Kolkata News

[niljee]

More flights to Bangkok on cards
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: Connectivity to the Thai capital is expected to get a fillip from December 1 when AirAsia introduces daily flights between Kolkata and Bangkok, with the prospect of increasing the frequency to twice daily in six to eight months.
With Thai Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and Air India Express already operating between Kolkata and Bangkok, the addition of AirAsia’s daily service is set to spark a fare war. Experts in the travel trade industry predict a fierce dogfight over the Bay of Bengal as airlines slash margins to corner market share.
AirAsia, that reduced its frequency in the Kolkata-Kuala Lumpur sector from daily flights to thrice-a-week, is betting big time on Kolkata-Bangkok route. It will reportedly begin the onslaught with a return fare of Rs 5,000, promising that its highest fare would be at least 20% cheaper than legacy carriers at all times. At present, the average return fare to Bangkok is around Rs 11,000.
“We are targeting 80% load in the Kolkata-Bangkok sector within two months of starting our service. There will be 25-30 low-fare campaigns a year. In some of them, a million tickets will be doled out free as part of the endeavour to enable every individual to fly. No matter what the competition offers, we will better it,” AirAsia CEO Tassapon Bijleved said on Wednesday.
Taking into account all airlines, some 600 seats are on offer daily and the number is expected to go up to 800 seats when AirAsia starts service with the 180-seat Airbus 320.
With Air India Express likely to withdraw flights from the sector this month-end, an official of a leading tour travel firm said, “There is room for more flights as potential for business and leisure travel in the sector is huge. We expect a major fare war from November-end.”
Thai deputy consul general Sukoom Somprasonk also said, “Last year, over 1 lakh people travelled between Bangkok and Kolkata. But there is scope for a lot more travel and we are facilitating the process by offering visa on arrival and waiving the visa fee.”

[sidney_jec]

so this means we will see a lot more honeymooners ending up on the beaches of Pattaya rather than Goa or Kerela. Good for them

[SamitB]

PRIVATE MONEY
Gee Pee in talks to raise 100 cr

Sutanuka Ghosal ET KOLKATA
LOW-COST handset maker Gee Pee Mobiles is seeking private equity capital of 100 crore to set up a new assembly unit and expand retail networks across the countrys booming mobile phone market.The firm plans to offload 20% of promoters holding to private equity firms within December this year.Currently,founder Bijay Agarwal holds 100% stake in the company.We are in active discussions with more than one PE firm.We hope to clinch the deal within a couple of months, said Mr Agarwal.
Budget handset markets have been on a fundraising spree in the past few weeks.Gurgaon-based electronic devices maker Olive Telecommunications is also in talks with private equity funds to raise around 150 crore to fund its expansion plans,according to sources in the private equity industry.Olive makes devices like mobile handsets,netbooks and wireless routers.
Mobile device sales in India are forecast to reach 138.6 million this year,a rise of 18.5% over 2009 sales of 117 million units,according to Gartner Inc,which estimates that by 2014,end user sales will surpass 206 million units.Several Indian companies are jostling for a share of this pie by selling locally branded models which are sourced from manufacturers in China and Taiwan.This has created a shake-out in a market dominated by multinationals like Nokia,Samsung,LG and Motorola.Domestic players have now garnered a 14% share in this market for the last two years,reported telecom journal Voice & Data.
This has presented PE players with an opportunity to tap into the growth of this market.Micromax,which leads domestic handset market with a 4.1% share,has raised around 400 crore in funding from TA Associates,Sequoia Capital,Madison India Capital and Sandstone Capital earlier this year.
Out of the 2.5-3 million handsets sold in India per month,low cost handsets comprise about 65%-70 %, said Sandip Biswas,director,Deloitte,a consulting firm.He feels the surge in low cost handset market is due to the look and feel of these handsets.The low cost handsets will revolutionise the mobile market in the country in the coming days. Gee Pee has set up its own multi-brand retail outlets under the brand name Mobile Bazaar which is making handsets available in 17 states of the country including Karnataka,Kerala,Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Were also in talks with Al Abbas Group of UAE to distribute our handsets in African nations and Middle East countries.Al Abbas is a leading player in retailing and distribution of a wide range of products, said Mr Agarwal.
The company also plans to set up a handset assembling unit in West Bengal at a cost of 300 crore on a earmarked plot spread across 150 acres.The next stage is to set up a telecom park in the state.We are in talks with the West Bengal government on the telecom park.Our upcoming assembling plant in the state will be an integral part of this park.We will import SKD (semi-knocked down) units from China and assemble there, Mr.Agarwal said.
The company is aiming a 1,000 crore turnover in FY11.It has started exporting handsets to Nepal and Bangladesh.Plans are also afoot to export handsets to Middle East.Our focus is entirely on the rural market.We had decided to launch 25 models in FY11 across different price categories and some of them have already hit the market, he added.

