First CLAT cracker from TN's Pachamalai hills seeks housing; livelihood support for family
TIRUCHY: Even as S Bharath, a student from Thonur hamlet, made history by becoming the first tribal student in the Pachamalai hills to crack the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT), his family continues to live in a crumbling one-room house and is appealing for support to improve both their living conditions and livelihood.
With the monsoon fast approaching, Bharath's family is urgently seeking help to rebuild their deteriorating home. They also hope the district administration will help them to procure tractors at a subsidised price or support to set up a small business, which could provide a more stable source of income.
Bharath was honoured by the Tiruchy collector on Monday, with a cheque for Rs 25,000 towards meeting his educational expenses. However, back in their village, his family of six continues to live under a roof made of asbestos sheets, with walls battered by years of weather.
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Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Finally, city to get all-weather swimming pool, C&D waste plant in Ludhiana soon
Ludhiana: A few much-awaited projects of the civic body are ready for inauguration and will be handed over to the public soon. Work on the all-weather swimming pool and construction and demolition waste plant is complete while the basketball court is near completion. Officials said that it will take another week to complete the remaining work. The construction and demolition (C&D) waste plant set up in Dhandhari was initially conceived under the Smart City Mission but was taken up under the Swachh Bharat Mission due to increase in its cost and change in the structure. The project cost was estimated at Rs 2.69 crore, but the site allocated for the project turned out to be a dumpsite, because of which authorities needed to construct pillars and remove the trash. This led to escalation of the project cost. Finally, the tender was awarded for Rs 7.30 crore, with an additional Rs 2.20 crore spent on machinery, which was purchased under the Smart City Mission. The plant constructed by the civic body will have the capacity to process at least 100 tons of construction waste per day. Officials said that after crushing the waste, the contractor will manufacture multiple products, like tiles. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Explore Home Solar Installation Careers and Training Options LocalPlan Search Now Undo The C&D waste plant is urgently needed in the city, as frequent construction work results in heaps of rubble lying everywhere. The civic body attempted to designate places where people could dispose of waste, but it did not work, and waste can even be seen in green belts. The all weather swimming pool was also a longstanding demand in the city, where residents did not have a place to swim during the winter months. Only a few clubs and private places have all-weather pools. Swimming enthusiasts, especially players, were unable to practise. The all-weather pool has been constructed near Rakh Bagh, adjoining the older MC pool, which remains operational in the summer. The pool has been constructed under the Smart City Mission at a cost of Rs 5.82 crore. It is 4.5 feet deep on one side and 6 feet on the other. The third project is the basketball court in Guru Nanak Stadium, costing Rs 14.38 crore under the Smart City Mission. It will take another week to complete the work. This project has missed several deadlines already and now, two courts are almost ready. MC commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal said, "The swimming pool is ready and if anyone wants to use it, they can go ahead. We have also conducted trial runs of the C&D waste plant, which will start shortly. However, the basketball court will take time. It will also start in some time." Now that the MC has constructed sports infrastructure, including a table tennis court, basketball court, and all-weather swimming pool, officials plan to hand over the projects to private bodies for proper maintenance. Ludhiana: A few much-awaited projects of the civic body are ready for inauguration and will be handed over to the public soon. Work on the all-weather swimming pool and construction and demolition waste plant is complete while the basketball court is near completion. Officials said that it will take another week to complete the remaining work. The construction and demolition (C&D) waste plant set up in Dhandhari was initially conceived under the Smart City Mission but was taken up under the Swachh Bharat Mission due to increase in its cost and change in the structure. The project cost was estimated at Rs 2.69 crore, but the site allocated for the project turned out to be a dumpsite, because of which authorities needed to construct pillars and remove the trash. This led to escalation of the project cost. Finally, the tender was awarded for Rs 7.30 crore, with an additional Rs 2.20 crore spent on machinery, which was purchased under the Smart City Mission. The plant constructed by the civic