Archive for November, 2011
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
NOIDA: There’s good news for all those who travel from south Delhi and Faridabad to Noida as three underpasses have been sanctioned on the 20km-long Master Plan Road-III. The road, connecting Kalindi Kunj to Noida, will also prove beneficial for those who have invested in properties in Noida Extension as, once complete, it will provide a signal-free smooth drive till the proposed housing hub. The construction of the underpasses will begin next month and is expected to be complete within the next 18 months.
The Noida Authority, after the tendering process, awarded the contract to a Delhi-based construction company to build the three underpasses. Public sector undertaking RITES has been appointed as the consultant for the projects. “Vehicles from Delhi travelling along this route can zoom non-stop towards Noida Extension once these projects, along with the flyover-underpass twin project in sector 37, become operational,” said a senior official of the Authority.
The projects will finish by mid-2013 and, along with the flyover-underpass twin project in sector 37 becoming operation by early 2012, will allow for signal-free driving along the road. All three underpasses will each be around 600m in length. The first underpass near sectors 94 and 124 will cost Rs 25 crore. The second underpass near sectors 35 and 39 will be built at a cost of Rs 42 crore while the third one near sectors 51 and 71 will cost Rs 35 crore.
The first underpass, near sector 94, will ease movement of vehicles coming from the Kalindi Kunj side towards the Okhla barrage. It will be highly beneficial for traffic coming from Delhi and moving towards Noida Extension or Ghaziabad. The second underpass to be built just ahead of the City Centre Metro station and will ease flow of traffic along the Shivalik Marg going towards Dadri, apart from allowing smooth flow of traffic movement flowing along the Captain Shashikant Marg towards Noida Extension.
The third underpass, that is to be constructed at the crossing near sectors 71-72 and witnesses a lot of traffic jams, will ease travelling for commuters forced to take road transport after the Metro along this route. This underpass will benefit those too who travel to Ghaziabad through NH-24 via sector 62 in Noida. Vehicular movement along this route is expected to increase several-fold once residential projects are completed in Noida Extension. “After the completion of the City Center, which lies along the Master Plan-III road and is expected to be one of the biggest commercial centres in the NCR region, there is bound to be considerable increase in traffic in this region,” said the Authority official.
Ayaskant Das, TNN | Nov 30, 2011, 01.20AM IST
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Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
Formula One’s paddock army were bleary-eyed on Monday after the end-of-season celebrations following yet another Red Bull triumph in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
But as they packed and prepared for their final homeward flights of a memorable if predictable 2011 season, there were signals that the double champions may not have it all their own way again next year.
McLaren, with an unchanged line-up and bristling with determination, marched out of Interlagos with nothing less than a bid to end the Red Bull domination on their minds.
Ferrari, also unchanged for 2012, issued much the same kind of confidence in their own future and, with Mercedes improving rapidly and few changes to the technical regulations, a much more competitive season appeared to be in prospect.
All of the top teams and their drivers will be doing their utmost to stop German Sebastian Vettel, 24, and his Red Bull team from completing a hat-trick of title triumphs in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh captured the defiant mood when he said: “Red Bull have done a very good job in terms of performance and reliability, but it can change. We want to make sure of that if we can.
“We’ve been there. We’ve had back-to-back world championships and then lost form, so we have to attack and go for it. We need to be on the pace right from the opening day.”
He said that early feedback from his engineers suggested that McLaren were making encouraging progress with the design of next season’s car.
“I sat in the project review meeting last week and we had made some really good progress — so I came out of it really feeling good,” he said. “I think we had a shocking winter last year, probably one of the worst we have had.
“We were nowhere near competitive and had not done a race distance before we finished the Australian race. I am sure we have learned from that.”
The consistency of an unchanged driver line-up will be a boost for McLaren, Ferrari and champions Red Bull with Mercedes also unchanged ahead of the 63rd F1 season.
Jenson Button, the 2009 champion, said he felt convinced his rivalry with British teammate Lewis Hamilton would push each other and their McLaren team next season.
“It’s a challenge for both of us to beat each other and in doing so that really drives us on to do better,” he said. “We have a great working relationship. It’s a competitive environment in the team. It’s good.”
“And I know we’ve said it many times, but we’ve got to come out immediately in testing and have a car that we can do mileage in and do set-up work with. We have to compete straightaway.”
Ferrari’s two-time champion Fernando Alonso expressed much the same views.
“We will be stronger and we have to be faster,” said the Spaniard.
“I’m sure that is going to be the case for us. But Red Bull will be the team to beat again.”
Red Bull team chief Christian Horner said he felt Brazil victor Australian Mark Webber would be revitalised by his win.
“It is great that Mark won as I think it would have been very tough for him to have gone into the winter with Seb (world champion Sebastian Vettel) having won 11 races and Mark not one.
