Twenty-two-year-old city girl Amrita Das crossed the English Channel, completing the 34-km challenge in 13 hours and 42 minutes.
An understudy of Masudur Rahman Baidya, the first double amputee below the knee to cross the channel, Amrita began at 6.19 am (GMT) from the Shakespeare beach in Dover, England and swam across the channel, reaching France at 8.01 pm (GMT) on September 4.
She could have bettered the timing if Amrita did not veer off course due to strong currents, Baidya said.
“There were high tidal waves that blew her off-course and she had to remain static for about an hour before resuming swimming,” Baidya, who has conquered the English Channel (1997) and the Strait of Gibraltar (2001), told PTI.
Baidya said Amrita had started started her preparation long ago.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India – Online Edition / September 06th, 2010
The $100 million loan is the third and final tranche under the $400 million Kolkata Environmental Improvement
Investment Program and is aimed at expanding sewerage and drainage coverage and providing sewage treatment in Kolkata.
New Delhi :
India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday signed $100 million loan agreement to strengthen capacity of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for resilient urban services, an official statement said.
The $100 million loan is the third and final tranche under the $400 million Kolkata Environmental Improvement Investment Program and is aimed at expanding sewerage and drainage coverage and providing sewage treatment in Kolkata.
It will target expansion of sewerage and drainage services in selected peripheral areas of KMC to at least 3,000 additional households and provide sewage treatment for at least 1,00,000 households, the Ministry of Finance said in the statement.
The agreement was signed by Ministry of Finance Additional Secretary Sameer Kumar Khare for the Indian government and ADB’s India Resident Mission Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama for the multilateral lending agency.
Mr Khare said it will supplement the efforts made in previous phases that aim to provide affordable access to water supply, sewerage and drainage services in Kolkata.
Kenichi Yokoyama said that the current financing will be used to construct 43 km of additional sewer drain pipes, four pumping stations, 13 km of pumping mains and three sewage treatment plants to improve sanitation service and climate resilience.
The overall goal of the programme, approved in 2014, is to restore water production capacity to 1,478 million liters per day and ensure leaks on 700 kilometers of water pipes are repaired by 2023, the statement said.
It aims to install 40,000 water meters in pilot areas, 170 kilometers of sewer-drain pipes and provide new sewerage connections to 27,000 homes, it said.
source: http://www.ndtv.com / NDTV.com / Home> Sections> Kolkata / by Indo-Asian News Service / October 04th, 2018
200 residents of three villages were trained and mock drills held in the first week of September.
Sagar Rai, a resident of Paglajhora in Darjeeling hills, has a rain-gauge installed in his village. Whenever there is a downpour, he runs to it and watches the level.
He has been trained to watch whether the reading exceeds 123 mm. If it does, he should stand before the gauge, forget everything else, and watch whether it approaches 143 mm.
Read: India using remote-sensing tech developed by NASA to find rare earth elements
The moment it is about to touch 143, he is supposed to send messages to a Whatsapp group that everybody should leave their homes immediately with their valuables and shift to designated safe places in the village.
Rai is not the only one. “On September 7, officials of Geological Survey of India held a mock drill and trained about 200 villagers from the three villages of Paglajhora, Giddapahar and 14 Mile to deploy the country’s first community-based early warning system for landslides,” said Dinesh Gupta, director general, GSI.
Besides sending messages in the Whatsapp group, village guards would blow whistles and ring bells in schools to alert villagers about possible landslides.
At least one member from each of the families in the three villages, and a number of officials from panchayat office bearers to the district magistrate and officials at the state and central level are included in the Whatsapp group so that they, too, are immediately alerted to take any administrative action if necessary.
“From panchayat pradhans to sub divisional officers, district magistrates to state officials, National Disaster Response Force to IMD officials, everybody would be alerted by a single message,” said Ladup Tamang, a resident of Giddhapahar.
