Hampi and New Town: Photo Exhibition

I went to the Indian Museum for the opening ceremony of photographic exhibition om "A Tale of Two Cities: Hampi and New Town". Hampi is in Karnataka. I distributed a few brochures on New Town and tried to say that New Town won't go away like Hampi as we are laying a great deal on emphasis on sustainability, on greenness, on renewable energy, on recycling resources and not depending on ground water.

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Clippings:

Telegraph dt 17 April 2017

Times of India dt 17 April 2017

Millennium Post dt 17 April 2017

Pratidin dt 16 April 2017

First named street

The street leading to Judicial Academy in Action Area III was named as Durgadas Sarani. A new signage has been put up by NKDA to indicate this. The new-age signboard is a Wayfinding sign: the walking minutes and a map are also indicated for benefit of pedestrians
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Clippings:

Asian Age dt 16 Ap 17

Times of India dt 16 April 2017

Poila Baisakh 1424

We had a series of events today Poila Baisakh 1424 at New Town:
1. Morning at Najrul Tirtha: Commemorating Jamini Roy. Shiboprasad Roy, grand son of Jamini Roy was present. A 45-minute documentary on Jamini Roy by Deboprasad Roy (another grandson of Jamini Roy but who was unable to come)  was screened at Hall 1.

2. Launching of a speed boat at Eco Park

3. Celebrating one year of Boat House of Cafe Ekante, cake cutting and folk songs

4.  Cultural function at Najrul Tirtha's Open Air Theatre in evening

5. Song by Rupankar and contributory dinner at Business Club

6. Launching a Bangla Calendar through a song and fashion show at Eco Island

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Clippings:

Millennium Post dt 15 April 2017

Ei Samay dt 15 April 2017

Dainik Statesman dt 15 April 2017

Game Fishing

Game Fishing, or catch-n-release angling competition was held with great success today.

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Clippings:

Salt Lake Telegraph dt 14 April 2017

Dainik Statesman dt 14 April 2017

Felicitation to New Houses

At Rabindra Tirtha today 13th April 2017: felicitating new home builders
Photo Courtesy Supriya Bagchi

Last year August, at a meeting in Najrul Tirtha, we'd invited owners of vacant plot owners of Action Area 1 of New Town and requested them not to keep their plots vacant for long. We also announced that those who sanction their building plans by December 2016 would be felicitated. We did this as promised at Rabindra Tirtha today. We invited 90 such plot owners, both from co-operatives as well as individuals. We presented a certificate, a box of sweets, a basket of organic vegetables and a pass for two persons for any film show at Nazrul Tirtha within a month. This was followed by a dance programme by troupe of Amita Datta.

After the event and before the cultural function, I interacted with the invitees. Most appeared quite happy to be part of New Town in a short time soon. They appreciated the beauty of New Town, the Eco Park, the Nazrul Tirtha, the Wax Museum, the ongoing Kolkata Gate, the Seniors' Park, the swaying lights, the organic shop, the cheap markets of Atharatala Bazar and many, I was surprised, asked about the 75 plots now under application stage (till 30 April). I, on my part, invited them to Jamini Roy tribute on Poila Baisakh:

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Clipping:

Millennium Post dt 13 April 2017

Exhibition Space at Eco Park

Near Eiffel Tower today morning

The Milan Mela Ground near Science City hosts several exhibitions starting from Kolkata Book Fair to Gems and Jewelry Exhibition. The Ground is, however, likely to be taken up for a renovation because of which for a year or more the space may be unavailable to organisers for exhibitions. At New Town, we have hosted large exhibitions on Mining Machinery, Foundry Exhibition etc. These were held in the exhibition ground outside the ticketed area, entering through Gate 1. With more and more inquiries pouring in, we have decided to further expand the exhibition area. A decision to proceed with the plans of expansion was taken in the last Board meeting of Hidco held on 30th March 2017. Today, we marked the commencement of work of phase 1 of the expansion (widening and strengthening the road from Gate 1 to Eiffel Tower site) by doing a Bhumi Puja. Tender for Phase 2 has also been invited.
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Clippings:

Khabar 365 dt 12 April 2017

Times of India dt 12 April 2017

Aajkal dt 12 April 2017

Khabar 365 dt 12 April 2017

Sculpture Garden on History of Bengal

This will open soon in Eco Park. First phase in a month or two. Light -n- Sound, after that.
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Clippings:

Dainik Statesman dt 10 April 2017

Aajkal dt 11 April 2017

Ei Samay dt 11 April 2017

Pre-Monsoon Inspection

All senior officers of Hidco, NKDA and PHE (New Town Circle) went around in a bus together around New Town to inspect jointly the roads, plots and ongoing works in general and advance works regarding canal renovation in particular. Canal renovation is required to ensure that water-logging does not occur during monsoons. We identified the vulnerable spots and made PHE / NKDA / Hidco engineers responsible for maintaining specific stretches. We also identified one stretch of road in Action Area 3 which has to be made concrete as outfall drainage cannot be done for technical reasons and concrete is much more resistant to water than bitumen. We also identified the link canal of Action Area 1 (that leads towards Home Town) to be given a facelift by PHE. We also identified certain stretches of the main road where footpaths have to be made afresh after metro has completed the work, so that people don't have to negotiate muddy terrain when it rains heavily.

We started at 1130 am and returned to Hidco Bhavan at 1330 am.
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Clippings:

Asian Age dt 10 April 2017

Aajkal dt 10 April 2017

Millennium Post dt 10 April 2017

Khabar 365 dt 10 April 2017

Khabar 365 dt 10 April 2017

Times of India dt 10 April 2017

Save Earth

At New Town, we took a resolution at NKDA Board recently that all, repeat all, street lights will be controlled by on-off timers so that no street light wastes energy at day-time. Yesterday, we achieved it. I got a certificate in writing from the Chief Engineer of NKDA and Chief Engineer of Hidco that all street lights of New Town have been connected to automatic on-off timers. 

We have also installed some pilot motion-sensor switches in Hidco Bhavan that switches off room lights automatically if no human movement is detected for 15 minutes at a stretch. We saw a presentation by a Korean Company that makes plug points with AI (Artificial Intelligence) that studies patterns of electricity consumption over a period of time and minimises power consumption. More importantly, we have asked electrical staff not to switch on room AC machines in the morning before the officer enters the room. 

At Sector 5, we have commissioned a study to evaluate cost implications of replacing all existing street lights with LED lights. We have asked IIT to make a comprehensive transportation plan that puts the person-commuter at the centre, with emphasis on non-motorised roads (for cyclists and pedestrians) and diet roads. Nabadiganta (NDITA) will also join the Earth Day on 21st April and plans to organise a cycle rally on Independence Day this year.

NDITA will participate too

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Clippings:

Khabar 365 dt 9 April 2017

Khabar 365 dt 9 April 2017

Khabar 365 dt 9 April 2017

Millennium Post dt 9 April 2017