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Delhi gets its tallest building — Civic Centre

Friday, 23 April 2010 10:36 administrator
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Indian Express 23.04.2010

Delhi gets its tallest building — Civic Centre

Express News Service Tags : civic centre, delhi Posted: Friday , Apr 23, 2010 at 0111 hrs

New delhi: After a delay of over 15 years, the 28-storey Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre, the new headquarters of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), was finally inaugurated on Thursday by Union Home Minister P Chidambram.

Also present were prominent leaders like L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, V K Malhotra, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and A K Walia.

At 112 m, the centre is the tallest building in Delhi and is touted as a tourist attraction by the corporation and the state administration.

Developed at a cost of Rs 500 crore, the building has been in the news, especially over the last year and a half. Among the issues was the delay in passing the proposal of the new building. The project could manage just a single bidder — Parsvnath Developers. More recent was the BJP-Congress divide over naming the building, with the former wanting to name it after Jan Sangh founder S P Mukherjee and the latter insisting that it either be named after Mahatma Gandhi or be called as ‘Civic Centre’.

While the building has been inaugurated, work on the interiors of the auxiliary wings remains to be completed. The Opposition leaders in the MCD have claimed that Mayor Kanwar Sain, whose term ends next week, ensured that the building was inaugurated before the municipal elections.

“The building makes us proud but work remains to be finished. What was the rush then? It is just a way of gaining cheap publicity for the Mayor and the leader of the House before their terms end,” said MCD leader of opposition J K Sharma. While the construction in the main building is complete, last-minute work like plumbing, installation of electrical fittings was on even on Thursday. Work also remains outside the building in the common area that will be developed as a cultural centre

MCD has finalised its plans to shift to the new premises, scheduled to take place in six phases. The Engineering department will be the first to move and the Deliberative wing the last.

The agency also plans to hire a consultant next month to develop the Town Hall into a tourist destination by converting it into a heritage hotel. Many conservationists are protesting against the plan, arguing that converting the heritage structure into a hotel will ruin the structure

Last Updated on Friday, 23 April 2010 11:03
 

MCD wants radiation detection equipment

Friday, 16 April 2010 11:44 administrator
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Indian Express 16.04.2010

MCD wants radiation detection equipment

Express News Service Tags : radioactive radiation, corporation Posted: Friday , Apr 16, 2010 at 0158 hrs

New delhi: After the recent radiation leak at the Mayapuri scrap market, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has written to the Delhi government asking it to install radiation detection equipment at all seven borders of the Capital.

The letter to the government got the nod of the Corporation members during the Standing committee meeting on Thursday.

“Delhi has no radiation detection equipment at the borders at present thus making the movement of hazardous substances easy. The Corporation also too has no team equipped to detect radiation sources. Thus we decided to write to the government,” Leader of MCD House Subhash Arya said.

The MCD is also mulling the need of a scrap inspection policy. “The policy will create awareness about harmful wastes. We will issue guidelines about junk items that can be useful and disastrous,” MCD Standing Committee chairperson Ram Kishan Singhal said. He added from now on municipal inspectors, who check licences of merchants, will be equipped to detect the presence of radioactive substance in a market

Last Updated on Friday, 16 April 2010 11:46
 

Disaster fighting machine arrives

Friday, 16 April 2010 04:58 administrator
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The Hindu 16.04.2010

Disaster fighting machine arrives

M. Malleswara Rao

‘Hazmat' can tackle chemical, biological and nuclear accidents

 

Hazmat is manufactured at an estimated Rs. 5 crore

It will be flagged off by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah on Saturday

- Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

New acquisition: Fire-fighters attached to the emergency rescue vehicle at the Secretariat on Thursday.

HYDERABAD: The State is finally in possession of a state of the art hazardous material handling vehicle.

Procured by the State Disaster Response & Fire Services (DRFS) Department, the new vehicle – Hazmat – arrived here from Uttar Pradesh and trial run of the new vehicle has commenced at the Secretariat on Thursday.

Manufactured with an estimated Rs. 5 crore, Hazmat is equipped with facilities to tackle chemical, biological and nuclear accidents in addition to oil/acid spillages. Components and equipment were imported from Germany, Holland and the US and assembled at Mathura in UP where the vehicle was fabricated on Volvo chassis by Brij Basi Hi-Tech Udyog Limited.

DRFS director general Aruna Bahuguna who oversaw the vehicle's manoeuvrings during the trial operations said this was India's fourth Hazmat, the first three stationed at Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad and it would be flagged off by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah on Saturday.

Though it is meant for the newly constructed Secretariat fire station, it is being kept at Film Nagar fire station for the time being for want of staff.

Officials concerned decided to procure Hazmat for the Secretariat where fire accidents were not infrequent, the biggest one being the last summer's blaze in the “D” block. The vehicle has several special features and facilities with cabin itself resembling a mini work-station with computer, fax and other gadgets kept at specified slots for dissemination of information from the trouble-spot.

A revolving video camera is installed on its top along with mast-lights, to enable operator inside to have a comprehensive view of the disaster spot.

Equipment enabling the operator to listen to small voices buried underneath debris in case of earthquakes or building collapse have been installed in Hazmat. The belly of Hazmat has two tanks, each containing 1,000 litres of water and foam.

Hazmat operators wear spacesuit-like dress and masks so that they can drive directly into the disaster zone for search, rescue and fire-fighting operations. It has circulating air filter, victim location system, inflatable decontamination shelter, dose rate meter to measure nuclear radiation, multi-gas detectors, ventilator and smoke extractor and explosion-proof system.

Last Updated on Friday, 16 April 2010 05:06
 
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