writingonblog uncensored: Ghost of Moulivakkam haunt construction sector

writingonblog uncensored: Ghost of Moulivakkam haunt construction sector: C Shivakumar Chennai: Nearly six months after the worst disaster that shook the construction sector with the collapse of 11-storey unde...

Ghost of Moulivakkam haunt construction sector

C Shivakumar
Chennai:

Nearly six months after the worst disaster that shook the construction
sector with the collapse of 11-storey under construction building in
Moulivakkam, officials as well as the developers are yet to recover
from the shock.

The construction sector, reeling due to the rise in cement prices as
well as scarcity of sand, could hardly recover from the building
collapse that killed 61 people as planning permissions for upcoming
projects was put on cold storage.

It is learnt that hardly six to seven planning permissions were given
that too from October onwards after a three months break (following
Moulivakkam incident) as compared to 45 planning permissions being
issued between July to December last year.

Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority to regain the waning
confidence among the public on the safety of multi-storeyed buildings
went on a drive to audit 700 multi-storeyed buildings and even
finished the first phase of survey of more than 300 buildings.

Although the move won the applause but then activists started
questioning the role of CMDA’s enforcement wing. It is alleged that
construction started even before the planning permission was given. A
few petitions were also filed in the Supreme Court as well as High
Court questioning the approval given to the building.

Interestingly, a report submitted before the High Court maintained
that the foundation designed and executed by the builders was
inadequate for stable construction of a 12-storeyed building. It also
stated that the building collapsed due to a fault in the structural
design and poor execution.

Interestingly, the issue resulted in various institutions and
professional bodies of architecture, planners as well as social
activists demand the relevance of CMDA as an enforcement body. M G
Devasahayam, who is a member of monitoring committee, stressed on the
need to streamline the enforcement agency. “Had the enforcement wing
of CMDA inspected it, then the incident could have been stopped,” he
said.

He said CMDA is a planning body and not an enforcement agency and it
should concentrate on planning. The enforcement powers should be
transferred to local bodies.

Association of Professional Town Planners questioned the failure to
register qualified professionals to practice in their competent field
in the construction industry in consonance with national building code
either in the development regulations of Chennai Metropolitan
Development Authority or in the development control regulations
followed in all corporations, municipalities and town panchayats.
While the state government is looking into all these aspects, it is
yet unclear whether it will come into force or not.
Meanwhile, work is on full swing to bring down the second building in
the site which is being termed unsafe. However, the plight of those
who brought the plots, most of them pensioners as well as belonging to
middle class, have gone unnoticed. Interestingly, Madras High Court
order of 2006 has even asked the monitoring committee to identify
professional builders of illegal multi-storeyed and special buildings
for imposition of heavy penalties which could be used to compensate
the unwary purchasers. A monitoring committee sub-committee
recommendation in this regard was submitted but it never saw the light
of the day.

The collapse of Moulivakkam building may be the biggest tragedy in the
construction sector but has it awakened the government from the
slumber to initiate action to streamline enforcement wing besides fill
up the huge backlog of vacant posts in CMDA is yet to be seen.

Madras HC to decide on fate of monitoring committee next year

C Shivakumar
Chennai:

The Action Taken Report by Monitoring committee will now be submitted
next year after Madras
High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing for four weeks.

The Action Taken Report is being filed by monitoring committee after
Madras high court, hearing a petition filed by non official member of
monitoring committee M G Devasahayam, ordered for a detailed summary
of what happened till now in pursuance of the directions passed by the
High court in 2006 to stem the problem of unauthorised constructions.

The monitoring committee is also seeking its relevance under the state
government’s new regularization scheme which legalizes illegal
buildings built before 2007.

It is learnt that the action taken report will be based on the 15
action paras stipulated by Madras High court in its order on August
23, 2006 which made the monitoring committee relevant.

It is learnt that despite numerous suggestions by monitoring
committee, which was appointed by Madras High Court, only one
recommendation regarding the completion certificate was implemented.

But the remaining recommendations never saw the light of the day. The
high court ordering monitoring committee to act on multi-storeyed
commercial complexes which are more than four floors in height so that
necessary modifications could be done for satisfying the norms for
fire safety and car parking facilities in building premises got
diluted after state government brought in a new ordinance on July 22,
2007. It notified deferring of coercive action on unauthorized
building put up prior to July 2007 by way of moratorium.

It is learnt that the stringent action for unauthorized buildings
constructed between July 1999, the cut off date prescribed by High
Court order and July 2007, prescribed in the new regularization scheme
of state government under section 113-c diluted the Madras High court
order of 2006.

In the para five of Madras High Court order, the monitoring committee
was ordered to suggest less stringent measures bearing in mind the
impact of retaining the residential multi-storeyed buildings as well
as special buildings.