Darjeeling, Kalimpong and adjoining Sikkim hills fall in seismic zone IV, and every year numerous landslides take place in these areas. In 2015, as many as 33 people died due to landslides in Darjeeling hills. The next year, the casualties stood at seven. In 2017 one person died and 291 people were affected in Darjeeling. Right now, a large part of North Sikkim is cut off due to landslides.
The Eastern Himalayas consist of young-fold mountains with higher slopes that receive more rains than the western Himalayas.
“In disaster situations, locals first respond and, therefore, GSI decided to put them at the centre of a system where are trained to monitor and interpret the surroundings for timely response,” said a GSI spokesperson.
The idea is to make the system work 24X7. The rain gauges have been placed in areas that are easily accessible. Two billboards detailing the procedure and action points have been put up in the villages.
“Stakeholder participation is a must to make every disaster management plan and action a success. The mountains in Darjeeling are the youngest ones and are always expanding and the area is prone to disaster. The area has the highest density of jhoras (streams) in the world. Local stakeholders should be trained properly,” said Tapas Ghatak, former GSI geo physicist and former UNICEF consultant for disaster management for Darjeeling hills.
Tuhin Ghosh, a faculty of Oceanographic Studies, Jadavpur University said, “People’s participation is of crucial importance in disseminating information, but the system needs continuous monitoring to serve the purpose.”
Since landslides can occur also due to tremors, GSI has also installed InSAR technology by putting five corner reflectors to monitor movement of the rocks and soil.
Satellite reflectors are commonly used to measure the movement of the earth as sensors are installed in the soil and rocks. They can work even in cloudy weather.
“Together the community members and the reflectors are supposed to keep a continuous watch on possible landslides,” said the GSI spokesperson.
“We hope to save life and valuables, if not houses,” remarked Gupta.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Kolkata / by HT Correspondents / September 22nd, 2018
Two Chinese condiment shops on either side of a lane in Calcutta vie for patronage
Sing Cheung, on the side of Lu Shun Sarani in central Calcutta competing for the most-authentic tag Manasi Shah
Lu Shun Sarani in central Calcutta is one saucy lane. On either side of it are two Chinese sauce shops — Pou Chong and Sing Cheung — and between them, an ongoing tussle for the tag of the most-authentic.
Sing Cheung is the older of the two, by four years.
It has been many months since the Chinese New Year, but time seems to have stopped here. There are Chinese lanterns and scarlet wall hangings all over the place. A tangy smell clings to the air and the place is bustling with customers, staff and barrels.
Yes, barrels. Plastic ones, almost 50 in all, inside the shop and outside it. White ones with orange or green caps — some empty, some full. It takes us a while to understand that these contain sauces — tomato chilli, garlic chilli, momo, capchico (red and green), coriander chilli, chilli vinegar, black bean, oyster, varieties of soyabean — No. 1 Dark, C Light, A Light and even an all-in-one sauce.
Another shop on the other side of Lu Shun Sarani in central Calcutta tussle for the most-authentic tag / Manasi Shah
One of the staff says, “Here we sell sauces by the kilo.” Locals, apparently, come with their containers and buy the sauces off the barrels, instead of buying whole bottles. It works out cheaper.
At the centre of the room is a wooden counter and on it, a couple of brochures that mention the range of sauces and items sold. A bespectacled bald man is sitting behind the counter and barking orders — Ye karlo. Yahaan dhyaan do. Inka kitna bill hua? He doesn’t have a moment to spare. Time is sauce, sauce is money.
“We cater to restaurants and the locals. All the Chinese restaurants in and around the city use our sauces. We sell authentic Chinese condiments,” he says after much prodding. And what does he mean by authentic? Silence, and then: “That information you will get only at our factory in Topsia.” He turns away to make it clear that he is not going to entertain any more questions
Sauce bottles / Manasi Shah
We turn to the customers. A middle-aged man keeps referring to a handwritten list. He is Surinder Jha, who works at a hotel in Hazaribagh. An elderly woman, Christine Lee, walks out of the shop with a bag full of condiments. It is for a cousin from Australia, she informs excitedly. “She is visiting Calcutta for the first time and wants to take these back with her.” She has bought the manchurian chilli, oyster, and red and green capsico sauce.