[niljee]

Originally Posted by SamitB

PRIVATE MONEY
Gee Pee in talks to raise 100 cr

Sometime ago there was a news on Shyam Telecom trying the same - a telecom park in Kolkata. Never heard anything about that ever since.

Btw. what is a semi knocked down unit? Refurbished units?

[niljee]

KOLKATA CALLING
City on radar of China’s largest private airline
Subhro Niyogi | TNN

Kolkata: China’s largest private-owned carrier is planning to touch down at Kolkata airport sometime early December. Hainan Airlines Co Ltd that owns a fleet of over 150 aircraft and operates chartered services as well as scheduled domestic and international services on 500 routes from Hainan and nine locations in China, is keen to operate three flights a week between Kolkata and Shenzen in southern China’s Guangdong province.
Officials of Hainan Airlines are currently camping in the city to negotiate for appointing a general sales agent and ground handling firm. According to sources, the carrier representatives held talks with both Air India and Bhadra International for ground handling and met several travel agencies keen on being appoints its GSA. The carrier officials also met top officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI) in Kolkata on Thursday.
At present, China Eastern Airlines operates five flights a week between Kolkata and Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in southern China. With the flights operating at capacity loads, other Chinese carriers, including Air China, have been exploring the sector. Hainan Airlines officials had been to Kolkata a couple of months ago for preliminary discussions and are now eager to start flights soon.
Though ties between China, the last major Communist power, and West Bengal, the longest surviving democratically-elected Communist government in the world, has come rather late in the day with the power of the red brigade waning in the state, business and leisure travel from Kolkata to China has been on the rise in the past couple of years.
Moreover, the exposure to region following the commencement of China Eastern Airlines flight two years ago has encouraged Chinese business to venture into Kolkata and other cities in the region. For Bengalis bitten by the travel bug, the O ly m p i c s held in China in 2008 proved the perfect springboard to open Oriental destinations that had till now remained unexplored. China Eastern flights have been absolutely packed since.
With Asian Games scheduled in November at Guangzhou, China, Hainan is keen to catch the fervour in the wake of India’s strong showing at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Delhi. But sources said it would be difficult to get all the requisite clearances to meet the November 11 deadline and that December was a more realistic timeline for the airline to fly into Kolkata.

[niljee]

Still quiet on the waterfront

Devjyot Ghoshal | 2010-10-23 00:40:00

Elaborate plans exist to redevelop the banks of the Hooghly in Kolkata, but little has been done. Why the stalemate? Devjyot Ghoshal investigates

The political winds of change in West Bengal carry with them hope for the Hooghly. The river, central to the British city, has gradually fallen out of favour. The once-vibrant riverfront, centre of a bustling riverine trade, has decayed into a disfigured sliver of land marked by unplanned and illegal growth, pockmarked by crumbling warehouses and jetties. All but a handful of the old ghats, each of which has its own history, are in disrepair.

For decades, the West Bengal government has made attempts to breathe life back into the east bank of the river. In 2003, a report prepared by British organisations including Alan Baxter & Associates, English Heritage, HTA Architects, the London Rivers Association and Urban Space Management, suggested a 45-point programme for a short stretch of the Kolkata waterfront.

The group suggested that the old warehouses along Strand Road be redesignated as heritage buildings and restored to serve new uses, and that other key buildings be protected, to reinforce the historical urban form of the area. The consultants also called for the beautification of the east-west streets to improve pedestrian links between the waterfront and the nearby Central Business District, and for extending Millennium Park, on the waterfront near Howrah Bridge. They urged the creation of a heritage-led design framework in which the Hooghly waterfront would become the centrepiece of a wider revitalisation.

Unfortunately, not much came of it.

Now, however, hope is rekindled. The Trinamool Congress (TMC), West Bengal’s main opposition party, is in control of four administrative agencies crucial to the implementation of riverfront projects — the Union ministries of shipping (Mukul Roy), railways (party chief Mamata Banerjee), urban development (Saugata Roy), and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

Landlocked
The first seminars and workshops on saving the riverfront were held in 1997. In 2003, organisations including the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), KMC and the UK’s London Rivers Association (LRA) were called in by the state government. The LRA came up with its prescription, but progress is very limited. Just one proposal from the LRA list was implemented: the Millennium Park on the Strand.

People involved claim that the KoPT showed little enthusiasm. The KMDA, which implemented the Millennium Park project, says its plans depend on the port trust freeing up land. As per rules, the port trust has to sanction any development on the 47.5m-wide strip of land along the river. "KoPT is the owner of the land, so they must give it to us," says a KMDA official. Asok Bhattacharya, West Bengal’s minister for urban development, also blames the KoPT. "The problem," he says, "has always been with the port trust."