It is learnt a sub-committee was constituted to recommend ways and
means for less stringent measures and the report was forwarded to the
government for approval but it never saw the light of the day.

Even Madras high court order of 2006 asking the monitoring committee
to identify professional builders of illegal multi-storeyed and
special buildings for imposition of heavy peanalties which could be
used to compensate the unwary purchasers was noble move. A
sub-committee was constituted for imposing heavy penalties and
recommendations were also submitted but this was never implemented.

Even the move to act against illegal builders as well as corrupt CMDA
officials was never taken up despite enforcement cell of CMDA having a
list of erring builders. The monitoring committee’s recommendation to
register the builders under area plans unit was also not taken up.

writingonblog uncensored: Five-member Rajeshwaran committee reduced to four ...

writingonblog uncensored: Five-member Rajeshwaran committee reduced to four ...: C Shivakumar Chennai: The constitution of five member Justice S Rajeswaran committee to frame guidelines for effective implementation of re...

Five-member Rajeshwaran committee reduced to four as TN frames fresh guidelines to implement Section 113-c

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

The constitution of five member Justice S Rajeswaran committee to
frame guidelines for effective implementation of regularization of
illegal buildings built till July 1, 2007 under Section 113-C of Town
and Country Planning Act has been reduced to four with the transfer of
commissioner of Town and Country Planning.

The Housing and Urban Development department constituted the five
member committee headed by former high court judge Justice S
Rajeshwaran on November 8.

However, with the post of commissioner of Town and Country Planning
lying vacant, with the transfer R Venkatesan to revenue department,
the committee has been reduced to four.

Sources said that CMDA member secretary A Karthik is also taking care
of the responsibilities of DTCP.

Other members of the panel include head of the department of the
school of architecture and planning, Anna University, S R Masilamani
as well as Chief Planner of Chennai Metropolitan Development
Authority.

Interestingly, Masilamani’s inclusion into the committee has been
opposed by Association of Professional Town Planners secretary A
Jaganathan. APTP has been opposing the membership examination called
Associate Member in Institute of Town Planners, India (AITP) being
conducted by ITPI. It is claimed to be equivalent to B Plan and M Plan
and has been awarded to persons who don’t have relevant
qualifications.

Their contention is Masilamani who has got Msc statistics got into
planning through AITP membership examination conducted by ITPI and
later got PhD in planning from Anna University. “We opposed Anna
University move to award PhD to him. We have also approached AICTE to
take appropriate action on Institute of Town Planners, India for
conducting examinations and awarding the AITP certificate,” he said.

It is learnt that Rajeshwaran committee already had held three
sittings to frame fresh guidelines for regularization of illegal
buildings built till July 1, 2007 under Section 113-C after Madras
High Court quashed two Government Orders.

Interestingly, when Justice Mohan committee was formed to bring in
amendments to the Town and country Planning Act, stakeholders from
various fields were involved. However, such a thing is lacking when
guidelines are being prepared to implement the amendment to Town and
Country Planning Act, sources said.

Designation and Department                            Members

Justice S Rajeshwaran                                     Chairaman

(Retd HC judge)

Commissioner of Town and                          Member/ convenor
Country Planning

Member Secy                                                  Member
CMDA

HOD of School of Arch and                            Member
Planning, Anna University

Chief Planner                                                   Member
CMDA

writingonblog uncensored: Officials tinker with layout as landowners protest...

writingonblog uncensored: Officials tinker with layout as landowners protest...: C Shivakumar Chennai: In what could be a blatant violation by officials of CMDA and Thiruverkadu Municipality, a layout was officially ...

Officials tinker with layout as landowners protest

C Shivakumar
Chennai:

In what could be a blatant violation by officials of CMDA and Thiruverkadu
Municipality, a layout was officially tinkered to help a developer
construct plots while earmarking legally obtained property as public
road.

The issue pertains to 2.4 acres of land situated at 64 Ayanambakkam
Village in Ambattur taluk in Thiruvallur district owned by owners
Kamala Rajaram, Sivakami, Parvathy and Hemamalini. The owners had
entered into a development agreement with Sterling Estates and
Properties located in GN Chetty Road to develop the land and construct
residential units in accordance with CMDA’s norms and parameters.

One of the owners said that the developer company constructed 58 units
of residential houses of which the developer’s share of units have
already been sold. When the builder handed over remaining units to the
owners, it was found that 63 cents) of the whole site (2.04 acres) was
only approved by the CMDA in 2009. The toad area of 664 square metres
was gifted and handed over to local body of Thiruverkadu Municipality
November 2009 and made public.