“So for him, one of the best races to win is the last race – it sets him up very nicely for next year.”
In a daunting 20-race season that will see the return of a United States Grand Prix, at Austin, Texas, subject to approval, there will be several team name changes and a number of possible driver changes.
Renault will become known as Lotus, Lotus will become Caterham and Virgin will become Marussia. In other changes, Renault will supply engines to Williams.
The leading driver changes will see the return of Spanish veteran Pedro de la Rosa with Hispania and the debut of Frenchman Charles Pic with Marussia.
As the F1 circus prepared to fly home, it emerged also that Australian Daniel Ricciardo has been linked with a move from Hispania to the new Caterham team – if Italian veteran Jarno Trulli is not retained.
AFP | Nov 28, 2011, 08.59PM IST
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Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
oogle Doodles are one aspect of the search engine that everybody just loves. The Internet giant makes sure that important days in countries are never missed. And this year for November 14, which happens to be children’s day in India, Google held a Doodle4Google contest. The winning doodle will be carried on the search engine’s homepage.
The winner for the contest was a tiny surprise. Varsha Gupta, a Class III student and only seven years old, from Ryan International School, Greater Noida, was the budding artist who impressed the professionals at Google.
Her doodle, titled ‘Indian Musical Instruments’ was chosen from over nearly 1,55,000 doodles. Explaining her doodle, Varsha writes, “India is a land of different cultures. In India, music plays a very important role. India has given many musical instruments to the world. Goddess Saraswati plays Veena, God Shiv plays Damaru. In modern days Mr. Zakir Hussain is world famous as Tabla Mastro and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma is known as a great Santoor player all over the world”.
oogle India, presented Varsha with the winning certificate along with a technology starter package including a laptop, a year’s Internet connection and a Rs 2,00,000 technology grant for her school.The theme for the Google doodle contest was “India’s gift to the world” and the contest was judged by professional artists who design Google doodles.
FP Staff Nov 10, 2011
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Friday, November 11th, 2011
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will begin work on a Noida-south Delhi link from January.
Having prepared a DPR, the DMRC has already set up its office in sector 19 to start the construction. The Noida authority will bear the project cost (R786 crore) for the 3.76-km line between Noida’s Botanical Garden and Kalindi Kunj in Delhi.
This will mean a direct link with areas such as Kalkaji, Malviya Nagar, Green Park and Vasant Kunj. Currently, people have to take Noida-Dwarka route and get down at Rajiv Chowk station to change lines.
The DMRC is also preparing a DPR to extend the Metro line in Noida up to the Ghaziabad border at sector 62 (NH 24).
Work will start early next year.
After this extension, Metro will cut Noida into two, providing a boost to intra-city connectivity.
Currently Noida has six stations of Delhi Metro with the service ending at sector 32. The existing line caters only to 55 immediate and adjoining sectors. About 35 more sectors need to be linked to Metro to relieve people of travelling woes.
“The sector 62 line is on top of our priority. Several pre-construction exercises have begun.
The Noida authority has accepted the terms of references sent by the DMRC. We have sent our consent to the plan. The authority has also paid R80 lakh for the DPR,“ said authority’s deputy chief executive officer Chandra Bhushan Singh.
Darpan Singh htreporters@hindustantimes.com
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Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
NOIDA: Commuters on the much awaited 165km Yamuna Expressway between Greater Noida and Agra will be able to zoom at 100 kmph when it is thrown open to the public by the end of December. The speed limit of 100kmph for light motor vehicles and 60 kmph for heavy vehicles has been fixed after due consultation with the Uttar Pradesh government, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority and Jaypee Infratech officials in accordance with the norms set by the union ministry for roads & highways.
To ensure safety of the road users, the expressway will have certain restrictions and conditions for use by motor vehicles. According to sources, a few categories of and slow moving vehicles like pushcarts and bullock carts are likely to be barred from using the expressway. Overtaking and parking on the e-way will also be strictly prohibited. Vehicles will be allowed to park in case of a breakdown, but only on a marked parking site along the shoulder of the expressway.
“The speed limit and restrictions will come into force once the Yamuna Expressway opens to the public,” said a Jaypee Infratech spokesperson. He added that drivers will have to follow the signboards installed on the expressway with regard to the speed limits, curves, gaps and other safety aspects.
The Jaypee official said that 99 per cent of the work is complete and construction of two toll plazas and cloverleaves was under progress. “Currently, toll plazas are being set up at the two interchanges that are under construction. Once the work is complete, trial runs will be conducted along the expressway to take care of any shortcomings,” added the official. As it is a toll road, the charges to be levied from motorists will be announced shortly.
