“It’s an amazing experience to watch the sun set from this vessel... This is something like Shaam-e-Magadh,” exulted chief minister Nitish Kumar as he sat in the air-conditioned floating restaurant, MV Ganga Vihar, on Monday evening.
Nitish was on board to inaugurate this novel restaurant which will be operated by the Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation on the Ganga river twice every day. As the vessel anchored off the city’s Gandhi Ghat and chugged down the river, ideas started floated into the CM’s mind. “I will hold a Cabinet meeting on it — a floating Cabinet meeting,” he said.
Development commissioner Anup Mukherjee was asked on the spot to organize the meet. And yes, the CM and his ministers won’t be free-trippers. “The government will pay for it,” Nitish said while turning towards culture secretary Vivek Kumar Singh.
“Cruising down the Ganga is a heart-soothing experience. The government will take some major decisions while afloat,” he said and added this floating restaurant is yet another example of changing Bihar.
The floating restaurant should be made available on rent for social and family functions like birthday and marriage, was another idea the CM came up with.
“I think people will prefer this novel venue to hotels more so because this will be cheaper @ Rs 20,000 for four hours,” he said.
Yet another idea of the CM needed some quick actions to translate that into reality. In response to Nitish’s advice “let this vessel be booked by people for viewing solar eclipse on Wednesday morning”, tourism department’s bosses immediately decided to offer an entry ticket of Rs 100 each at 4 in the morning on Wednesday. The tickets along with sunglasses can be have from Kautilya Vihar and Chandragupta Swimming Pool at the Moinul Haq Stadium.
The vessel sailed up to the Collectorate Ghat and turned for downstream cruise up to Gandhi Setu from where it returned and was anchored at the Gandhi Ghat. Seeing the Gandhi Setu from under it, Nitish looked a bit worried at its dilapidated condition. “It should be used only by light vehicles,” he said.
Nitish said if the cruise restaurant proves a success, more vessels would be pressed into service. “Private operators would be welcome to run the show,” he said.
Referring to the proposed Marine Drive along the Ganga from Digha to Patna Saheb, he said its DPR is being prepared. A DPR for the River Front is also under preparation, he added.link
Showing posts with label Gandhi Setu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gandhi Setu. Show all posts
Monday 20 July 2009
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Bihar to host IRC meet in Nov
Bihar would host the 70th annual session of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) from November 14-17. Around 2,000 top engineers from across the country would congregate in Patna to take part in the four-day session being held in the state after a gap of 17 years.
The state government has sanctioned Rs 2.42 crore for organizing the annual show which comprises several technical sessions during which experts would present their papers on different aspects of road and bridge constructions.
Bihar engineers, too, have been asked to submit their research papers in the session and entries are likely to come in a month.
Debates would also be organized in which participants would raise questions on different topics and experts from the respective fields would answer them.
Set up in 1934 with the objective of developing roads in the country, the IRC is a premier technical body of highway engineers in the country.
The activities of the IRC has expanded over the years and it has now grown into a multi-dimensional organisation. It provides a national forum for sharing of knowledge and pooling of experience on the entire range of subjects dealing with construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, including research, planning and technology.
IRC also proposes standard specifications for road and bridge constructions which are followed by agencies across the country.
"The annual session in Patna would offer a great opportunity to Bihar engineers as they can share quality time with technical experts from across the nation," local organizing secretary of the IRC's 70th annual session Babban Ram told.
He said that the state would use the session to share its experiences in road and bridge constructions with experts from outside. Besides, it would also solicit their suggestions to further improve its performance on this front.
The state would also urge the experts to visit few sites facing problems and suggestions would be solicited from them for finding a long-lasting solution.
"Gandhi Setu is one of the prospective sites to which experts would be urged to pay a visit as the problems in this important bridge is a big issue in the state," Ram said and added that experts' advice on this important bridge would be of immense help in improving its condition.link
The state government has sanctioned Rs 2.42 crore for organizing the annual show which comprises several technical sessions during which experts would present their papers on different aspects of road and bridge constructions.
Bihar engineers, too, have been asked to submit their research papers in the session and entries are likely to come in a month.
Debates would also be organized in which participants would raise questions on different topics and experts from the respective fields would answer them.
Set up in 1934 with the objective of developing roads in the country, the IRC is a premier technical body of highway engineers in the country.
The activities of the IRC has expanded over the years and it has now grown into a multi-dimensional organisation. It provides a national forum for sharing of knowledge and pooling of experience on the entire range of subjects dealing with construction and maintenance of roads and bridges, including research, planning and technology.
IRC also proposes standard specifications for road and bridge constructions which are followed by agencies across the country.
"The annual session in Patna would offer a great opportunity to Bihar engineers as they can share quality time with technical experts from across the nation," local organizing secretary of the IRC's 70th annual session Babban Ram told.
He said that the state would use the session to share its experiences in road and bridge constructions with experts from outside. Besides, it would also solicit their suggestions to further improve its performance on this front.
The state would also urge the experts to visit few sites facing problems and suggestions would be solicited from them for finding a long-lasting solution.
"Gandhi Setu is one of the prospective sites to which experts would be urged to pay a visit as the problems in this important bridge is a big issue in the state," Ram said and added that experts' advice on this important bridge would be of immense help in improving its condition.link
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