The owners alleged that the constructions were completed in the entire
areas without layout approval. “A big grill gate was erected as
against the law since the road was made public. The intersect roads
are not gifted to local body but are in absolute possession and
enjoyment of land owners and hence the buyers have no access to their
plots,” said Devarajan, a retired Income Tax officer whose wife is one
of the owners.

It is alleged that commissioner of Thiruverkadu municipality
fraudulently granted the approval by bending the rules knowing fully
well that the proposal was returned unapproved besides the
Thiruverkadu municipality has no delegated powers to grant such
approval as per Development Regulations.

“The fraudulent layout granted by the municipality has no
accessibility and the buyers have no access to pathways leading to
their plots,” the owners stated.

Interestingly, the municipality officials showed the property of
Kamala Rajaram and others as existing roads. The owners said the
member secretary of CMDA as well as commissioner of Thiruverkadu
municipality know very well that without the pathways being gifted the
developer cannot get approval for construction  of residential units.

Surprisingly, even the Electricity Board has effected domestic
connections to the plots without calling for or neither verifying the
layouts as well as status of the roads. The EB cables are running
through the property without obtaining no objection certificate from
the owners. Why was the for area engineer of state electricity board
to effect all domestics connections in a single day without examining
basic compliance, the owners stated.

Even Ambattur sub registrar office failed to follow the rules for
registering a plot in the layout and did not verify chitta or patta.
“The developer, CMDA, Thiruverkadu municipality, electricity board and
sub registrar office in Ambattur criminally conspired together and
fabricated the record showing our property as public road by forging
the documents,” alleged an owner of the land.

Interestingly, when it was brought to the notice of the government, a
probe was ordered and CMDA was asked to give a report on violation
besides regional director of municipal administration was asked to fix
responsibilities on those responsible for the goof-up. Interestingly,
CMDA officials told Express that they have asked for all connected
records from Thiruverkadu Municipality along with remarks. But the
irony is that the municipality has yet to submit the report. “The
approval fraudulently given by the local body is yet to be cancelled,”
a owner said.

Interestingly, this might be the tip of the iceberg as it is believed
CMDA has unearthed many such fake layouts. “During the review we have
found out prima-facie some of the layouts had some issues,” the
official said

Metro rail says Govt Law College safe

Chennai:

Chennai Metro Rail on Monday said the 152-year-old Madras High court
structure housing the Government Law College is safe and it is being
jointly monitored by IIT Madras and Chennai Metro rail.

Chennai Metro rail’s chief general manager (Underground Construction)
V K Singh said that Metro rail has placed supports on the building and
it is safe.

To a query on report by the sub-committee of the Public works
Department and the Heritage committee of Madras High court, Singh said
that he has yet to get the report.

“They have not provided us with the report. But all the heritage
buildings are being monitored by experts from IIT Madras as well as
Chennai Metro Rail. The heritage structures are safe,” he said.

Director of projects R Ramanathan said that only after the report is
submitted to Chennai Metro Rail, a clearer picture will emerge.

Conservators prepare strategy to conserve sea turtles

Chennai:

The olive ridley turtles are back and fishermen have sighted them four
to five kilometer away from the shore as conservators are preparing a
strategy to protect the nesting turtles along the coastline.

Last year, we lost nearly 852 turtles along the Chennai-Kancheepuram
stretch and this year we are evolving a strategy to protect the
turtles, says Tree Foundation chairperson Supraja Dharini.

The breeding season of turtles have started and fishermen who are part
of sea turtle conservation programme have sighted turtles mating about
4 to 5km from shore, says Dharini, who organized 14th Annual Sea
Turtle Protection Force Empowerment and Training Programme to
highlight the importance and the ecological role of sea turtles and
the need to protect them.

The workshop was attended by turtle conservators from fishing
community, forest department, home guards, coastal security police as
well as fisheries department. Rama Khant Ojha Principal Chief
Conservator of Forests, Tamil Nadu Biodiversity and Greening Project,
besides David Raj, Forest Range Officer, Chennai Circle also
participated in the event.

“We expect the turtles to nest from beginning of next year,” she said.
She also claims that fishermen in Alamparai has already sighted a
nesting turtle.

Chennai Corporation reseals building after owner fails to adhere to HC deadline to rectify violations

Chennai:

Chennai Corporation on Saturday re-sealed a building in N S C Bose
Road here after it failed to rectify the violation by bringing down
third and fourth floors of the building as ordered by Madras High
Court.

Chennai Corporation officials, who sealed the building, told Express
that the owner Sharath Babu failed to adhere to Madras High Court
order to demolish the unauthorized third and fourth floors of the
building within two weeks from the date of desealing the premises.

It is learnt the owner was issued lock and seal notice for
constructing third and fourth floor illegally on January 3, 2011. The
building was sealed on December 12, 2012 following which he approached
Madras High court.