To be opened two years ahead of schedule, it has been projected that the Rs 11,000 crore access-controlled and elevated Yamuna Expressway corridor would daily benefit an estimated 1.2 lakh commuters heading towards Agra and beyond. The six-lane toll road between Greater Noida and Agra will provide commuters seamless connectivity along a six-lane main carriageway and a single-lane shoulder road, besides the option for extending the expressway by another lane in the future. The expressway is completely concretized and has been designed for speeds up to 120kmph. Commuters using the expressway would be able to cover the distance between the two cities in a mere 90 minutes, compared to the present 2.5-3 hours.
The expressway will have six interchanges along its path located at 10km, 36km, 48km, 110km, 153km and finally the last one exiting at Agra at 165km. Ramps will be provided for exiting at 7km, 11km and 15km, respectively along the expressway. To provide connectivity to the areas along the expressway, 70 underpasses for vehicles, 76 underpasses for pedestrians and cart track crossing and 41 bridges will also be available for use.
“CCTV cameras will be fixed at an interval of every 5km along the expressway for safety. Moreover, mobile radars to monitor speeding will be put to use and there will be one highway patrol for every 25km, besides exclusive fire brigades,” said an official. He added that emergency services like towing, ambulances, petrol sheds, rest-houses and food court services will be available along the expressway at regular intervals.
Vandana Keelor, TNN | Nov 9, 2011, 02.03AM IST
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Friday, November 4th, 2011
Move over ABCD, F is here. After Stunning Sunday, historical dates will no longer be divided into ‘BC’ and ‘AD’. Now that we have achieved the unthinkable and pulled a Playboy Bunny out of our much-stained topi, every event will be classified as ‘Before F1′ or ‘After F1′
All that happened in our recently shaming past will be consigned to ‘BF1′, and everything that follows the pattern of India’s searing entry into the Grand Prix stratosphere will be hailed as ‘AF1′. In that sense ‘F’ has overtaken ‘G’ — as in CWG, 2G and all the ‘ji’s’ effed by these scams.
Yesss! The globally hurrahed weekend at the ‘awhsum’ Buddh Inter-national Circuit (BIC) is a turning point. Even the likes of me, who can’t tell a Massa from a massacre, caught the F1 fever that spread faster than dengue, permeated the air like post-Diwali pollution, and unleashed babbling delirium. So, in the next couple of weeks, it is more than likely that behaviour and patterns will get changed quicker than a tyre at a pit stop.
Here’s a forecast. Now that Maya Memsaheb has become the toast of the Other Backless Classes along with her usual OBCs, she could transform faster than Vettel’s record 1min 27.25 on Lap 60 last Sunday. ‘Budday’ diamonds will no longer be our Ganj Girl’s best friend, and her recent upmanship would make Rs five-crore currency-note garlands too downmarket.
Instead, next January, Mayawati will demand the same type of F1 cake, signed by GP drivers and JP board members, and hers would have to be 40 ft long, not merely four. She might also appear sporting a BSP-blue chignon a la Lady Gaga’s tiranga top-knot.
For such image-building services the Jaypee Sports International MD might get a statue alongside Maya-ji’s own at the Rs 685-crore Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida. He too should be portrayed carrying a large handbag.
After the BIC vroomed its way into our collective consciousness with speed and sound, ‘Buddh’ will symbolise the exact opposite of peace and tranquillity. Gautama’s eightfold path to bliss will be officially replaced by the eight-lane Delhi-Agra highway.
Stray dogs will be asked to inaugurate all major projects. Future success guaranteed; also more entertaining.
The ‘Look Maya, No Potholes’ Yamuna Expressway may not pave the way for other national highways. But city streets will continue to witness the nerve-wracking manoeuvres we saw at the circuit last weekend — exiting lanes, late braking, taking lethal corners. Only now our road ragers can legitimately adopt the belligerence of F1 racers.
‘Traffic’ is an equal impediment for both, but Vithal-Vittel will boast in salivating detail how ‘my Skoda took the sausage curb at Turn 8 of Crawl Bagh, finally overtaking that saala i10. It wasn’t even an i20, yaar!’ He will mark this trite triumph with Sebastian Vettel’s raised-fist ‘woohoo pump’.
Since cars are supposedly nothing more than phallic symbols, the most colourful After F1 change could be in the language of the libido. Our Bed Bulls will switch to F1-speak while boasting about their after-party exploits: ‘My grip level was very good…particularly where downforce works really hard for me. It’s not so easy to bring her tyres up to temperature, but once you’ve got them there, the grip becomes phenomenal, and then the lap becomes really fast and flowing.’
Or our desi alpha Romeos could quote Michael Schumacher himself: ‘The track will get better once it has bedded in’. F1, F-word, both work on the same formula.
Bachi Karkaria
02 November 2011, 09:47 PM IS
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