Development

Writers Sunil Gangopadhyay and Shankha Ghosh and painters Jogen Chowdhury, Ganesh Haloi and Dipali Bhattacharya are among the founding members of KIF. While one wing of the foundation will be housed inside a heritage building located in Belgachia, the other flank will be located off EM Bypass near Kalikapur, where the foundation has bought three bighas of land. KIF members had approached chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for land, which he made available at a subsidized rate.

The heritage building that is in the process of being handed over to the foundation, is the 58-room palatial Dhurjoti Dham at Belgachia, belonging to the Mullicks. The owner of the building, Sailen Mullick has been associated with the foundation for quite some time.

"We will protect both the interior and the exterior of the building which will be a complete repository of the Bengal School of Art, right from the days when painting just meant pattachitras. We hope to exhibit rare paintings by masters like Rabindranath, Abanindranath, Nandalal Bose and Jamini Roy mostly from private collections. Since almost all the top painters of the city are also KIF members they have pledged their own works," said Dipali Bhattacharya, KIF member and head of Government Art College.

Important components of Howrah project

• Integrated and covered passenger concourse for buses

• Rigid pavements at bus stands

• Waiting areas for commuters and pedestrians

• Improving the traffic situation on the adjoining roads of the station

• Pay-and-use toilets for commuters

• Installation of vending kiosks

• Landscaping, beautification and relocation of statues

• Illumination, high mast lamps, new pumping station

The development project of the station area includes setting up of a modernised bus stand that can house 85 Kolkata-bound buses, 30 Howrah-bound buses, 12 long distance buses and 10 more buses.

An autonomous body, set up by the Union Ministry of Education and Culture, BITM will set up the park to exhibit dinosaurs that existed million of years ago. The project, which has been funded by NCSM, will be built on one acre of land and exhibit 10 different species of dinosaurs in three different phases of history. BITM has already started working on modeling the artifacts, and is expected to open the park for the public before Christmas.

"The park will be the first of its kind in Digha. Though we already have a small science centre with a dinosaur corner, under this project, we will come up with a park solely dedicated to an exclusive scientific experience," said BITM Director Jayanta Sthanapati.

The three periods that saw the existence of dinosaurs were the Triassic period (248 to 206 million years ago), the Jurassic period (206 to 144 million years ago) and the Critaceous period (144 to 65 million years ago).

Two corporate parks are coming up in Salt Lake, with all these modern facilities - one over 4.3 acres and the other over 0.25 acres - for which a whopping Rs 400 crore is being pumped in. With service and financial sectors looking for more and more office space, the state government realised that a cluster of office space would become essential, said a senior official of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Sector V is full of IT companies, therefore there is a huge demand from other sectors, which are also keen to get office spaces in and around Kolkata.

"The concept of corporate office complexes is changing all over the country. A modern space must include sprawling retail outlets, stationary shops, halls for business meets and conferences, internet cafes, apart from health spas, clubs, coffee shops and restaurants. There is also need for sufficient greenery in every big complex, apart from sufficient parking space. The complex must be self sufficient for the corporate offices to function, so that those working do not have to step out for anything," the official added.

Babulal Kerketta, the divisional railway manager (DRM) of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR)'s Katihar division, said the 1km-long potholed road to the station here would be repaired soon.

"We have decided to take up the construction of the road. Also, the electronic signalling system at the Buniadpur station on the Eklakhi-Balurghat route will be completed within three months," the official, who was on a visit to Balurghat yesterday, told journalists.

The NFR has also planned to arrange for drinking water on the platform in Balurghat -- passengers have to face the absence of drinking water regularly -- within a couple of weeks. "We have decided to extend the existing platform by another 100 metres and are contemplating plying more goods trains on the route," Kerketta said.

The decision was taken after Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) chief engineer A.K. Mehra announced at a joint meeting with police and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) that the port trust will neither maintain the ghats nor make any arrangements for immersion.

"The river banks belong to the CPT but the ghats were not constructed by it or by the CMC. They were built by zamindars and businessmen of the British era. We have started giving a facelift to select ghats. In order to ensure public safety, we have also decided to maintain them," said municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

A sum of Rs 1.10 crore has been allotted for the maintenance of the 22 ghats between South Sinthee and Garden Reach. The broken stairs and changing rooms will also be repaired.

Idol immersion is allowed in 13 of the 22 ghats, including Bichali ghat, Kashi Mitra ghat, Babughat, Judges ghat, Ahiritola ghat, Nimtala ghat and Jagannath ghat, by the police.

"We are working on a rehabilitation package for other industries on the pattern of Singur. We will take it forward after Durga Puja," State Chief Secretary Sabyasachi Sen told PTI on phone.

Amid reports that the state government was working on new rehabilitation package for Singur, Sen clarified that it is a general rehabilitation package and not directed at any particular project.

Reports from Singur quoting Hooghly District Magistrate Neelam Meena said that altogether 70 farmers took the enhanced rehabilitation package in the last two days. The land of 2,000 farmers have been acquired for the Tata Motors project at Singur.

"Altogether 25 farmers took their compensation cheques in the last two days -- 13 today and 12 yesterday," Meena said.

