plus two and all other types of buildings till date as the bylaws are under process of revision.

The committee was formed a few days after the Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers Association (AREIDA) decided to move to the court against the non-clearance of permission for building construction.

The president of the association, P.K. Sharma, said the permissions were stopped without any valid reason. “We sent the state government several litigations and had several rounds of discussions with them but nothing happened,” he said.

The building bylaws, 2006, are under revision and the new bylaw will be based on the “carrying capacity” of a particular area based on a report prepared by Ahmedabad-based Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT).

The “carrying capacity” of a particular area represents the “road carrying capacity, infrastructure availability and land suitability” of that area.

Consultant engineer Khataniar, however, said two months were not enough to revise the bylaws. “Hopefully, the state government will extend the time,” he said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/113032...p#.UVJoVKztNPE

[India101]

NRL, Guwahati






3DpixelStudio

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Originally Posted by India101

NRL, Guwahati






3DpixelStudio

amazing updates

where it is coming up ?

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GUWAHATI, April 22 – The first monitoring and revision of the Master Plan 2025 for Guwahati Metropolitan Area are on.
The master plan is designed to provide an answer to the problems arising out of rapid population growth in recent years.

A road map would be prepared to identify the study area and its mapping and assessment. Besides, delineation of the Guwahati Metropolitan Area (GMA) will also be done.

The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), which is the implementing agency, has sought for expansion of its jurisdiction to facilitate and regulate development in further areas to accommodate the rapidly growing population.

The GMDA also vouched for delineation of a metropolitan region so that a comprehensive plan can be put in place for the Metropolitan region as a whole.

To accomplish work expeditiously, the authority had proposed to engage consultants to carry out statistical analysis of various parameters to delineate the expansion of GMDA and also to review and suggest revision as and when required.

As per 2001 Census, population of GMA was around 8.9 lakh which grew to 12.6 lakh in 2011. Further, Guwahati is likely to witness rapid population growth in future with an estimated population of 2.3 million in 2025.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/...apr2313/city07

[sunny20rocky]

SUMIR KARMAKAR
Guwahati, May 4: Guwahati development department minister Ajanta Neog today launched a Rs 11-crore project to restore the city’s five major waterbodies within the next three years to reduce the annual artificial floods.

“Blocking of natural channels of our waterbodies is the prime reason for artificial floods in the city and hence there is an urgent need to clear the channels. The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority has bought an amphibian dredger called Water Master from a Finland-based company, at a cost of Rs 6 crore while another Rs 5 crore will be spent on restoration of the waterbodies. We have set a deadline of three years for the restoration,” Neog said, while inaugurating the project at Silsako Beel.

The dredger, GMDA officials said, would be used to clear waterbodies and restore their natural channels to ensure the free flow of rainwater. Beels serve as natural reservoirs of rainwater but encroachment and dumping of waste has reduced their sizes, resulting in flash floods in the city. The areas of these waterbodies have been reduced to less than 50 per cent of their original area.

The chairman of GMDA and East Guwahati MLA, Robin Bordoloi, said according to the plan, Silsako beel will be dug up — three metres in depth and seven metres in width — in order to restore its natural channel, which drains rainwater into the Brahmaputra. “The dredger will also be used to restore the other waterbodies like Deepor Beel, Sorusola Beel, Borsola Beel and the Bharalu. Besides, there is a need to clear encroachment on our water bodies but the GMDA alone cannot do so because we do not have magisterial powers. The Kamrup (metro) district administration should take proper steps to clear encroachment,” Bordoloi said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/113050...p#.UYTa5KJxSGM

[sunny20rocky]

Guwahati, May 5: The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has undertaken contour survey and mapping to facilitate determination of a fixed road level for construction of plinths of buildings in the city.

The objective of the Rs 1.49-crore project is to prevent haphazard road/building construction and help mitigate waterlogging.

“This is a GPS (global positioning system)-based survey. It is being conducted to determine the elevation and slope of roads, bylanes and drains. Based on it, about 4,000 permanent benchmarks (pillars) will be established at convenient locations and they will serve as reference points for determining road and plinth levels (of new buildings),” M. Angamuthu, chief executive officer of GMDA, told The Telegraph.

The survey will cover 1,800km road in a 238 square km area of the GMDA. It will be conducted at a 30metre interval along all roads and junctions and salient points such as culverts and bridges.

Two private firms, Nezmap and Megastar, are carrying out the project on 950km and 850km road respectively.

The GMDA has an area of 328 square km under its jurisdiction. “The survey and mapping of the Guwahati metropolitan area (south bank) is expected to be completed by next month. Building permissions will be issued based on the respective levels denoted by the benchmarks and the process will be incorporated in the city’s masterplan subsequently,” Angamuthu said.

The project assumes importance in a city like Guwahati, which has seen real estate boom over the past decade but has also borne the brunt of waterlogging and artificial floods brought about by randomly raised roads and plinths of buildings.

The GMDA, on its part, had planned to take up the project last year but could not following a delay in the sanction of funds from the state finance department.

“The finance department had sanctioned the requisite funds for the project last month, following which we decided to involve two firms for completion of the project,” GMDA consultant Dalim Gogoi said.

To ensure protection of the benchmark pillars from damage and to prevent unauthorised removal in some areas, the authority has solicited co-operation from private property owners for allowing them to be put up on their campuses.

“The benchmarks on the campus of private property owners will involve a minimal area,” Gogoi said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/113050...p#.UYduU3caQlQ

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GUWAHATI, June 7 – North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) chairman Bidyananda Barkakoty today made an appeal to the Union Commerce Ministry to shift the Tea Board headquarters from Kolkata to Guwahati. In view of the Look East Policy of the Union Government it has become inevitable, he argued. Barkakoty was delivering a speech at the 16th biennial general meeting of the NETA held at the NETA Auditorium, Golaghat.
He also pleaded for inclusion of a chapter on tea, covering the issues like its health benefits and role in the economy and society of the State, in the school textbooks of Assam.

Barkakoty further pleaded for creating an atmosphere for making the Dibrugarh-based Small Tea Growers’ Directorate an independent body under the Union Ministry of Agriculture or Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the days to come.

He urged the State Government to provide adequate security to the tea executives.

Making a fervent appeal to the Union Government to declare tea as the National Drink of India, he suggested that tea should be marketed as a life style beverage with a slogan that it is a healthy beverage for all generations too.

Moreover, he said the Tea Board should make amendment to the definition of the small tea growers (STGs).

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/...=jun0813/at092