Heat and Construction

Administrative Building of NKDA

Last Monday, in course of the routine weekly site visit of teh new Administrative Building of NKDA now being built near Rabindra Tirtha, the workers omplained that day time sun was so hot that by mid-day work was getting almost impossible to do, that the steel rods were becoming so hot that one couldn't even touch it, let alone do work. So we decided to shorten daytime work-time and instead introduce evening-time works upto midnight. Today I received a photo from Sandip Ganguly, Executive Engineer NKDA confirming that late night works were in full swing:

Night shift works ongoing

NKDA is now housed in 3 buildings and work is increasing day by day. Introduction of Property tax will make more demands on office space. The works are being done by EIL, a Central PSU. The phase 1 will consist of a Basement, a Ground level car park and four stories. The foundation is however capable of supporting 10 floors and the building can be expanded upwards in future.
* * *
Clippings:

Dainik Statesman dt 10 May 2017

Khabar 365 dt 10 May 2017

Biswa Banga Gate : Construction on

Almost 24 hours of continuous work is progressing on the erection of the viewer gallery ring number one of Biswa Banga Gate. Works started at 10 pm yesterday and I along with Chief Engineer and GM(Engg) were there at site till midnight yesterday when after traffic block, the supporting steel frames were positioned using 'Hydra' cranes and tower crane. Today morning the huge 60 ton structure was lifted by 10 am but 5-6 hours and five cranes worked together to position the curved structure at the correct height and correct angle. Heavy stormy wind stopped the work for 2 hours and all workers and fitters were taken off the suspended steel-and-glass monolith. Welding of 7x2 ie, seven junctions at each of the two pillars started in the evening and is likely to continue throughout the night. The welded junctions need 12-14 hours to cool and gain the strength. I will go the the site at 10 am tomorrow with Chief Engineer to review the updated work plan for the other 60 ton arc-shaped steel structure
* * *
Clippings:

Millennium Post dt 9 May 2017

Times of India dt 9 May 2017

Khabar 365 dt 9 May 2017

Millennium Post dt 9 May 2017

"প্রাঙ্গনে মোর" , রবি অরণ্যে। ইকো পার্ক , ২৫শে বৈশাখ

Nazrul Tirtha 3: Pre-opening trial

We started today our celebration of Tagore Month today with the free screening of Kabuliwala at Nazrul Tirtha 3. This is a special hall that was rapidly assembled so that we could offer free screening to New Town residents without cutting down on commercial shows in Hall 1 (Bahubali2, awesome, the Sholey of this era !) or Bisarjan (and Galaxy etc). I was surprised to see the hall almost full and I mentioned that this room would be used for documentaries, short films, retrospectives, previews, good films that don't get release in box offices as well as film appreciation courses, film based events etc. We hope to complete the auditorium within a month from now and then it would be formally launched. I am already getting few feedbacks requesting for rental costs and the number of seats (would be 70-80)
* * *
Clippings:

Millennium Post dt 8 May 2017

Millennium Post dt 8 May 2017

Ebela dt 8 May 2017

Elevated Bagjola Canal Road at Jatragachi

Elevated Bagjola Canal Road at Jatragachhi

As you cross Hidco Bhavan and Convention Centre Site, you cross the Bagjola Canal across a short bridge while going towards Airport. On both sides of the Canal, on the northern bank, there is a Canal Bank road that runs through densely populated regions. Vehicles, three wheelers etc ply regularly, crossing the Biswa Bangla Sarani. There is a traffic police signal that stops vehicles to allow crossing of the Major Road.

To minimize traffic criss-cross and thus to reduce accidents, a flyover was thought of. Instead of elevation the 10 lane MAR, it was considered economical to elevate the east-west canal road instead. However, the connection could not be made across the MAR since long because the Metro line is aligned to go along the MAR too and so three levels would be required to segregate transport corridors: the MAR, the elevated canal bank road and the elevated metro railway track. The climbing capability of metro rail, the headroom of roads and the challenge of doing the erection of the elevated stretch with a "live" fast traffic on MAR posed challenges that could not be solved easily.
After a detailed study by an expert group, the dimensions were frozen and it was decided to use steel structures rather than concrete structures for the central portion of the flyover. A central pillar was constructed on the central median of MAR so that one-side traffic could flow even while erection works were to take place on the other flank.
To cause minimum problems, the shutdowns were taken at night times of two weekend-evenings. Works started from 10 pm last Friday and continued throughout the night on one stretch. Same thing was repeated next evening and today Sunday morning at 5 am the steel girders had been safely lifted on both flanks. Now remnant works on bearing, decking and joining will go on without disturbing the traffic on MAR. I expect the flyover to be operational by August.