Regime change
The TMC seems to have found a way around this deadlock. It took the initiative soon after sweeping the municipal polls in June this year and formed a new KMC board. The party also brought together the KoPT, KMC and the Railways-controlled infrastructure consultancy RITES to enter into a memorandum of understanding for the "beautification" of the riverfront.

RITES will create a detailed project report (DPR) for a 10 km stretch of the riverfront from Cossipore in the north to Khidderpur in the south. "Delhi’s School of Planning and Architecture has been roped in to create a concept plan, which it will submit in about two months. After that, we will take another month to prepare a DPR," a RITES official says. RITES is also working to see how much land is available, the official adds, and identify existing plans that can be merged with the new blueprint.

Why the TMC is so eager to beautify the riverfront is unclear, but it seems to be part of Mamata Banerjee’s programme to turn, as she says, "Kolkata into London".

Potential problems
The RITES undertaking is seen as the first study of the Hooghly riverfront that involves all stakeholders.

It will not be an easy report to produce. Some roadblocks are already up. To begin with, not much of the 10 km waterfront is open space. Many of the city’s 48 ghats are located here. "Access to the ghats is difficult as there aren’t broad approach roads to them," says the RITES official. "There are unauthorised structures and illegal encroachments. We won’t be able to do much unless the encroachments are removed."

And any plan overseen by the TMC will not have an easy time with the Left Front-led state government. "There isn’t any problem with preparing plans. I am happy to do so, but the state government will have the final say," says Bhattacharya.

Earlier this year there was some consternation when Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh turned down Mukul Roy’s request that National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) funds be routed through KoPT instead of the state government, which Ramesh felt was doing well. West Bengal has got Rs 105 crore under the NGRBA for river-related works, including developing the riverfront.

A small success
Amidst the stalled plans, the river tourism initiative of the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) provides a glimmer of hope, especially for the private sector.

Vivada Inland Waterways, which runs cruises along the river, has seen traffic from Kolkata increase by 40 per cent year-on-year. "Last year we took about 2,000 overnight tourists and another 20,000-25,000 for day cruises," says R Sushila, executive director of Vivada.

State tourism minister Manabendra Mukherjee says the response is "very encouraging". The WBTDC, together with the West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation, is building 12 new jetties across the state, at a cost of over Rs 20 crore, for private and public sector operators. This will be especially useful to players like Vivada, which now operate out of their own jetty.

With infrastructure in place, the river could become a substantial revenue-earner, and some of it should prove useful in financing the riverfront regeneration plan.

Funding formula
RITES officials are reluctant to spell out estimates, but sources indicate that a minimum of Rs 200-300 crore is required. KMC commissioner Arnab Roy says all options, including Central funding, will be looked at. "There will be a dovetailing of schemes [for] renovation of ghats and other such projects. Once the concept plan is created, we will have to identify which parts can be developed under PPP [public-private-partnership] and those that will have only government funds," he says. For its part, KoPT says it is open to commercial utilisation of its properties along the riverfront.

It remains to be seen whether the winds of political change in West Bengal can turn the tide.

[niljee]

IIM Calcutta: A Student's Perspective
Friday, October 22, 2010
By Bikramjeet Sra


I do not know what was the one thing that impressed me most about IIMC before I joined it. It could have been the lake and trees environment or it could have been the round the clock tennis. It was certainly not its reputation for producing managers who can do a quantitative analysis of the Bengali psyche. And after spending a year and a half in this livewire campus, I still cannot decide what I will treasure most.

If a MBA is all you want to do, any management institute anywhere will suffice. But one does not spend the best years of one's life working hard to join an institute that will impose a burden of more courses that will bring back the painful memories of school and college. To the best of my knowledge, IIMC does offer some courses (a particularly conscientious friend of mine has confirmed that there are enough courses to keep one profitably employed for many years) in various disciplines. That brings me to something very important to all IIMCians and something they are very touchy about - Discipline.

The one thing that I have learnt with great difficulty here is that discipline is something that comes from within and cannot be imposed through rules that curb freedom to think and act. IIMC embodies a healthy mix of fierce independence and tolerance. Infact, it actually teaches that. Another thing that can leave an outsider spellbound is the autonomy students exercise in running and improving the impressive IT infrastructure, among other things. That should not lead one to suspect that everyone here is master of his or her destiny and can get up without assistance in the morning, if he does get up after spending the whole night playing games('IIMC's Sepak Takraw' or Footer Volley, as it is called here, is very popular), dancing to the latest pirated songs, or reading all night class notes on Stochastic Processes. But no one is surprised when these revelers and players end up scoring the highest marks in the exams.

Friends who go to the Lecture halls never fail to express the strong feelings they have about members of the teaching faculty. The best thing about them is that most have adapted to the needs of the programme. Completing a course on something most students have not studied at all in their lives in 10 weeks and doing it with passion and effectiveness is something that wins the respect of students and IIMC has arguably the most respectable group of professors in every area. The consultancy work done by them is as inspiring as their teaching style. Our lecture halls are not as detested as elsewhere because they are also the venue for some of the most interesting interactions with exceptional people from the fields of education, business, art and sport.