The Madras High Court ordered Chennai Corporation to deseal the
building besides permitting the petitioner to apply for regularization
of the second floor and demolition of third and fourth floor.

Following this an undertaking to the High Court was given by the owner
on April this year and Chennai Corporation de-sealed the building on
May 8, 2014. However, the owner only demolished the fourth floor and
was trying to get the building regularized through CMDA.

After giving the owner ample time, Chennai Corporation on Saturday
re-sealed the building

writingonblog uncensored: Successful smart cities pilots required before lau...

writingonblog uncensored: Successful smart cities pilots required before lau...: Chennai: Even as the Union government is planning to create 100 smart cities, experts on Monday stressed on the need for successful pilots ...

Successful smart cities pilots required before launching 100 cities initiative: Experts

Chennai:

Even as the Union government is planning to create 100 smart cities,
experts on Monday stressed on the need for successful pilots before
launching the smart city initiative.

Speaking on a panel discussion on ‘Digital Infrastructure: Creating
the smart cities of the future’ during the 13th edition of Connect,
organised by Confederation of Indian Industry and Tamil Nadu
government, director of special projects, World Bank, T V Somanathan
said that smart cities initiative should be taken up after successful
pilots.

He said before the smart city project is being taken up one should
think of social, economic as well as regulatory framework for digital
technology, including social networking as well as Internet are in
place, before going in for smart cities.

Interestingly, the definition of how smart a city should be is
puzzling policy makers, industry as well as the government. Even the
concept note on smart cities is yet to be evolved fully, a policy
maker confided.

Atul Anand, managing director of Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu
said that smart city is more of how a citizen interacts with the
government. “It is about smart transportation and municipalities,” he
said

K K Raman, partner management consulting, Business excellence, KPMG,
says that the valuation of 100 smart cities in India could range to
$35 billion. He also acknowledges that a pilot on smart city would be
the best before the government starts implementing the 100 smart
cities. “This itself could take more than two years,” he says.

However, he says that, “digital infrastructure will power the next
mega trend as connected devices converge bringing more efficiency and
possibilities in the future. Industry players and society need to
leverage digital infrastructure to create more opportunities and
economic value as it is expected to play a major role in the success
of the ‘Make in India’ initiative,” he says.

Interestingly, analysts predict that billions of devices will be
connectable with an ability to drastically enhance the quality of
living and change the way we experience products around us. Digital
infrastructure is expected to create tremendous opportunities for
various technology players across verticals and in key applications
like; smart cities, smart utilities, smart healthcare, smart
transportation and more in India

writingonblog uncensored: HC-appointed Monitoring Panel Faces an Existential...

writingonblog uncensored: HC-appointed Monitoring Panel Faces an Existential...: C Shivakumar Chennai: The High Court appointed monitoring committee is caught in a ‘catch 22’ situation over its relevance and ...

HC-appointed Monitoring Panel Faces an Existential Crisis

C Shivakumar



Chennai:



The High Court appointed monitoring committee is caught in a ‘catch

22’ situation over its relevance and will be seeking  clarification

from Madras High Court whether the regularization scheme of 1999 is

valid or whether the 2007 regularisation scheme under the new

amendment to Town and Country Planning Act passed in February 2013 is

applicable.



Talking to Express after a three hour deliberations by monitoring
committee, a monitoring committee source told Express that as per the
judgement of Madras High

court which laid the guidelines for regularization scheme of 1999, it

gave sanctity to monitoring committee.



Unfortunately, the new guidelines under the two new Government orders,

which was framed by the state government and later stuck down by

Madras High Court, never specified the role of monitoring committee.



“We are caught in a Catch 22 situation. It is a chaos like situation,”

the source said.  It is learnt that the monitoring committee will be

submitting a report to the High Court in this regard as well as other

issues since it was created by High court in 2006.



Interestingly, Justice Rajeswaran committee appointed by the state

government is framing fresh guidelines to implement Section 113C which

calls for implementation of regularization scheme from 2007. “They

have to submit the revised guidelines within three months. Already a

month has passed,” sources said.



“This is one time scheme. Even Madras High court stuck down

regularization scheme for 2001, 2002 and 2003 while upholding the

validity of section 113A then what is the use of enforcement mechanism

or any building laws or town planning,” sources said.



Sources stated that the state government has never acted upon any

recommendation of monitoring committee except the one on streamlining

completion certificate.



“The streamlining of completion certificate has brought down building

violations but had they acted upon the recommendation of taking action

against the erring officials and builders responsible for violation

besides streamlining the planning process things would have been

better,” sources said



Sources said government has also not acted upon monitoring committee

recommendation to strengthen enforcement mechanism

writingonblog uncensored: Hop on to Metro rail to travel between Chennai Egm...

writingonblog uncensored: Hop on to Metro rail to travel between Chennai Egm...: Work on elevated stretch between Koyambedu-Alandur to be completed by Feb 2015; TN to decide on commercial run C Shivakumar Chennai: Chenna...