10pm, Friday evening, on my iPhone

5am, today (Sunday) morning, Arup Ghosh's WhatsApp image

* * *
Clippings:

Anandabazar dt 7 May 2017

Dainik Statesman dt 7 May 2017

Millennium Post dt 7 May 2017

Khabar 365 dt 7 May 2017

Ei Samay dt 7 May 2017

Telegraph dt 7 May 2017

Asian Age dt 7 May 2017

Parallel Road to Biswa Bangla Sarani

At the Eastern end of Financial Hub, in front of Alia University, there is a broad major arterial road that was to serve as a parallel traffic route to connect Akankshya More to Tata Medical More. However, because of a long drawn litigation relating to a piece of land at Kadampukur (see map above) a 500 m stretch of road could not be built. After a long series of efforts, the legal issues were resolved and engineering work is now going on in full swing. I expect that the works will be completed within two months and then traffic would be released. This will ease the congestion in the Biswa Bangla Sarani running in front of Eco Park, and we will not have the traffic woes faced on Dec 25 / 1st January due to overflowing visitors of Eco Park. Residents of Action Area 2 would now be able to go quickly to Action Area 3 without having to travel through Narkelbagan junction. Ecospace,  DLF-2, TCS and Unitech as well as Amity University and Alia University can now reach more quickly to the airport, once the road is opened to traffic. Here are two photos:

The disjointed section a week ago

The same section on last Wednesday

From my car on Sunday

* * *
Clippings:

Ei Samay dt 6 May 2017

Ei Samay dt 6 May 2017

Millennium Post dt 6 May 2017

Telegraph dt 6 May 2017

Khabar 365 dt 6 May 2017

Times of India dt 6 May 2017

Dainik Statesman dt 6 May 2017

Bike Taxi reviewed

Yesterday, I invited both the Bike Taxi operators (K Bike Taxi and One Man Taxi) and reviewed various aspects. For K Bike Taxi, after the initial fortnight, about 1,400 rides had taken place. Availability of qualified women bike taxi drivers was a problem: there weren't any at the moment but expected soon.  There was a demand for some few bike taxi stands and after discussions we agreed that NKDA would build bike taxi sheds at first rotary (opp bus stand on Nazrul Tirtha stand), near Pride Hotel crossing, near bus shed at Narkelbagan, near Alia University bus stand, opposite City Centre 2 and opposite Axis Mall. But both operators wanted the jurisdiction extended to a larger area. Today I wrote formally to the transport department recommending that the bike taxis could ply in Sector 5 too.

* * *
Clippings:

Millennium Post dt 4 May 2017

ToI dt 4 May 2017

ToI dt 3 May 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j1juz8ApbE&feature=youtu.be

Japanese Restaurant opens in Eco Park

Eco Park is gradually becoming a food lover's park too. Cafe Ekante, run by Hidco, has unique Bangla and Chinese food in a house boat, moving boat, lawn, jetty and glass restaurant. It also has banquet facility and cottages. There is Wow Momo, Korean Chicken and Muglai Khana at different locations. There is an exquisite Tea Lounge run by Andrew Yule who also runs a tea stall. A Tea Trove stall and Leaves-n-Aroma  serve different varieties of tea. Biriyani hat, Mughal-e-Azam, Mother Dairy and ARD Department Stalls are big draws too. Bangla Snack Counter, fresh fruit juice and roll corner are  new additions. And the latest, the much awaited launch of Japanese Food by Fuji Restaurant  has just happened: yesterday was the first day for the public and there is a great interest for the Yakitori, Tempura, Khushiage, Karaage, Gyoza and other delicacies.
* * *
Clippings:

Khabar 365 dt 1 May 2017

Khabar 365 dt 1 May 2017
(No glass, however, broke. But crane developed a fault in its oil pump)

Millennium Post dt 1 May 2017

Aajkal dt 1 May 2017

http://zeenews.india.com/bengali/kolkata/eco-park-new-town-in-kolkata-is-enlisted-as-only-world-class-park-from-india_166238.html

http://www.banglahunt.com/eco-park-newtown-green-wall/

Culture Hub: Now Book Release too

Prasanta Majhi, Purabi Basu, Tarun Goswami, Me

Now Book launches too. At Swapna Bhor, New Town. Like Oxfordbookstore in Park Street / New Delhi and many other places, with the initiative of Prasanta Majhi, we had the first book launch ceremony at the library of Swapna Bhor.
The library of Swapna Bhor design was influenced by the Oxfordbookstore in the Stateman House Building at Connought Place, Delhi. There are large clear glass walls along which comfortable chairs are placed for quiet reading with a picturesque view of outside. There is a coffee shop too and new books for reading and buying. There is, in addition, a lending section and a stock of daily newspapers and magazines.
The book release made last week was a travelogue by a member of the Swapna Bhor called "Amar Dekha Deshguli" by Purabi Bose. Mr Tarun Goswami of Millennium Post released it. I highlighted that there could be more such events. This would merge well with our overall architecture of positioning New Town as an alternative to Nandan-Rabindra Sadan- Academy of Fine Arts- Rabindra Sarovar with Najrul Tirtha - Rabindra Tirtha - Swapna Bhor - Wax Museum - Art Exhibitions and Poetry Festivals . And now book releases too.
* * *
Clipping:

Times of India dt 30 April 2017