We have our institutional biases and our rigid beliefs about tradition and rituals but we can rise above them. The strength of IIM Calcutta lies in its wonderfully diverse bunch of students, who are capable of rising to every challenge with trademark chutzpah and who never forget the debt they owe to the invigorating environment and culture that the institute has evolved.Initiatives mooted and executed entirely by students such as the Internet Solutions Group, which is responsible for website maintenance and intranet communication and the i2I business plan competition, which attracts huge international participation, add to the enviable reputation that the IIMCians have earned for their independent thinking, highly competitive streak and versatility.

If you think IIMC is laidback, come to the campus and we will show you the weakness of your perception. The other day, I met the mother of a student doing a soul stifling MBA. The first thing she said when she heard about my institute was "You guys have all the fun." I wish surveyers included a parameter called 'Mom's Perception' when they decide the B School rankings. Not many institutes can boast of having clubs with members who can actually take out time from the gruelling academic schedule to go trekking and water sporting on weekends and who, in their spare time, plan about scaling Mt. Everest. Or of having a thriving student exchange program that confirms the ability of its students to take on the best in the world and thrive.

Our Kweej Club wins more quizzes and the gifts that go with the wins than what is considered healthy. Our music bands spend more nights entertaining us than what would be considered normal for the ears. The gifted individuals who belong to these subunits of IIMC would not have it any other way and neither would we. I know of well intentioned people who still think that IIMC can become more formal by doing more of the formal things which everyone else is doing. That can be done with some effort but who wants to be just another B-School?

IIMC may be an island of excellence but it is not unaffected by the culture and business climate of the great metropolis called Calcutta. The biggest challenge it faces is to change faster than the pace of development around it and to maintain its preeminence in providing sound professional training that meets the requirements of the increasingly connected economy. The past few years have seen a quantum improvement in infrastructure and with ever growing support from alumni and the corporate world, IIM Calcutta is perfectly placed to set even more exacting standards of achievement.

[Bong-Connect]

Every Government of the day has some limitation in fully uplifting the society. Genuine NGOs spread evenly across the breath can fill the void and add the desired balm to those needy and the poor making them socially empowered. Let thousand flowers blossom. Here is my blog link as my 2010 Durga Puja Greetings showing DETAILS OF NGOs to the interested volunteers and prospective donors for Bengal
http://bengal-socio-financial-study....from-home.html

[niljee]

JLR plans expansion with Tata Motors’ help
Pankaj Doval, TNN, Oct 25, 2010, 04.52am IST

NEW DELHI: British luxury brand Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plans to increase presence in India and will tap parent Tata Motors for assistance in areas like logistics and service support.

"The brands have been picking up volumes fast," Rohit Suri, head of Tata Motors' Premier Car Division, said. JLR sold 242 units in India last fiscal and this year the brands are doing "several times better" , Suri said, though refusing to divulge exact numbers sold so far.

"With expansion of our network and products, we will gain further volumes here," he said. The company is in the process of ramping up dealerships in India, apart from looking at local assembly of some of the Land Rover models. "We would be expanding to newer cities and this should give us a wider spread. We are currently present at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ludhiana and plan to end this fiscal with about eight to nine dealerships." The new cities lined for entry include Bangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad .

Local assembly of Land Rover will also give the company much more elbow room to price the products competitively by lowering tags. This is expected to start next year. According to sources, Tata Motors will assemble the Freelander 2 in India, which is currently the lowest-priced Land Rover model here and has an exshowroom price tag of Rs 33.5 lakh in Delhi. Local assembly will see the cumulative duties on the model going down by around 50%, bringing down its cost by a few lakh of rupees.

Suri said the company could also tap parent Tata Motors for help in certain segments.

[arijeetb]

Mamata’s Rajarhat punch ready for Deb

Calcutta, Oct. 24: Mamata Banerjee today announced a land protest in Rajarhat, Calcutta’s upcoming hotspot where housing minister Gautam Deb is seen as trying to match her flag-off frenzy with a project blitz.

The railway minister will lead a march of farmers in Rajarhat on November 13 to protest allegedly forcible land acquisition and denial of compensation relating to the New Town project and other plans.

“Over 25,000 farmers will participate in a padayatra on November 13 to protest forcible acquisition of their land. Many of the farmers have been denied compensation. I will have to help them get justice,” Mamata said this afternoon at her Kalighat residence before leaving for Delhi.

An official of the Housing Infrastructure Development Company (Hidco), which is developing many of the projects and comes under Deb’s department, expressed fears that the agitation might hit ongoing plans.

“Besides the proposed financial hub (announced earlier this month by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) on 300 acres, a central business district on 500 acres and a mass housing scheme comprising 20,000 flats on 150 acres are coming up. We fear the rail minister’s agitation might affect work in these projects,” he said.