Hop on to Metro rail to travel between Chennai Egmore to Airport by Dec 2015

Work on elevated stretch between Koyambedu-Alandur to be completed by
Feb 2015; TN to decide on commercial run

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Chennaites could realize their dream of travelling by Chennai Metro
Rail in the 23 km stretch from Chennai Egmore to Airport by the end of
December provided all the clearances are in place, according to
Chennai Metro Rail.

Celebrating the completion of the first 5km underground tunnel package
from Shenoy Nagar to Koyambedu, chief general manager (Underground
Construction) V K Singh told Express that the work on the underground
stretch is commencing at a rapid phase and the 9km stretch between
Chennai Egmore to Koyambedu would be ready by December 2015.

“It will be ready for commercial operations by the end of December
provided we get all the safety clearances by then,” said Singh as the
tunnel boring machine brought down the cement slab thus linking Shenoy
Nagar with ramp linking Koyambedu amidst joy and cheers from the metro
rail workers.

He said that the trial run in the underground stretch between Chennai
Egmore and Koyambedu would begin by the end of June or July 2015.

Interestingly, the tunnels between Shenoy Nagar and Kilpauk Medical
College is also likely to be completed in the next 10 days by L&T
while that between Kilpauk Medical College to Nehru Park will be
completed by February 2015.

Of the total 36km underground stretch to be done in five packages, a
total work of 25 km has been completed amidst various challenges, said
Singh.

R Ramanathan, director of projects, Chennai Metro Rail, said that the
10km elevated stretch from Koyambedu to Alandur would be ready by
January end or February. However, he did not give any dates on when
the commercial run on the stretch would begin. “It is being left onto
the state government,” he said.

Ramanathan also said that the stretch between Little Mount to Airport
as well as Alandur to St Thomas Mount would be ready by December 2015
provided all the clearances are in place. Interestingly, this could
mean that the stretch between Chennai Egmore to Airport would be ready
by December 2015.

Talking about the tunneling operations for metro being done in Delhi
and Chennai, Singh said while in Delhi the operations were smooth as
it was done above the water level while in Chennai it is being done
below the water level.

Metro Meter:

Elevated Stretch                     Completion date

Koyambedu to Alandur              Jan end/ Feb 2015

Little Mount to Airport                December 2015

Alandur to st Thomas Mount      December 2015

Underground Stretch

Chennai Egmore to Koyambedu   December 2015

Trial run                                            June/ July 2015

Tunnels from Egmore-Koyambedu  To be ready by Feb 2015

Track laying as well as stations        To be completed by April/ May 2015

Total km of Tunneling work: 36 km

Total work completed: 25km

writingonblog uncensored: Newly laid concrete roads fail quality test

writingonblog uncensored: Newly laid concrete roads fail quality test: CMDA blows away Rs 33 crore Infrastructure and Amenities fund by laying poor quality roads C Shivakumar Chennai: It was a grand plan ...

Newly laid concrete roads fail quality test

CMDA blows away Rs 33 crore Infrastructure and Amenities fund by laying poor quality roads

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

It was a grand plan to lay concrete roads under Rs 33 crore
Infrastructure and Amenities charges to end the bumpy rides to
Koyambedu market.

But two years after the road has been laid, it has been more of a
concern rather than relief for traders who depend on the arterial
roads to supply perishable fruits, vegetables as well as flowers to
the market daily.

The roads have been poorly laid and it has developed potholes and
cracks at various places. It hardly looks like the road won’t last
even another couple of years. The stretch between Gate 3 and Gate 18
is poorly laid, says a trader while pointing out the cracks.

“We thought the roads would last for more than 10 years. However, it
is not even two years and the roads have started developing cracks,”
said a trader on condition of anonymity.

Interestingly, the issue also figured during the market management
committee (MMC) meeting held recently. It also learnt that CMDA has
yet to hand over the roads to MMC.

“On what basis will they hand over such roads to MMC. The quality of
work is shoddy. It lacks proper specifications. CMDA should first fix
the responsibility on the officials who were behind the project rather
than coming out with flimsy excuses that metro rail work damaged the
works,” the trader said.

Interestingly, top CMDA officials could not be reached. Interestingly,
it is not only roads even a manhole has caved in putting to question
the quality of work undertaken by CMDA.

The traders also question the wall of Koyambedu market built at a cost
of Rs 234 lakh. “It has not been done properly as per the scheduled
tender condition,” a trader alleged.