The Rs 45-crore project undertaken by the proprietor of Apeejay Surendra group include reversing the aging effect of the building, correcting the stress imbalance caused by a fire in the early 1990s, creating a two-level parking facility in the compound and a Louvre-type steel & glass destination zone above the parking lot.

"The most ambitious part of the project is to utilize the central courtyard of the U- shaped building to create a two-level underground car-park and a contemporary space on the surface. The plan is to utilize the space for an open-sky restaurant, coffee shop, library and art gallery," said architect Dulal Mukherjee, the man in charge of the project.

Developed by Armenian jute merchant TM Thaddeus in 1910, Park Mansions was constructed as a rental property with mixed-usage comprising both residential and commercial segments. The building, spread over 5 bigha, had a central courtyard and a garden. The architecture is a mix of Victorian and Indo-Saracenic style, with a bulbous dome on the roof, a British interior with a touch of Indian on the façade.

"The specific dates have not been fixed as yet. But it is expected to start soon," said Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who was on a personal visit to Kolkata.

On Tuesday, the minister said that the Bhoomi puja will be conducted sometime during the Durga Puja.

The Thai-Indian consortium ITD- ITD Cementation India Limited (ITD Cem) was awarded the tender for the modernisation of the airport, as it quoted the lowest price among the four bidders.

The project involves the construction of a new integrated terminal building to handle 20 million passengers. It is due to be commissioned by 2011.

Industrialists and the district administration have decided to set up industries in Raghunathpur, 60 km from Purulia town ~ an area close to Burnpur and Asansol. The presence of a panchayat dam further facilitates the setting up of industries in the area. Meanwhile, the Damodar Valley Corporation has already started construction work at their site.

The Jai Balaji Industries Limited is also ready to start construction work for their giant project. Earlier, even ten months after the foundation stone laying ceremony, they had failed to start work, because they were unable to acquire the required land, which delayed the project.

They are now planning to invest Rs 16,000 crore in a 5 million tonne integrated steel plant, a 3 million tonne cement factory and a captive power plant of 1,215 megawatts on 3, 800 acres of land at Durmut, Raghunathpur.

Another big unit, the Adhunik Group of Industries is also ready to start the construction work of their grand project.

"The rehabilitation and resettlement package was determined by consensus after numerous meetings with concerned area representatives as well as representatives of all political parties," Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb told reporters at the state Secretariat Writers' Building.

The aerotropolis project is being developed by a special purpose company, Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL).

BAPL has entered into a joint venture development agreement with West Bengal Industrial Development Corp Ltd (WBIDC), for developing the project that includes an airport, an industrial zone including an IT park and a township in the Durgapur-Asansol region of Bardhaman district.

It would be spread over 2,300 acres, of which the airport would cover 650 acres.

Work on the project, to be handled by Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) which is housed in the heritage structure, is likely to start after monsoon and is scheduled to be over in 2011, the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

“Parts of the house are in need of urgent repairs,” said RBU vice-chancellor Karuna Sindhu Das. “The authorities have been working on the revamp plan for the past 10 years. Shifting the fine arts and visual arts departments to the Emerald Bower campus on BT Road is part of the project.”

The Rs 15-crore revamp will be supervised by the 11-member Jorasanko Thakurbari Punarbinyas Committee, which includes consultant architect Arunendu Banerjee.

Built around 1785 by Nilmoni Thakur, the floors and walls of the Thakurbari, now spread across 35,000 sq m, have cracked in several places. Some of the railings and arches are in a dilapidated state and parts of the structure are covered with fungus.

In early August, South Dum Dum Municipality took up the long overdue project of widening the footpath in the underpass, clearing its drains and installing lights. The civic body hopes to complete the work in three more weeks.

The move has come as a relief for the one lakh-plus people who daily use the underpass, constructed by Eastern Railway and the public works department (roads) below Circular and Metro railways tracks near Dum Dum Junction station.

Commuters had to make their way to Dum Dum Junction and Metro stations through a fenced footpath wide enough only for two adults. The surface, too, was uneven with interlocking tiles missing. The lights are often stolen plunging the tunnel-like underpass into pitch darkness.

Engineering services had huge market potential and was slated to grow from $4 billion now to $40 billion by 2020, said Kiran Karnik, immediate past president of Nasscom.

India's total software exports were around $40 billion last fiscal and the target this year was $60 billion.

The next stage of growth in the Indian IT industry would be driven by development of new products and intellectual property, Karnik said at ICT East 2008 organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Kolkata and Chennai indicated great potential in the area of developing security software that entailed analysis of complex mathematical algorithms, he added.

West Bengal planned to develop these areas, claimed state IT minister Debesh Das.

He said Bengal was looking at wooing animation and gaming companies to set up shop here.

Speaking at a Press conference organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC), mayor, Mr Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya today expressed his willingness to hand over the park to the BCC for development. He said: “I have asked the BCC to help the civic body in developing the Park Circus Maidan as a model park. It is just a proposal and it is upto the BCC to decide on it. A detailed discussion in this matter is expected soon.”

While mayor, Mr Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya wants the BCC to develop the park into a model one, he seems to have conveniently forgotten the fact that the Kolkata Environment Improvement Project (KEIP) has already allotted a sum of over Rs 2 crore for the development of the same Park Circus Maidan.