Trinamul sources said Mamata had planned the protest to corner Deb, who has tried to project her as a stumbling block for the state’s development drive. He has also complained that she hasn’t turned up for many project openings despite being invited by his department.

“Mamata’s Rajarhat march and the wider agitation will be like the ones she waged in Singur and Nandigram. It is aimed at exposing the housing minister. She is unhappy at the way Deb is out to scuttle her efforts to score over the Left by flagging off rail projects,” a Trinamul general secretary said.

Other leaders said the large turnout for yesterday’s march by the railway minister to demand the withdrawal of joint forces from Maoist-hit areas had spurred the Rajarhat offensive.

“The entire area from Bidhan Nagar to Beliaghata (through which the march was held) is represented by CPM MLAs Rupa Bagchi and Manab Mukherjee, the state minister for tourism. A large turnout at yesterday’s rally was indicative of our steady consolidation in the CPM bastion,” said Trinamul president Subrata Bakshi.

Asked to react to Mamata’s agitation, Deb said: “The rail minister is most welcome in Rajarhat. I have tried to bring Mamata twice to flag off my programmes there. Now she is coming here on her own. If she calls me to the talks table to address the problems of farmers, I would be glad to attend. At least, this would send a message that the Opposition and the government should work in tandem for development.”

The ugly woman is rearing her head again by planning a singur style agitation in Rajarhat!

[kolkatarocks]

I already knew such an agitation would come up ,when the financial hub was announced. We can't hope of any development until the next election takes place!

[SarafIndian]

Bangladesh hopes to emulate Kolkata townships

2010-10-27 21:20:00

Kolkata, Oct 27 (IANS) A Bangladeshi delegation, led by the country's minister of state for housing, is on a three-day visit to study the city's satellite townships and hopes to emulate the Indian example.

The eight-member team, led by Abdul Manan Khan, arrived in Kolkata Oct 26, and held a meeting with West Bengal Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya Wednesday.

'The delegation will visit the satellite township at Rajarhat-New Town Thursday. Today they visited Salt Lake City. They will see the infrastructure development in these areas,' a Bangladeshi official told IANS.

The delegation is scheduled to visit a township in Burdwan district as well, the official added.

'In our country also, we are making satellite towns. That is why our delegation has come here to see the satellite towns,' said Kazi Moshtaque Zahir, first secretary (press) of Bangladesh' deputy high commission.

The delegation is also scheduled to call on state Housing Minister Gautam Deb Thursday.

[SarafIndian]

Life-saver at Euro airports from Indian innovator

S Kalyana Ramanathan | 2010-10-29 01:51:00

Kromek, the Durham (UK)-based technology company founded and headed by Kolkata-born Arnab Basu, has received the official European Union certification to provide its colour x-ray liquid detection system to all European airports.

By April 2011, liquid items will be allowed on board if the appropriate security measures are in place at the airports concerned. The results of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC)-led trials prove the technology is ready to allow the 2011 regulatory deadline to be met by the airports. By April 2013, the ban will be lifted completely, allowing the carriage of liquids on flights across Europe.

The company is also in talks with the Indian civil aviation sector and hopes to have the the new product in place at Indian airports by the first quarter of next year. Kromek’s bottle scanner has qualified as a Category-B device (scan every single bottle without opening), that has achieved Type-1 (lower threshold to detecting threats) and Type-2 (higher threshold) 100 per cent capability and been officially tested, verified and authorised by ECAC. As of now, all EU airports are free to buy and implement Kromek’s bottle scanner product. The product, from drawing board to its final version, took a little over two years and was developed by a team of 55 at Kromek. It can handle up to the size of a two-litre Coke bottle and by itself measures three-fourth of a metre by three-fourth of a metre.

Next-gen technology

"It’s a significant milestone for Kromek, as the approved listing is vindication that colour x-ray detection has been proven," said Arnab Basu, CEO. "The next generation of X-ray technology has arrived, with a market-ready machine that can detect liquid threats." He said though Kromek was essentially a tech company, it had also rolled out a manufacturing strategy, with the setting up of a 25,000-sq ft production facility at Durham to produce up to 5,000 units of the new bottle scanner. Kromek’s revolutionary technology signals a new era in colour x-ray detection and a market-changing development in aviation security.

"The threat from liquid, aerosol and gel-based explosives became apparent in August 2006, following discovery of a plot to use such devices aboard multiple transatlantic flights. Although Kromek had not set out to produce such equipment, we were quick to realise with our capabilities that we had the versatility to produce a solution for this market need," said Basu.

Kromek, he says, is planning to soon announce a similar breakthrough in cancer detection technology. "We see ourselves as a life saving and life enhancing technology provider," he added.