Meanwhile, MMC is planning to increase the maintenance charges for
Koyambedu market. This issue is likely to surface during the next MMC
meeting.

writingonblog uncensored: Additional 76 km metro rail corridors for Chennai

writingonblog uncensored: Additional 76 km metro rail corridors for Chennai: Koyambedu-Luz, Madhavaram-Velacherry, Madhavaram-Injambakkam routes identified C Shivakumar Chennai: The cost escalation of Chennai Me...

Additional 76 km metro rail corridors for Chennai

Koyambedu-Luz, Madhavaram-Velacherry, Madhavaram-Injambakkam routes identified

C Shivakumar
Chennai:

The cost escalation of Chennai Metro Rail project has climbed further
by more than Rs 5,000 crore even as Chennai Metro Rail has identified
three more corridors for the second phase, according to director of
projects R Ramanathan.

Ramanathan told Express that Chennai Metro Rail Project was conceived
at a cost of Rs 14,700 crore in 2007 but now the project is worth Rs
20,000 when one works out the land cost. It could be 12,000 to 13,000
crore for the underground stretch and Rs 7,000 crore for the elevated
stretch, he said. “We have yet to work out the cost over-run. It is
too early,” he said.

However, it is believed the cost over-run could run into more than a
thousand crore due to delay in the completion of the project.

Meanwhile, Chennai Metro Rail has identified three corridors in the
second phase. These include a total of 76 kilometre. The three, four
and five corridors are from Koyambedu to Luz, Madhavaram to Velacherry
and Madhavaram to Injambakkam (ECR).

“The work on the corridors will start once the state government gives
its approval. The consultant is deciding on where all the stations
would come,” said Ramanathan.

Interestingly, metro rail had identified 10 corridors covering a
distance of 300 km. “However, work on the additional three corridors
would be taken up in the second phase,” he said.

Stating that city like Chennai by now should have 500km of metro
network, he said Chennai Metro Rail wants to make travel simple by
making metro rail available at all stretches. “It should be either you
walk or travel by metro,” said Ramanathan.

He also said the three corridors (3,4 and 5) which were proposed would
mostly be underground while inside city and elevated on the outskirts
giving some relief to Chennaites fearing land acquisition by the
government.

 Interestingly, Chennai Metro Rail’s biggest challenge is to complete
the work in Chennai Central which has been hit by litigations. Chennai
Central would have four subways below 32 feet to 40 feet. This will
link Rippon Building, GH and other vital areas.

There will also be a three level underground parking facility in
Chennai central, he said.

He also said the 500 metre stretch between OTA to Meenambakkam would
be a underground stretch. “This will be more like a box like
structure,” Ramanathan said.

 New corridors:

Koyambedu to Luz

Madhavaram to Velachery

Madhavaram to Injambakkam (ECR)

Total Length: 76 km

writingonblog uncensored: Indian Railways rating system to be industry frien...

writingonblog uncensored: Indian Railways rating system to be industry frien...: Chennai: Indian Railways is now coming out with a new rating system with confidence of industry kept in mind, according to N Sreekumar, chi...

Indian Railways rating system to be industry friendly

Chennai:

Indian Railways is now coming out with a new rating system with
confidence of industry kept in mind, according to N Sreekumar, chief
general manager of Container Corporation of India Limited.

Addressing a event organised by Indian Institute of Logistics,
Sreekumar also said the government is going to restructure the railway
board.

He also stated that the total logistics sector in India would undergo
a transformation with the east and west freight corridor coming into
being.

He said the eastern corridor would link the Punjab industrial belt
with Kolkata while the Western corridor would link Punjab with Gujara.

He also highlighted that the logistics sector in the country is the
costliest one when compared with the developing world.

Captain V J Pushpa Kumar, director f Indian Institute of Logistics
said that IIL is setting up a Logistics Knowledge Park in Chennai for
extending logistics education to various private universities in the
country.

He said the company has acquired 15 acres of and at Ponneri near
Chennai on the banks of Pulicut Lake where buildings with modern
facilities are under construction. “We are awaiting the clearance from
environment ministry,” Pushpakumar said.

Ennarasu Karunesan, chief executive officer and director of DP Wold
Chennai, Spencer Tsai, branch head of Wan Hai Lines (India) Pvt Ltd,
Capt K G Ramakrishnan, managing director of Ben Line Agencies and
others also spoke on the occasion

writingonblog uncensored: No nuke reactor in the world is 100pc risk proof, ...

writingonblog uncensored: No nuke reactor in the world is 100pc risk proof, ...: Chennai: While Indian nuclear scientists are working towards 100 per cent risk proof nuclear reactors, a top Russian nuclear scientist ...