body will have the capacity to process at least 100 tons of construction waste per day. Officials said that after crushing the waste, the contractor will manufacture multiple products, like tiles. The C&D waste plant is urgently needed in the city, as frequent construction work results in heaps of rubble lying everywhere. The civic body attempted to designate places where people could dispose of waste, but it did not work, and waste can even be seen in green belts. The all weather swimming pool was also a longstanding demand in the city, where residents did not have a place to swim during the winter months. Only a few clubs and private places have all-weather pools. Swimming enthusiasts, especially players, were unable to practise. The all-weather pool has been constructed near Rakh Bagh, adjoining the older MC pool, which remains operational in the summer. The pool has been constructed under the Smart City Mission at a cost of Rs 5.82 crore. It is 4.5 feet deep on one side and 6 feet on the other. The third project is the basketball court in Guru Nanak Stadium, costing Rs 14.38 crore under the Smart City Mission. It will take another week to complete the work. This project has missed several deadlines already and now, two courts are almost ready. MC commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal said, "The swimming pool is ready and if anyone wants to use it, they can go ahead. We have also conducted trial runs of the C&D waste plant, which will start shortly. However, the basketball court will take time. It will also start in some time." Now that the MC has constructed sports infrastructure, including a table tennis court, basketball court, and all-weather swimming pool, officials plan to hand over the projects to private bodies for proper maintenance.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Nearly 1/4th of MCD drains in Delhi are yet to be desilted: Report
The Southwest monsoon has reached the Capital, and 77.5% of drains have been desilted across the city, as per the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's status report. A total of 2,29,018 metric tonnes of silt has been removed from the drains that come under the civic body's jurisdiction in 12 zones till June 23, the report underlined. The report was issued by the civic body after questions were raised on monsoon preparedness at the first meeting of the Standing Committee on June 27. At 59%, Karol Bagh was at the bottom of the list of 12 zones achieving the total desilting target. In some areas, such as Central Zone and Keshav Puram, the total silt removed exceeded the estimated tonnes of silt. Desilting is an ongoing process, said officials — it started on January 1 and is being carried out in a phased manner. The target is set for the entire year, as per the report. The civic body said a Rs 36 crore budget has been allocated for 2025-2026 for drain cleaning. The report has been segregated into two parts: drains with a depth or width of less than 4 feet, and more than 4 feet. As per an overview of the data, the civic body has desilted small drains in large numbers, but deeper and larger drains remain to be cleared. While Najafgarh, the longest running drain in Delhi, achieved 110% of the desilting target, only 67% of the drains of height or width of 4 feet and above have been desilted in the area. For North Shahdara Zone, the MCD cleared 100 of % silt from small drains (less than 4-ft deep), but only 60% of the targeted silt had been removed from bigger drains. Likewise, for the South Zone, only 63% of silt from the 45 km stretch of deeper drains has been removed before the monsoon. For the West Zone, while 86% of the small drains are cleared, only 67% of the targeted silt from deeper drains has been cleared, as per the report. Six super sucker machines, 10 jetting machines, 32 suction–cum-jetting machines, and 25 skid-steer loaders are being used in the process. The report mentions that the removed silt will be disposed of at the sanitary landfill (SLF) sites in Ghazipur, Bhalswa, and Okhla.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Voice from inside one of India's widest tunnels: ‘Can't build by fighting with rock'
There are many stories behind the 4.89-km-long, eight-lane tunnel on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway that cuts through Mukundra Hills in Rajasthan's Kota. One of them is that of 58-year-old Madhukar, who has built tunnels all his life. He started this project during Covid in 2021 at the north end, in what could well be his last assignment before retirement in two years. Now, faced with a difficult 500m stretch — he calls it the 'nala portion' — Madhukar is determined to complete his ninth project successfully, and gets emotional while recounting his association with the tunnel. The tunnel, which falls between Ummedpura and Nayagaon village in Kota, is a key link of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway — one of the most ambitious projects of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) under the Bharatmala Pariyojna. With a width of 22 metres and a height of 11 metres, it is also one of the widest tunnels in the country, passing through different rock masses and substrata that include sandstone, shale, siltstone, mudstone and limestone. In the project cluster, which is divided into 53 packages, the Ummedpura-Nayagaon tunnel is being constructed by a joint venture of Dilip Buildcon Limited and Altis-Holding Corporation. It was originally a 30-month project scheduled to be completed in January 2024, but got delayed due to challenges during excavation and is now likely to be completed by the year-end. 