[niljee]

Vidyasagar Setu: LED there be light
After years of neglect, iconic bridge to be lit up
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: Vidyasagar Setu, more popularly referred to as the second Hooghly bridge, is an iconic piece of architecture. The cable-stayed suspension bridge has the potential to rival the famous Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.
But unlike the more famous structure, which is a major tourist destination and features in several Hollywood movies, Vidyasagar Setu lies in near oblivion. Apart from the initial euphoria over the architectural marvel, there has been no effort to highlight the bridge that connects the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah. Indeed, it is nowhere in terms of mind-recall when compared to the famous Howrah bridge or Rabindra Setu.
Now, after over a decade of neglect of the bridge melting into the darkness after sunset, Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) has kickstarted an initiative to accentuate the bridge’s beauty after dark. The agency responsible for the bridge’s upkeep has appointed Bajaj Electric to do the lighting with stateof-the-art LED lamps. The firm recently lit up the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai.
Acknowledging that the bridge had not been lit up for years, state transport minister Ranjit Kundu said it would be a refreshingly pleasant sight when the LED lamps are switched on once the job is executed. Incidentally, the bridge is in crying need for a coat of paint as it has never been repainted since its inauguration in 1992.
The bridge’s four pylons or pillars — each 123 m high — will be lit up, as will the 457-m span. But it is the illumination of the 121 cables that support the bridge that promises to turn the bridge into a sparking jewel. LED searchlights will be used for the illumination.
The under-deck of the bridge, over which six vehicle lanes rest, will also be lit to offer a spectacular view to people viewing it from either banks or from boats beneath.
Three colour schemes have been identified — red, blue and yellow — apart from the white light that is commonly used. “At the moment, it is very traditionally lit, with little use of colour lights,” said an HRBC official. Though the initial cost of illumination is 4 crore, since energy-saving LED lights will be used, the recurring cost of electricity will be low.
Bajaj Electricals chairman Shekhar Bajaj said the job would be done in two phases, with a flank being taken up in each. “It will take just over a year to complete lighting the entire bridge,” he said.
Incidentally, Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) had got Howrah bridge illuminated around two years ago. The state tourism department also has plans to illuminate key landmarks like the Nakhoda mosque, Town Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral and Dakshineswar temple with LED lamps.

[niljee]

Chinese donate 50L for temple facelift
Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey & Monotosh Chakraborty | TNN

Kolkata: Achipur, a hamlet on the banks of the Hooghly, is just like any other Bengal village. But 300 years ago, this village, 30 km from Taratala, bustled with activity and was dominated by the Chinese. This was the first Chinese settlement in the country. Not a single Chinese can be seen here today, though. But every Chinese New Year’s Day on February 3 and for the rest of that month, Achipur turns into a mini Chinatown. Thousands gather at the Chinese temple here, especially on Sundays, to usher in the new year. This year, members of Kolkata’s Chinese community have pooled in nearly 50 lakh to restore the temple and build boarding and lodging facilities for the community.
East India Company documents show that a Chinese trader called Atchew Tong sailed into the village in the second decade of the 18th century and settled down. Others soon followed him. Atchew started a sugar plantation attached with a mill. The documents dating back to the governor generalship of Warren Hastings state that Atchew was a wealthy sugar trader who was permitted to operate from a vast tract of land off Budge Budge.
No trace of the sugar mill that Atchew ran successfully with at least 100 Chinese men and women remains. However, the “earth and fertility” temple that he built way back in 1718 still remains, though it has badly needed conservation and restoration for a long time. Its roof has developed cracks and leaks, damaging many of the tiny prayer rooms arranged in two rows on the sides of the main temple. Last February, members of the Chinese community, primarily from the Gee Hing Church at Tangra, gathered at the temple and decided that donations would be collected so that the temple could be saved and other facilities built. Word soon spread and Chinese people not only from Tangra but also from near Tiretti Bazar came forward to contribute.
Work on restoring the temple is now on in full swing. A bamboo scaffolding supports the centuries old roof as portions get repaired and conserved. Conservation architects have been roped in for the job. Even the floor had been damaged because of damp and is being completely being done up with expensive marble. “We are extremely happy that people have come forward and donated freely so that we could organise the restoration and conservation on such a grand scale. While the church initiated the project, it is actually a community project. It is our oldest landmark and we have deep respect for the place and the temple, which is also special in nature,” said S K Au, a spokesperson of the committee that is looking after the restoration.
The sanctum sanctorum of the earth and fertility temple consists of two gods of ancient origin — Thuti Kung and Thuti Fo. Thuti in Chinese means the Earth and the temple is rooted in the Chinese tantra cult. Locals, who are mostly Muslims, call it the Khuda-Khudi temple and revere it. Even the caretaker is a local Muslim villager, who would tell you that Chinamantala — as the place around the temple is called — is feared and respected by locals because of the magical powers of the temple.
“The two gods are older than the temple and Atchew Tong brought them with him from China. At the temple, you will also find the old Chinese custom of fortune-telling through sticks. Our priests live in the temple for the whole of February so that the community members can get their fortunes read through traditional play of sticks,” explained Au.