No nuke reactor in the world is 100pc risk proof, says Russian expert

Chennai:
While Indian nuclear scientists are working towards 100 per cent risk
proof nuclear reactors, a top Russian nuclear scientist says no
nuclear plant in the world is risk proof.
Admitting to technical glitches in the first atomic power unit's
turbine at Kudankulam, leading nuclear expert as well as professor and
reader from Russian Federal University Nuclear Energy department Oleg
Tashlykov told reporters that it was a positive sign that before
something could have happened the unit was stopped.
He said it was good that before the commercial launch of the reactor
the defect was detected and rejected accusations on the safety of VVER
atomic reactors. He said when the reactor is introduced in another
country, it undergoes one year trial before starting the commercial
operations.
He said the reactor has safety system in place to prevent bigger
accidents. His statement comes in the wake of the components of the
turbine of the first unit of Kudankulam suffered technical glitches.
Currently, the reactor has started functioning. He also said the
lifespan of Kudankulam reactor is 40 years before being
decommissioned. But it also has features where the lifespan of the
reactor could be increased by another 20 years by further development.
Michael J Gorbatov, vice consul of Consulate general of Russia and
director of Russian Centre of Science and Culture said that there are
no zero risk projects in the world. He said that Tamil Nadu could
become a major producer of nuclear power in the country with the
addition of more nuclear plants.
He also said that Russia is against the liability clause as it was not
there when the agreement was signed. “This will make the deal
expensive for Russia,” he said.
However, he said in India there has been no large catastrophe in the
last 20 years and after Fukushima incident the risks have been taken
into consideration.
To a query on Germany phasing out nuclear reactors post Fukushima
incident, Tashlykov said that renewable energy like solar is still
costly. Nuclear energy is still affordable. “Nearly 30 per cent of
power needs of Russia are met through nuclear energy. Even France is
planning to add new reactors. He Fukushima incident has not changed
the global plans for nuclear power development,” he said.
He also said that usually Russia takes back the spent fuel from the
countries where it has set its reactor. He said that Russia has 200
tonnes of nuclear waste which is being kept in temporary shelters. “We
are looking at a new site before 2030 so that we can store the nuclear
waste,” he said. He said 96 per cent of the spent fuel from the VVER
reactor is reused while the four per cent is stored in a glass.
Interestingly, Russia is in awe of India’s fast breeder nuclear
technology. “We were quite surprised by the development in India.
India is the leader in fast breeder technology. It is a crucial part
of India’s nuclear strategy,” said the nuclear scientist. Russian
plans to add 15 nuclear reactors by 2030 besides building 30 new
reactors globally.

Russia woos Indian students to pursue studies on nuclear physics

Chennai:

Is India likely to face a shortage of specialists who can operate
nuclear power stations? Yes says vice consul of Consulate General of
Russia Michael J Gorbatov while stressing the need for student
exchange programme to help Indian students learn nuclear physics in
Russian universities so that in the future Indian won’t face shortage
of specialists who can operate nuclear plants.

Speaking to reporters at Anna University here following a lecture by
Russian Nuclear Corporation for the students of Anna University,
Institute of Energy Studies, Gorbatov, while refusing to give any
specific details of nuclear cooperation agreements signed between
Russia and India following President Vladimir Putin’s visit, said
Russia may go in for an agreement for student exchange programme and
the onus lies on India to send students to study nuclear physics.

He said Russian universities are the best when compared to imparting
education on nuclear physics but most of the students are pursuing
medicine and other fields while ignoring Russia’s expertise on nuclear
energy.

“Now it depends on Indian government on how they will encourage
students to pursue nuclear science as India is likely to face shortage
of students who can operate nuclear power stations,” he said.

Oleg Tashlykov, doctor of engineering science and leading professor
and reader from Russian Federal University Nuclear Energy Department,
highlighted how Russian expertise developing nuclear plant in Vietnam
resulted in Vietnam sending students to study nuclear physics in its
university in Tomsk.

Tashlykov also said that Russia is working with China to develop six
floating nuclear power plants (NPPs). This cmes after a memorandum of
understanding has been signed with China on the development of
floating NPPs from 2019. He said currently Russia is working on
developing two floating nuclear reactors. “We are also planning to
sell it to other countries, including middle east nations,” he said.

He said the floating NPPs can provide a reliable power supply not only
to remote settlements but also to large industrial facilities such as
oil platforms

writingonblog uncensored: Boil your milk before drinking or you are prone to...

writingonblog uncensored: Boil your milk before drinking or you are prone to...: Chennai: Think twice before consuming raw milk. Researchers have found that raw milk could have some harmful bacteria which could result in...

writingonblog uncensored: Boil your milk before drinking or you are prone to...

writingonblog uncensored: Boil your milk before drinking or you are prone to...: Chennai: Think twice before consuming raw milk. Researchers have found that raw milk could have some harmful bacteria which could result in...