'Hum rock se dosti karte hain, aap rock se dushmani karke tunnel nahi bana sakte (We befriend the rock, you can't make a tunnel by fighting with the rock). In this project also, we have come to the most difficult part, but we will pass it slowly. We have to just understand the behaviour of the rock,' said Madhukar, a resident of Khagaria in Bihar, who is in charge of the blasting. Having worked in difficult terrains across Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh, Madhukar, who holds a diploma in mining, deconstructs the challenge. 'The top surface of the hill is in a zig-zag shape. We have come to a point where the distance between the top of the tunnel and the surface of the mountain is just 10.62m. Technically, we call it overburden. So, if not dealt with carefully, it may collapse anytime. For this, we are using a pilot tunneling methodology, where we first excavate a smaller tunnel in advance of the main tunnel's construction,' he said. The tunnel is part of 8.3-km Package-15 of the 1,386-km expressway project. According to NHAI, the owning authority of the expressway, the cost of the tunnel was Rs 1,000 crore before being revised to Rs 1,250 crore. Sanjay Kumar, project head and general manager (Engineering Tunnel) of Dilip Buildcon, said the tunnel is almost 80 per cent complete. 'This 8.3 km stretch of the expressway involves the construction of the highway, an open ramp, a covered tunnel and an underground tunnel. The total length of the underground tunnel is 3.3 km. On the north side, there is a 480m cut & cover tunnel. On the south portal, we have built a 1,084m cut & cover tunnel. Cut & cover is a camouflaged tunnel, which was later made part of the project as per suggestions from the Forest department as it traverses the protected area. This will help animals to pass from one side to another without disturbing the habitat,' said Kumar. 'In tunneling, and especially for such fragile stretches, we have to decide our next step at every metre of excavation. In this 500m section, we are building a smaller tunnel, then we will widen it to take the shape of the main tunnel. It is like making a tunnel inside a tunnel. Currently, on an average, we are excavating 1.2m per day. After that, we will do benching, where the lower part will be excavated. After its completion, it will connect Chechat in Rajasthan to Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh,' said Kumar, the project head. Vikas Prasad, a geologist from Jharkhand, explains the challenges. 'The rock mass is very weak and highly fractured, Because of this, we had to face some unforeseen changes in the geological condition. There was very heavy ground water ingress inside the tunnel. Along with this, due to heavy rainfall, the tunnel submerged in 2022, 2023 and 2024. When we started work, we thought we would get hard strata but the rock formation is soft. Also, we have to give a 100-year guarantee that the tunnel will remain safe,' said Prasad. Surendra Singh, the safety expert, said that since excavation is nearing completion, the next step is to install a robust safety system. 'The tunnel will be equipped with the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system. It will have power supply, ventilation system, fire fighting and hydrant system, fire alarm, gas suppression system, optical linear heat detection, public address, CCTV, emergency telephone, gas sensor, radio rebroadcasting system, signages, emergency power, communication & traffic control, lighting etc,' said Singh. Pardeep Atri, regional officer, NHAI, Jaipur, said the breakthrough was completed on February 20 and April 10. 'The tunnel breakthrough is a sensational moment, when the tunnel being excavated from both sides finally meets. At this moment, for the first time, the air gushes from one side to another and increases the oxygen level,' he said. According to Atri, this tunnel is in an eco-sensitive zone, due to which there were concerns from the forest and wildlife department. 'We redesigned the project accordingly. Most of the tunnels in the country are four-lane. We are building two four-lane tunnels here, which will be a great achievement for the more than 2,000 people who worked on this project. Vehicle movement will start from these tunnels by March 2026,' he said. Dheeraj Mishra is a Principal correspondent with The Indian Express, Business Bureau. He covers India's two key ministries- Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. He frequently uses the Right to Information (RTI) Act for his stories, which have resulted in many impactful reports. ... Read More
