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Roads

  • NABARD loan for road projects in Mizoram

    National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned a total amount of Rs 22.33 cr loan for development of roads and drinking water facilities in Mizoram, an official statement

  • Gurgaon-Alwar road widening project approved

    The widening and strengthening of the Gurgaon-Alwar and Hodal-Nuh-Pataudi Patauda roads have been approved under the National Capital Region (NCR) scheme in order to create a sound network of roads in

  • Rs. 7,074 crore Japanese loan for various projects

    Japan on Monday approved a massive loan package of about Rs.

  • G.T. Road to lose greenbelt on both sides: City roads to be widened

    The city district government has decided to remove the greenbelt from both the sides of the Grand Trunk Road to resolve the issue of increasing traffic in the city.

  • Project to focus on road flaws

    A project to highlight the key flaws in design of Indian roads and develop a manual is to be launched here in the Rajasthan Capital. The manual, first of its kind in India, will contain recommendations on "remedial traffic calming strategies' for policy makers and those involved in traffic management such as police, municipal authorities and the public works department persons. CUTS (Consumer Unity and Trust Society) International has conceptualised the project in partnership with Lund University, Department of Technology and Society, Sweden with the support of the Swedish International Development Agency, New Delhi. The project is titled, "Traffic calming strategies to improve pedestrian safety in India'. Umesh Gupta of CUTS-CART (Centre for Research and Training) said 24 sites from six locations would be taken up for a detailed study of road crashes.

  • A development story

    The Guntur Municipal Corporation leaves no stone unturned to ensure the city's all-round growth. THE Municipal Corporation of Guntur dreams big for the residents of the city, which has a more than 200-year-old history. It has achieved many firsts in its relatively brief existence of less than 20 years. The young corporation also has the youngest Mayor in the country, 23-year-old Kanna Nagaraju. The 52-member Municipal Council is guided by the young dynamic Municipal Commissioner Siddhartha Jain. Guntur means the village of tanks. It is believed that this village first came up close to what is known as the Red Tank. The French held Kondaveedu, a nearby village, from A.D. 1732 and built a fort to the east of the area now known as Old Guntur. The French commander constructed houses for himself and for his troopers towards the north of present-day Nallacheruvu (Black Tank) and this area was called New Guntur. One of the fastest developing Tier-III cities in Andhra Pradesh, Guntur has pride of place among municipal corporations in the State. A vibrant city, home to some of the wealthiest traders in cotton, chillis and tobacco, Guntur has fast metamorphosed into a modern city with an array of glittering shopping malls, restaurants and commercial complexes dotting the skyline. Providing basic civic amenities to a growing city with a population of over seven lakh has been a demanding task for the local body. It, however, has achieved many firsts, and dreams of providing 24-hour water supply to domestic and industrial consumers and meet the needs of the industrial corridor that is fast coming up between Vijayawada and Guntur. The corridor is expected to convert these into major Twin Cities of Andhra Pradesh after Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The GMC has achieved remarkable progress in augmenting basic amenities such as drinking water supply, sanitation, street lighting and solid waste management. It also has an efficient system in place to redress public grievances. "The GMC is highly responsive to civic problems and innovative in toning up its administrative machinery,' said District Collector Mohammad Ali Rafath. SANITATION A series of special drives has been launched by the Municipal Commissioner to augment the quality of basic services such as sanitation. The three-bin system has become a reality in many apartment complexes in the city and garbage clearance is 100 per cent. A week-long special sanitation drive in the city identified several issues, and short-term and long-term plans have been envisaged to solve them. For solid waste management, the GMC got a grant of Rs.1.26 crore from the Twelfth Finance Commission, which was spent on procuring dumper bins and tricycles. Today local residents' welfare associations take care of 50 per cent of the house-to-house garbage collection system. The use of coloured plastic bins for waste segregation at source has been introduced in some commercial areas too. Seventy-six acres of land was recently acquired in Yedlapadu mandal for dumping waste. Works such as construction of drains, laying of roads, improvement of road junctions and development of burial grounds were taken up at a cost of Rs.24 crore. Siddhartha Jain said: "People should be proud of the city they live in and be motivated to be part of the planned development. A systematic approach to administration and planning is the need of the hour. Special drives to improve sanitation and provide water supply connections will help in identifying several issues.' MEDICAL CAMP Mayor Kanna Nagaraju. At 23, he is the youngest Mayor in India. The municipal body is going beyond its principal mandate of providing basic amenities to the people; the GMC organises mega medical camps. The camps held on the Sri Patibandla Sitaramaiah High School grounds in December every year witnesses a huge turnout. The latest camp attracted more than 15,000 people. A team of 85 doctors from 20 specialisations attended to 13,400 patients. Medicines costing Rs.8.4 lakh were distributed. As many as 180 paramedical staff, students of nursing colleges and 370 cadets of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) volunteered their services. The success of the camp motivated some private hospitals and clinics to offer follow-up medical service for the patients. They would be treated for a month at a hospital of their choice. One of the most daunting tasks for the corporation is to ensure potable drinking water for the entire city. Guntur, which does not have a raw water source, depends on the Guntur Channel and the Buckingham Channel to supply 80 million litres per day (MLD) against the total ideal assessed demand of 121 MLD. The centuries-old water source at Sangam Jagarlamudi has been renovated thanks to the special interest shown by the Mayor. A water filtration plant of 10 million gallons per day has been commissioned and four reservoirs have been built at L.B. Nagar, Srinivasarao Thota, R.T.C. Colony and Stambalagaruvu. Rise in rEVENUE The corporation saw a turnaround in its finances with a near 100 per cent collection of tax and non-tax revenue from individuals and commercial establishments. Innovative steps taken by Deputy Commissioner N. Yadagiri Rao to boost revenue collection have yielded results; of the total 1.14 lakh assessments, 941 were new assessments. The revenue wing has been trifurcated

  • * USAID-funded road and drainage system opened in Ampara, Sri Lanka

    The United States has funded an 8-kilometer road and drainage system, which was opened today in Pottuvil, Ampara. The US Embassy in Colombo said its United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) funded the project to construct a low maintenance, durable road system and drainage structure throughout the Pottuvil Division. In the past, the roads flooded and became almost impassable, the Embassy said, adding that the finished roads have had a major impact on Pottuvil by reducing dust in the town and increasing locals' access to essential services, including schools, health clinics and places of worship. The project also created jobs and experience in the area. For the opening ceremony, USAID and UNOPS welcomed representatives from local government and the community.

  • U.P. Govt. defends Ganga expressway project

    The Mayawati government on Tuesday defended the Rs.40,000-crore Ballia to Noida Ganga expressway project despite doubts expressed by the Opposition members, who alleged that the scheme was a cover up for a land scam. Dismissing the allegations made by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party as baseless, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Lalji Verma said in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly that the 1,047-km-long Ganga expressway would provide fillip to the development of Uttar Pradesh.

  • Stop asphalt exports, says Ch vez

    The Venezuelan president, Hugo Ch

  • Subir Roy: When will we ever learn? (editorial)

    The name Gore Vidal takes up more than two-thirds of the space on the cover of my old paperback collection of some of his essays. For good reason, as the same cover has New Statesman, a considerable thunderer in those days, describing Vidal as "America's finest essayist'. In it is a little gem, his 1974 essay, "What Robert Moses Did to New York city', which educated Indians worried about the urban blight afflicting their country can read with benefit.

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