Boil your milk before drinking or you are prone to zoonotic diseases, warns NDRI

Chennai:

Think twice before consuming raw milk. Researchers have found that raw
milk could have some harmful bacteria which could result in diseases,
says National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) vice-chancellor and
director A K Srivastava.

Talking to reporters after delivering the inaugural address of  XXXIV
Annual conference of Society of Toxicology (India) 2014 on the topics
‘Challenges and Strategies in Toxicology for Food Safety’ and ‘Drug
Development – Regulatory perspectives in Livestock’ on Tuesday,
Srivastava said that  milk borne zoonotic disease ( disease that can
be passed between animals and humans) is on the rise.

He said diary technologists are concerned about persistence of
micro-organisms in dairy food. According to NDRI data, micro-organisms
like E-coli and mycobacterium paratuberculi can survive for several
weeks in frozen foods and several micro-organisms isolated from dairy
milk are found to be resistant to fourth generation of antibiotics.

He also highlighted the lack of awareness among milk producing
community about the zoonotic diseases. He said if a lactating cow is
injected with antibiotics, the milk should not be consumed for a
stipulated period of time. “But no one follows this norm,” he said.

He also highlighted the rise in TB cases being spread from cattle to
humans. This happens mostly through mycobacterium bovis. It is learnt
that prevalence of bovine TB in India varies from 1.6 per cent to 16
per cent in cattle and three to 25 per cent in buffalos.

 He said currently most of the epidemics like Rota virus and Ebola has
its origin from eating meat. He said spread of Ebola was due to eating
of chimpanzee meat while Rota virus spread is also linked to
consumption of meat. These are mostly zoonotic diseases, he said.

He said there are 1,407 pathogens of which 816 are from human origin.
Interestingly, in the last two decades 70 per cent of organisms
causing emerging and re-emerging diseases in humans have been from
animal origin, said Srivastava.

He said Entric Hemorrhagic is an important disease causing organism
found in milk and animal products. In India there is not enough data
but in United States it is found to be prevalent.

He also cited the importance of child’s nutrition in the first 1,000
days. Studies validate that malnutrition could contribute to 70 per
cent of the spread of zoonotic and infectious diseases. He also
stressed the need for having strong food safety laws as prevalent in
US and Europe

writingonblog uncensored: Is thermal desal plant economically feasible for C...

writingonblog uncensored: Is thermal desal plant economically feasible for C...: C Shivakumar Chennai: Could the success of thermal desalination plants in Lakshadweep Island could be replicated in Chennai to quenc...

Is thermal desal plant economically feasible for Chennai?

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

Could the success of thermal desalination plants in Lakshadweep Island
could be replicated in Chennai to quench the thirst of the city?

National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) says that there are
plans to replicate the technology in a bigger way in Chennai by
setting up a 10 MLD plant provided it is economically viable.

NIOT director M A Atmanand told Express that a detailed project report
is being worked out to set the plant. “The large scale project should
be economically viable. The reverse osmosis technology is a proven
one. Thermal desalination project is still under research and at
development stage,” he said.



“The cost of developing water from this technology is high but in
Lakshadweep we don’t have any other option but to go in for thermal
desalination plant,” says Atmanand while rejecting allegations of NIOT
being slow in developing the technology on to a large scale.



Interestingly, basking at the initial success of the technology which
mimics the way nature produces rain water in Kavaratti in Lakshadweep
Island, Ministry of Earth sciences wanted to build larger thermal
desalination plants and chose Chennai, which had faced the biggest
water crisis in 2002-03 when water was transported through trains and
tankers from far off places.



The project was initiated under then director of NIOT S Kathiroli who
came out with world’s first LTTD plant at Kavaratti, Lakshadweep
islands and the first floating desalination plant when the 1 MLD plant
was commissioned in 2006.

 “It is not only 10 MLD thermal desalination, we can build bigger
desalination plant which would release just a one per cent more
salinity in disposed water when compared to reverse osmosis
desalination plant which lets out 50 per cent more salinity in
disposed water. This could be eco-friendly besides not affecting the
fishing stock, The ministry has adopted desalination as its Flagship
Program” he says.

But there are allegations that nine years after commissioning the
first floating desalination plant, things have taken a slow turn as
the plan to build the desalination plant by National Institute of
Ocean Technology, progressed on a slow pace after Dr Kathiroli’s term
as director got over. Atmanand rejects the allegations.



While initially, the project was contemplated in 2007 to be
commissioned within 24 months after approval, the detailed project
report is yet to be prepared, sources reveal. But Atmanand says the
proposal to build the 10 MLD desalination plant was taken few years
ago by. “The technology can only be developed if it is economically
viable,” he says.

“I don’t want to give false promises. Fist we will study, if it is
economically viable, then only it will be implemented,” he says.

This could result in the city waiting a little longer to savour the
water from the eco friendly technology