The Chinese temple at Achipur, which is being renovated; the deities in the sanctum sanctorum

[sidney_jec]

Originally Posted by niljee

Vidyasagar Setu: LED there be light
After years of neglect, iconic bridge to be lit up
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

[niljee]

IndiGo set to become largest airline operating from city
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: IndiGo Airlines is set to become the largest carrier operating out of Kolkata when it increases frequencies to Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Agartala by the middle of next month.
The Kolkata-Ahmedabad flight on the afternoon of November 18 will mark its 29th daily operation from the city to 16 destinations. Incidentally, the airline is already the largest operator in seven of the 22 destinations it flies to and Kolkata will be the biggest market as the eastern metropolis is one of its hubs.
Pointing to the rich dividends the airline has accrued out of the Kolkata hub, IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said the carrier had recorded an average passenger load factor of 85%, higher than its national average of 81%. “The load factor out of Kolkata is the highest among the three hubs that we have. We will consolidate our operations out of Kolkata with more frequencies to existing destinations and add new connections,” said Ghosh, adding that the airline hoped to hike the number of daily flights from Kolkata to 35-36 by 2011-end.
While the airline currently flies directly to 16 destinations out of Kolkata, it plans to connect Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Raipur, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Goa, Bagdogra and possibly Port Blair within a year. Also on the anvil are international flights from the city to Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur in southeast Asia, Dhaka in south Asia and south China.
Emphasizing its intent to offer more frequencies in sectors that it currently operates to, the official pointed out that it already operated five flights to Delhi, three to Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Guwahati and two to Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Agartala. By the next month-end, frequencies to Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Agartala will increase to thrice daily.
In the past 12 months, IndiGo has recorded 91% on-time performance for flights out of Kolkata with a technical despatch reliability of 99.95%. “These simple factors have made us the most reliable and popular carrier. The challenge is to ensure that the level of service is maintained as our operations get enhanced to 207 daily flights by this year-end,” the official added.

[niljee]

Merc launches 'Proven Exclusivity'
India Blooms News Service

Kolkata, Oct 29 (IBNS): Pioneer luxury car brand Mercedes-Benz launched its global pre-owned car business called 'Proven Exclusivity' here on Friday.

This programme utilizes specific global benchmarks for vehicle evaluation, quality and warranty to offer Mercedes-Benz certified pre-owned cars to customers.

"Comprehensive evaluation and refurbishment criteria, scientific tools for audit and inspection as well as manufacturer backed warranty go into the making of certified 'Proven Exclusivity' vehicle, the dream of owning Mercedes-Benz thus becomes even more achievable," Debashis Mitra, Director Sales and Marketing, Mercedes- Benz India, told at the press conference.

"At the same time customers can also drive in their existing vehicles and drive out with their new Mercedes-Benz cars utilizing the trade-in route under 'Proven Exclusivity'," he added.

Mitra also mentioned that the Mercedes-Benz aims to achieve 10% of the new car sale through the route of used cars in this year and ultimately reach the figure of 15% in years to come.

"The luxury car industry is growing by 63% mark, year and year and Mercedes-Benz is lucky to grow by 80% in the past 9 months," he mentioned.

He also mentioned that the company is now paying more importance to the Tier-2 cities of India.

"We are giving more importance to Tier-2 cities, the contribution of these cities are 30% in the past 2 years," he said.

Earlier,The 'Proven Exclusivity' programme was launched in four cities in India-Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad, and in the past four months 400 cars have been sold.

"The success was extremely high and in four months we have sold 400 cars under Proven Exclusivity," Mitra said.

Mitra also added that Kolkata has 'overgrown percentage wise' as far the growth rate of the luxury car business is concerned.

'Proven Exclusivity', Mercedes-Benz pre-owned car programme operates in 35 countries at present.

[niljee]

Facelift to tackle space crunch at airport
TNN, Oct 31, 2010, 06.43am IST

KOLKATA: Queue up to enter the airport. Queue up before baggage X-ray machines. Queue up again at check-in desks. And then join a serpentine queue to undergo security check. Jostle with fellow passengers to grab the elusive seats at the security hold lounge. Walk into the stinking washroom at your own peril.

The domestic terminal at Kolkata airport, one of the best in India till less than a decade ago, now resembles a railway station. The airport director is candid enough to admit that there are days when it is worse than a station platform, with three times the passenger pressure that what the terminal is equipped to handle.

But passengers will have to bear with the situation for at least a year more. For the airport staff, it will get more challenging as they attempt to fit more flights and passengers in a space that is already terribly cramped. It is only around the end of next year when the `1,600-crore integrated terminal opens that the space crunch will ease and, with it, most of the problems that currently dog the airport.

