CITIES
Mammoth 650-tonne tunnel boring machine completes epic 1,600-km journey from Tamil Nadu to Kolkata; here’s why | Kolkata News – The Times of India
KOLKATA: A giant tunnel boring machine (TBM), 90m long and weighing around 650 tonnes, almost entirely made in India, has reached Kolkata after a 1,653 km journey from Tamil Nadu’s Alinjivakkam. Despite the ongoing impasse over land for construction of the Purple Line’s Kidderpore station, Metro has decided to proceed with the underground tunnelling from Kidderpore to Park Street.
TBMs are earth pressure balance (EPB) machines used to excavate tunnels through hard rock, wet or dry soil, or sand. The superior technology allows burrowing and building tunnels with precast segment rings. The Purple Line’s TBMs will first build 1.7 km from St Thomas’ to Victoria. The second drive will span 950 m from Victoria to Park Street. The northern end between Park Street and Esplanade will be built using the cut-and-cover method.
Around 5 km of the 14 km Metro corridor, which will connect Joka and Esplanade via 12 stations, is underground. But there is uncertainty whether Kidderpore station will be built at all, as land at Kolkata Police’s Bodyguard Lines is not available yet.
Meanwhile, contractors L&T, awarded the Rs 2,447 crore underground package by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), the railways undertaking tasked with building most of the city’s Metro lines, has started work in full swing. L&T commenced work on this package in Sept 2023, with Victoria station. In July 2024, it started casting tunnel ring segments in its Sarkarpool (near Mahestala) unit. The unit is likely to produce around 3,000 segments to feed the TBMs to build the section’s twin tunnels, which will have an inner diameter of 5.8 m.
The TBM, dismantled and loaded onto 17 trailers, will be directly unloaded in the shaft built inside St Thomas’ Boys School and launched from there.
On Feb 20, Metro GM P Uday Kumar Reddy and RVNL’s chief project manager Vipin Kumar travelled to Alinjivakkam to witness the second TBM’s factory acceptance test (FAT). Unlike the East-West Metro project, where all three pairs of TBMs were manufactured in Germany, shipped to Delhi, and ferried by road to Kolkata, most of the two new TBMs were built and assembled in Tamil Nadu.
“Except for four parts – the cutter head (which digs through soil), manlock (which holds workers to access the inside of tunnel borer), material lock (which removes the excavated material hydraulically), and propulsion system (comprising hydraulic cylinders which supply power) – most of the two TBMs were indigenously built,” an official said. “Though S-1410A and S-1411A are from German manufacturer Herrenknecht AG’s TN unit, they were not totally built/assembled outside India,” he said.
CITIES
Korean Cultural Centre India Hosts Enriching Event for Underprivileged Children | – The Times of India
As part of its ongoing efforts to bring Korean culture closer to underprivileged children in India, the Korean Cultural Centre India (KCCI) recently hosted a special event for 50 children from Chehel, a Delhi-based NGO. The children, aged between 5 and 15, were treated to a day filled with cultural activities at the KCCI. The experience included trying traditional Korean dishes, wearing the Hanbok (Korean traditional dress), and enjoying Korean games like Jegi, Tuho, and the Stone Tower game. They also visited exhibitions on K-content and webtoons and enjoyed a vibrant Samulnori performance — a Korean percussion music tradition. A Taekwondo demonstration added energy to the event, with children even trying out a few moves themselves.
A major highlight of the programme was a live performance of the Korean folktale Sim Cheong, presented by Indian artists from Theatre I Entertainment Trust. The story, centred on a young girl’s devotion to her blind father, was well received by the children.
Over the past two years, this theatre group has performed Korean folktales at 12 schools across India, reaching more than 2,600 students. They have also staged a musical based on the tale of Queen Heo.
Speaking about their experience of the event, 14-year-old Aradhana said, “This is the first time I’ve witnessed such a cultural performance. Sim Cheong’s courage and love for her father was truly touching.” It was not only the students who enjoyed the performance, but also the volunteers of the Delhi-based NGO. Santosh Kumar, one of the volunteers said, “It is rare for underprivileged children to have the opportunity to gain such holistic experience of a culture that is different from their own. The various activities planned over here made this entire experience very meaningful and diverse.”
Hwang Il Yong, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in India, said, “Rather than offering a one-time material support, we felt our role was to enrich students’ cultural and artistic literacy through education and immersive content. It was truly rewarding to see the joy on the faces of the children and volunteers. I hope this event will provide more opportunities for Indian students to experience Korean culture reimagined through their own lens.”
CITIES
8-year-old dies after falling into pit dug by MMRDA in Mumbai | Mumbai News – The Times of India
MUMBAI: In a tragic incident on Wednesday evening an eight-year-old boy got drowned in a water-filled pit dug for ongoing metro construction work near the Sonapur area, within Mankhurd Police Station limits.
According to the police at around 5:40 PM, the police received an emergency call informing that the boy, Aryan Vishwanath Nishad, reportedly fell into the pit located on the left side of the service road along the Sion Panvel North channel.
With the assistance of the fire brigade, the boy was retrieved from the water. He was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital in a Mankhurd police vehicle, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Eyewitnesses told police that , Aryan was playing near the area when he accidentally slipped and fell into the pit.
Police have registered a case of accidental death and are probing the case. The police have also stated that further action will be taken based on the findings of their inquiry and related submissions.
This incident raises renewed concerns about safety measures around construction zones, particularly in residential areas where children are known to play.
CITIES
CBI searches 12 places across Odisha over postal recruitment scam | Bhubaneswar News – The Times of India
BHUBANESWAR: CBI on Wednesday conducted simultaneous searches at 12 locations in the state, including in Bhubaneswar, Kalahandi, Balangir, Sambalpur and Keonjhar, in connection with its probe into irregularities in the Gramin Dak Sevak recruitment during 2023.
“Officers carried out search operations at premises connected to suspects, including intermediaries and individuals involved in producing counterfeit matriculation certificates from the Uttar Pradesh board and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS),” a CBI officer said.
The search operations led to the seizure of crucial documents, digital devices and questionable certificates. The CBI team found evidence suggesting that intermediaries charged substantial sums from aspiring candidates to arrange counterfeit educational certificates. The candidates were from various postal divisions, including Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi and Berhampur.
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In Bhubaneswar, the searches focused on residential premises and offices linked to key suspects. Similar operations in Kalahandi and Balangir yielded important leads about the network’s operations. Searches in Sambalpur and Keonjhar exposed additional connections to the recruitment scam.
The postal department detected the fraud during physical verification of certificates which were submitted by the candidates online. During verification, postal officials found that the candidates failed to write their names in English and Odia even though their marksheets showed they had secured more than 90% marks in all subjects.
The authorities also raised a suspicion after finding Odia as one of the subjects the candidates passed, though the certificate issuing boards were in other states.
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