TCS Group doing "Go Green" in Eco Park

At Eco Park: 29 Aug 2017

The GE Group of TCS New Town today had a march, street play, procession and banner display to create awareness on environment at Eco Park. They started at Gate 1 and after a round of the park staged songs and street play near station of toy train near Gate 2.
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Clippings:

Ei Samay dt 29 August 2017

Millennium Post dt 29 Aug 2017

Fintech Hub

Hidco Board decided in its meeting last Friday to open part of Finance Hub in New Town as Fintech Hub. FinTech or financial technology has emerged as a relatively new industry in India.[1] FinTech is an industry comprising companies that use technology to offer financial services. These companies operate in insurance, asset management and payment etc. The Financial Hub in New Town has 21 financial institutions participating. The SBI Management Institute is expected to be inaugurated in September 2017
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Clippings:

Khabar 365 dt 28 Aug 2017

Millennium Post dt 28 August 2017 

Public Bicycle Sharing Scheme : Notice Inviting Expression of Interest Invited

New Town is a model green city in the making. After a study by IIT Kharagpur, many kilometres of grade-separated exclusive bicycle tracks have been built in Action Area 1 (from East Enclave/ Box Bridge to Eastern Highs/ Bus Terminus) and Eco Park (from Gate 1 to 4).

Now New Town is trying for a public bike sharing scheme (or rent-a-bicycle) to be done by any private partner to be qualified through a transparent process. Yesterday's Board Meeting of Hidco also endorsed the idea. Even before, a notice inviting Expression of Interest from interested private players was published at https://nkdamar.org/Tender/50222308.pdf on NKDA's website.

We would prefer cycles with a dockless model that are GPS enabled. NKDA will only charge a minor parking fee for using any designated car parking lots.

New Town and Nabadiganta have been encouraging cycling for covering short distances. Various events in New Town and Sector 5 have been held in association with cycle federation of India and others - the latest being Corporate Cycling Competition at Sector 5.  Battery operated golf carts and e-scooters/three-wheelers are also encouraged. Electric buses are also being procured.
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Clippings:

Ei Samay dt 27 August 2017

Millennium Post dt 27 August 207

Times of India dt 27 August 2017

Roller Skating in Clock Tower

The Clock Tower Plaza is becoming one of the most preferred destinations for roller skating in Kolkata,
            Roller skating needs a smooth large surface. The Kota stones around the Clock Tower of New Town provide an ideal zone for roller skating practice and competitions.

The Tower Plaza was created as a public space for people to take a break from shopping expeditions in Central, Axis Mall, Jagdish Store etc. Benches facing the tower are placed throughout the boundary fence, much like the chowrasta / mall in Darjeeling. However, the area has been a favourite of roller skaters for practice and competition - one can go round and round in circles.
When the arena was closed for few weeks some time ago, I received many representations and some even came up to my office in groups to allow school kids to practice for their tournaments.
Recently, NKDA has allowed limited access @Rs 30 per entry for half a day for roller skating practice.

The Golf Driving Range in Eco Park is already proving to be  a good draw. Now the Clock Tower also promises to be a good practice zone for roller skating enthusiasts. New Town also has facilities for cricket (stadium at AA2), football (stadium at AA1), Swimming/dart/billiards/snooker/tennis/basketball/gym (at New Town Business Club). More are on the way.
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Clipping:

Times of India dt 26 Aug 2017

Millennium Post dt 26 Aug 2017

Trade Certificate and Property Tax in Sector 5 (NDITA)

CERTIFICATE OF ENLISTMENT

The Certificate of Enlistment is issued subject to the provisions of Section 118 of The West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993.

Anybody involved or planning to get involved in any profession, trade or calling within the area of Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) must obtain a Certificate of Enlistment or get the same renewed annually.

With an objective to provide better service, the License Department of the NDITA  has been fully computerised and the services are available online. The application forms for Certificate of Enlistment (new/ renewal) are available in the official website of Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (www.ndita.org). Till now (24-08-2017), around 560 Enlistment Certificates have been issued by this Authority for the current year i.e 2017-18.

Presently NDITA is following the guidelines issued by Dept. Of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs vide there Memo. No. 496 dt 25-07-2017 for Issuance and Renewal of Certificate of Enlistment and are issued/renewed with submission of minimum documents such as ID proof and lease deed/legal occupancy/rent agreement/rent receipt.. Though as per the Right to Public Services Act, 2013, 25 days is allowed for issuance of CE, NDITA disposes CE cases within 7 working days, in some cases CE were issued in 3 working days also.