And how are the sauces here different from those on sale at the other famous sauce shop in the locality? The shop assistant parrots, “We are the best. Whoever comes to us will not venture into any other sauce shop.”
Pou Chong came up four years after Sing Cheung. In recent times, its owner Dominic Lee has been featured in Canadian chef David Rocco’s television show, Dolce India.
Rocco is a big guy. We are expecting razzmatazz and snootiness. This place, however, turns out to be more human, less busy — at that moment at least. The Chinese woman at the counter greets, “Namaste, Madam.”
There are no customers except for a man who is here to buy fruit crush; yes, they stock those too.
He finally settles for aam panna. Seeing our amused expressions, the woman from the counter asks us to taste their specialities. A few drops of pudina chutney, Thai chilli sauce and momo sauce on wooden ice cream spoons. She is not taking no for an answer. And, she is studying our expression intently. The pudina chutney is, well, like pudina chutney — just thicker. The momo sauce, just like momo sauce. But the Thai chilli is a deceptive thing, opens on a sweet note with the chilli kick coming in right at the end.
Unlike Sing Cheung, conversations have replaced brochures at this shop. A man in a red tee senses our confusion and starts to rattle off more options — garlic chilli, tomato chilli, no-onion no-garlic — yes, there is such a thing — and kasundi. We wait for him to catch his breath and then ask, “Isn’t there another shop around here that also sells sauces and is, in fact, more famous?” Without batting so much as an eyelid he says, “Famous toh humlog bhi hain.”
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Culture / by Manasi Shah / October 07th, 2018
At a time when Calcutta’s Hindu Hostel is the subject of controversy, Moumita Chaudhuri chronicles the good ol’ days Hindu Hostel / Telegraph file picture
In July 2015, Eden Hindu Hostel for male students of Calcutta’s Presidency University, Maulana Azad College, Sanskrit College and Goenka College of Commerce and Business was vacated for repair work. Three years on, it is yet to be reopened. On August 4, students launched a protracted protest. On September 11, the annual convocation had to be shifted after angry students locked the university premises. And Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi chose not to attend the off-campus abridged event.
In the heart of north Calcutta’s College Street area stands the red building with green fenestrations. A plaque outside it reads: Here lived Dr Rajendra Prasad first President of India as a student of the Presidency College between July 1902 and December 1907. Once you enter the premises, you realise Eden Hindu Hostel is not just one building. There is the main building that houses wards 1 and 2. Another to its east houses three more wards. Construction of a hostel for postgraduates began in 1988 and took seven years to complete. Many old boarders were shifted to this one.
Heritage conservationist and architect Partha Ranjan Das’s firm is overseeing the repair and restoration of a part of the hostel. Das says, “The older buildings take after early 19th century British colonial architecture. They display the soft style of the late Baroque era.” According to Das, when his firm assumed charge in 2015, it came to light that a lot of additions and alterations had been made. “Such interventions are not allowed while restoring a heritage building,” he says. “Additions were made to the original structure, which we have removed. The buildings cannot withstand extensions like these,” he adds.
The hostel was more than a boarding and lodging space for students. It was a place of bonhomie, politics and spirited debate. It was also a creative space. From the centenary publication of Presidency College, we learn that the hostel ran a bilingual magazine called Suhrid in 1894. There are references to an assembly of poets till the late 19th century. There was a keen rivalry between the wards, each of which ran its own manuscript magazine with names such as Sense and Nonsense and Highland Review. All the wards would come together for Saraswati Puja.