For the record, the domestic terminal has been handling over 13,000 passengers daily in recent weeks when it had been built for 5,000 passengers. This year, the domestic passenger count is expected to touch 9 million against the terminal capacity of 4 million. The new terminal will be four times larger than the existing one, enough for passengers to saunter in and out without bumping into each other for at least five to seven years more.

But what happens till the state-of-the-art steel-and-glass facility becomes operational? Are airport officials working to ease the congestion by utilizing the available facility to the hilt? Do passengers land in terminal chaos everytime they arrive at Kolkata airport?

Airport director R Srinivasan says his men have already stretched the facility at the domestic and international terminal to the limit. But they haven't called it quits. "Kolkata should have had a new terminal. Once the upgrade is complete, the congestion will disappear. But during this transition period, we have to handle the phenomenal traffic growth within the constraint. We are constantly innovating and will continue to do so," he said.

For starters, the facade of the domestic terminal has been extended into the foyer, adding 1,096 sq metre of floorspace for passengers. Inside, more space would have been added had the in-line baggage X-ray system commissioned fully. That would have removed the bulky registered baggage X-ray machines.

A switch to common user terminal equipment (CUTE) would have rationalised the number of check-in desks without affecting airline efficiency. But that hasn't happened, either, as airport officials and airline staff aren't willing to risk teething problems associated with migration to a new system at a time when the situation is extremely challenging.

What both have agreed to do instead is operate some domestic flights, particularly during the morning and evening rush hours, from the international terminal. "During the morning rush hour, there is spare capacity at the international terminal while the domestic terminal is packed to the hilt. We are trying to bring in operational flexibility by utilizing the spare capacity at the international terminal to meet domestic needs," said Srinivasan.

While this move is sure to ease the pressure at the domestic terminal, passengers point to lack of basic facilities like ATM counters and mobile handset chargers. "What does it take to provide chargers at the security hold, now that passengers are asked to check in and clear security check early?" said Imphal-bound passenger Ratan Singh, who had to catch an early morning flight and didn't have time the previous night to charge the phone.

"We will provide more charging points for phones and laptops," the director said, adding that the ATM issue would soon be resolved with Citibank setting up a kiosk at the international terminal and a second bank joining ICICI Bank that operates the sole ATM kiosk at the domestic terminal.


Read more: Facelift to tackle space crunch at airport - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...#ixzz13xbYVAbf

[niljee]

Kolkata hub of global car racket
Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, TNN, Nov 1, 2010, 05.07am IST

KOLKATA: The city has become an international hub of stolen cars and bikes. The fact came to light after city detectives busted two well organised rackets, which ran an almost parallel industry' of stolen automobiles.

Because of its geographical position, Kolkata and its fringes have become a major transit point for vehicles stolen in Southeast Asian nations.

A few months ago, Singapore Police started following a trail that originated in Kolkata. They arrested a suspect in Singapore. During interrogation, he confessed to shipping a stolen Perodua car to Kolkata, said a source in Kolkata police. The consignment was meant for a Nepalese citizen, Nilendraraj Shrestha, in Kathmandu, say sources.

Singapore Police alerted the Kolkata Police detective department through the Union home ministry.

The beige-coloured Perodua, without number plates, was intercepted by the detectives as soon as it reached the Kolkata Port.

The suspect in Singapore revealed that he had smuggled at least seven Perodua cars to Kolkata, said a source. "Those cars had reached other countries by road, making it impossible to recover them," said an official. Sources said, the Perodua would have fetched the gang Rs 12 to 15 lakh if it had reached Nepal. While Singapore Police is on the lookout for three key suspects named by the arrested racketeer, Kolkata Police is trying to track down members of the cartel in Bengal.

The Perodua car sent police into a tizzy. The raids carried out so far reveal well organised rackets that can produce every bit of document required for selling a stolen car or two-wheeler as a new one.

"So far, we had only come across gangs that smuggle stolen automobiles across the border to Bangladesh. Their modus operandi was uncomplicated. But the two Singapore-linked rackets we busted back-to-back had a complicated network. Right from remodelling the automobile to producing an array of documents, like the bluebook, registration smart card, licence smart card, tax token and fitness certificate, the gangs had thought of every-thing," said an investigator.

The documents are so well designed and the seals look so genuine that even an expert would pass the vehicle as genuine one, say sources. "They used hot-metal impressions to change the engine and chassis numbers," the official said.

The detectives have traced a link of these city based motor-theft rackets to Anil Chauhan of Dispur in Assam, who was recently arrested by Meghalaya police. Chauhan is instrumental in smuggling out stolen cars and motorcycles of premier range to other countries, say sources.

Police have so far arrested two dozen members of the racket, including a specialist mechanic, an expert in forging documents, experts in printing and scanning and even sales persons' who finally sell the remodelled automobiles to customers at prices lower than the show-room tag but much higher than that demanded by the average motor-theft racket.