Apart from issuance of Certificate of Enlistment, NDITA has taken initiative for proper assessment and collection of Property Tax dues for the Assesses of NDITA. The process of Property Tax assessment is also fully computerised and the services are available online. The services include online payment through payment gateway, printing of bill & printing of payment receipt.  The property tax Collection of NDITA for Q1 of FY-2017-18 has increased seven time in comparison to collection for Q1 of FY-2016-17. (FY-2016-17(Q1) Rs.2.70 Crore and FY-2017-18(Q1) Rs.14.76 Crore)
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Clippings from Salt Lake Telegraph dt 25 Aug 2017:

ANIMATION ACADEMY

Animation and Visual Effects (VFX) industry bears exceptional promise of growth, supported by the latest technological advancements. It is steadily gaining acceptance, with the Indian talents poised to rub shoulders with their global counterparts. The Government of West Bengal in the IT & Electronics Department plans to set up an Animation Academy, which will train more that 300+ animation professionals annually. An 8,500 sq ft campus in Sector V Salt Lake has been earmarked by Webel. A notice inviting expression of interest has been published recently inviting applications from experienced partners.
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Clipping:

Dainik Statesman dt 23 Aug 2017

Seniors' Mela

For the first time, a pre-puja mela will be organised by Swapna Bhor in association with Dignity Foundation. Scheduled to be held on the first weekend of September. Because of the rainy season, this will be held indoors, on the first floor banquet halls. The members of Swapna Bhor and Dignity Foundation are quite enthusiastic and are busy organising and creating awareness. About 35-40 stalls will be there including one by Cafe Ekante, Mother's Wax Museum etc.

Meanwhile, I had a review yesterday of the Snehochhaya being constructed now at a site just opposite to Swapna Bhor. Hidco Engineers, Consultant Architects (M/s Pace Consultants), Mackintosh Burn Ltd, Hitachi AC engineers and others were present. We are trying to make a demonstration unit before the Pujas whereafter we will launch the scheme. Already many inquiries are being received and we hope to be able to give possession by next year. Meanwhile we have published a notice inviting Expression of Interest from service providers (see http://wbhidcoltd.com/uploads/tender/Tender_1685.PDF ) , the last date being 31 August 2017.
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Clippings:

Aajkal dt 20 August 2017

Khabar 365 dt 20 Aug 2017

Anandabazar dt 20 August 2017

Millennium Post dt 20 Aug 2017

Bartaman dt 20 Aug 2017

Digital Disruption

At ITC Sonar, 18 Aug 2017

Was chief guest at seminar today at ITC Sonar called "Digital Disruption". It was organised by Public Relations Society of India.

I made the point that by Massive Open Online Courses like Udacity etc, our young graduates should re-skill themselves to overcome and harness the post disruption world to be dominated by AI, robotics and the like. I mentioned that we must inculcate a spirit of innovation and creativeness by introducing and encouraging start-ups from high schools and colleges. I gave example that while our yellow taxi drivers may lose their jobs in the era of driver-less cars but as in an aircraft on an autopilot, there would be a manual override for many many years to come and drivers would have to re-skill themselves to control AI enabled robotic drivers. Co-Founder of Techno India Grup Ms Manasi Roy Chowdhury agreed to introduce start up courses in her institutions in due course.
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Clippings:

Tel dt 18 Aug 17

Independence Day celebrated

At Hidco Bhavan: 15 Aug 2017

At Drone Flying Arena, Eco Park, 15 Aug 2017

At NKDA

At Eco Park, Gate 2, 15 Aug 2017

This is what we had today:
10 am : Ami Subhas Bolchi, at Nazrul Tirtha (Free entry; 80+ school children saw)
10.30 am: Flag hoisting at Swapna Bhor (by JMD)
1pm- : Buffet lunch at Cafe ekante
2pm: Flag Hoisting at Hidco
2.15pm: Flag hoisting at NKDA
2.30 pm: Inspection of decoration at Eco Urban Village and Rabindra Tirtha
3pm: Flag hoisting at Eco Park Gate 2 and accepting salute of security guards
3.30pm: Inspection of Speed Radar, drones and drone flying with live song at Eco Park
5pm: Inspection of decoration at MWM
6pm: Manipuri Dance at Rabindra Tirtha
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Clippings:

Times of India dt 15 Aug 17

Khabar 365 dt 15 August 2017

Ebela dt 15 Aug 2017

CCC

Sunday last, 13 Oct 2017 : Green and Clean India. CCC (Corporate Cycling Competition) held at Nalban Park, Ring Road Nabadiganta. First ever Corporate Cycling. Minister Firhad Hakim flagged off. MLA Sujit Bose was Special Guest. Chairman NDITA (Debashis Sen), Chairman NASSCOM (Kamal Agarwal), Chairman Sector 5 Association (S Radhakrishnan) and others were special guests. There were more than 300 participants on the Sunday morning. Events were (1) Fast cycling (2) Slow Cycling and (3) Fun Cycling. Even (3) was non-competitive. Fast cycling track was ring road, Technopolis, Bowlers' Den, Nicco Park, Ring Road, Nalban Park near SDF Building / Fire Station (see attached photo). Inaugural song was by Ms Jhinuk Gupta of Pankaj Mullick Music and Art Foundation. The whole event was organised by NDITA (Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority). to Promote Clean and Green India.

This was the first ever Corporate Cycling Championship is organized at Salt Lake Sector V in association with Cycle Network Grow, West Bengal Cycling Association, Salt Lake Sector V Stakeholders’ Association, and NASSCOM.

Some of the companies who are participating Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, IBM, Accenture, Capgemini, IXIA, mjunction, Wipro, Infinity, PwC, TCG Digital and many more.
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Clipping:

Millennium Post dt 12 August 2017

Drone Flying on 15th August

On 15th August.
Morning 10am: Free film show for school children at Nazrul Tirtha at 10 am (Ami Subhash Bolchhi). Special Independence Day Buffet at Cafe Ekante at Eco Park. DRONE FLYING EXHIBITION at Eco Park (3pm) where drone enthusiasts, and police drones will be exhibited. There will also be an exhibition of items used by police for law and order maintenance for creating public awareness. National Anthem will be played at the end by a local live band.
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Clippings:

https://reportcoverage.wordpress.com/2017/08/13/ndita-organized-corporate-cycling-championship-to-promote-clean-and-green-sector-v/

Times of India dt 14 August 2017

Millennium Post dt 14 August 2017

Aajkal dt 14 August 2017

Khabar 365 dt 14 August 2017

Video Conference with PM; Meeting on Metro

This evening, 9th August 2017, we remembered 9th August 1942, the start day of Quit India movement through a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. All states and districts participated. At Nabanna, in the Video Conference Room, Chief Secretary led the team of few secretaries including myself, ACS (ICE), Pr Secy (Irrigation), HS etc.
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Metro, RVNL, Transport, Police, Hidco, NKDA, NDITA meeting at Hidco on 9 Aug 20

At Hidco, today afternoon, we held a meeting as scheduled with Police (Gyanwant Singh IPS, CP Bidhannagar and DCs, ICs), Transport (Alapan Bandyopadhyay IAS, ACS Transport, Narayan Nigam IAS, MD WBSC), RVNL (ED) , Hidco Engineers, Metro Railway, CEO NKDA, EO NDITA etc to streamline traffic flow and road side beautification and drainage etc with a view to the ensuing Youth Under 17 games, Festive Season and BGBS 2018. Many longstanding issues were solved (Entrance to Novotel road would be upgraded, unecessary materials on medians and roadflanks would be removed, signages would be displayed, traffic diversion would be finalised after joint inspection etc). A committee headed by CP would monitor periodically.
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Clippings:

http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/traffic-management-roadside-revamp-goals-before-extravaganza-257085

Ebela dt 9 August 2017

Millennium Post dt 9 August 2017

Times of India dt 9 August 2017

Times of India dt 9 August 2017

Millennium Post dt 9 August 2017

70th Independence Day

Independence Day Buffet at Cafe Ekante:
Promotion Graphic

Free movie show at Nazrul Tirtha

We held a meeting yesterday to discuss about how to celebrate 70th Independence Day at New Town this year. Here it goes:
12-15 August: Independence day tricolours on all lights where options are there for changing colours.
!5 August:
9 am - 10 am: Flag hoisting at Hidco, NKDA, Swapna Bhor, Business Club, Eco Park
10 am:            Free movie show at Nazrul Tirtha
1 Pm onwards: Independence Day Buffet at Cafe Ekante
2.30pm:           Drone flying exhibition and band
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Today was 22she Shraban. We had morning songs (7am) at Upasanasthal, opening of 3 week long exhibition of Jamini Roy paintings at Nazrul Tirtha, start of paintings on metro pillars with Jamini Roy paintings and Ceremonial Plantation at Rabindra Tirtha along with cultural function. Few pics:

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Clippings:

Millennium Post dt 8 August 2017