This is the space where friendships were struck and history was made. Scientist Meghnad Saha met freedom fighter Jatindranath Mukherjee aka Bagha Jatin here. Says Swapan Chakravorty, distinguished professor of Presidency University and former director-general of National Library, “Those days, caste seating was followed in the dining hall. Saha felt discriminated against and left the hostel in protest.” More stories. Nationalist and founder of the Congress, Surendranath Banerjee, was a student of Doveton College but would frequent the place. When deputy superintendent of police Basanta Kumar Chatterjee was murdered in 1916, the hostel was raided. No one could be nailed though. Much later, during the Naxalite movement, eight boarders were expelled. “A movement coagulated around this expulsion,” says Chakravorty.
Jyotirmoy Pal Chowdhury, director and chairman of the Institute for Civil Service Aspirants, stayed here in the 1950s. Those days, the boarding charge for a ground floor room was Rs 5, first floor and second floor room charges were Rs 7 and Rs 8, respectively. The monthly charge for food was Rs 32. (In 2015, the monthly charge including lunch and dinner was Rs 1,500.)
Pal Chowdhury talks about student politics and how any boarder contesting elections was sure to win. He recalls the time when college senior Amartya Sen asked him to contest elections. He talks about the canteen. How each of the five wards had a kitchen representative who would go grocery shopping, decide on the menu and arrange for a monthly feast. With relish he recalls the menu, obviously hungry for a taste of those times — “Pulao, luchi, two kinds of fish, mutton, doi-mishti and dilkhusha paan that was sold at the college gate.” He has his own hand-me-down hostel tales — “Scientist Satyen Bose would play football in the adjoining field. He used to be the goalkeeper.”
The condition of the hostel deteriorated in the 1990s. Debarshi Das, a professor of Economics at IIT Guwahati, was a boarder during those years. He recalls the thick walls, high ceilings, “big rooms” sans fans. He says, “We used to rent DC fans (AC fans were not easily available on rent). You had to stick carbon sticks that would not last long.”
Chakravorty says that by 2000 most government grants dried up. The here and now we piece together from students. Sayan Chakraborty, a final-year PG student, says, “The hostel was in very bad state when we vacated the rooms in 2015. There were 250 boarders staying in all 123 rooms. Each room was heavily partitioned with possibly Burma teak wooden panels.”
Das has not seen any Burma teak partition, only “low quality wooden panels”. He says, “Each room is as big as a big classroom with 15-foot high ceilings, and teak doors and windows. The staircase is all mahogany. We have tried to put back the heritage building with minimum intervention to its original structure. But we did not get the original plan of the heritage structure and so we had to use our judgment in some of the cases.”
Currently, the Eden Hindu Hostel stands heavily guarded. Students are continuing with their fast. Vice-chancellor Anuradha Lohia said earlier this month that it would take another 4-5 months to do what was not achieved in the last three years — make the place “habitable and safe”. Last week, however, after one of the fasting students had to be hospitalised, the state government ordered that Building 1 be readied by November 15 and the university comply with the set deadline.
Pal Chowdhury had told us of the climate and culture of Hindu Hostel from his times, “We did not believe in fighting. We believed in debate. We were the Argumentative Indians.”
Hindu History
A hostel for students coming to Calcutta was the brainchild of college teacher Pearycharan Sarkar
He set up a boarding house on Bowbazar Street in north Calcutta, followed by the first students’ hostel on the same street in 1861
It was for male Hindu students. The Baker Hostel which came up in the early 20th century took in Muslim students from Maulana Azad (then Islamia College)
In Calcutta in the Nineteenth Century: An Archival Exploration, Bidisha Chakraborty writes that more than a decade later, a piece of land was earmarked for the Eden Hindu Hostel
It was named after Lt General of Calcutta Ashley Eden, who led the campaign to raise funds
The ground floor came up in 1886. In 1898, the British Government took it over
In 1947-48, it was thrown open to students of other colleges too.
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India /’ Home> Heritage / by Moumita Chaudhuri / October 07th, 2018
