Work on Colaba-Seepz metro to start by March 2016

Mumbai: The work on the much touted Colaba-Seepz underground metro line is likely to commence before March 2016-end.

“We have already completed the initial process for the project. We are currently in the final stages of selecting the bidder. We expect the pre-construction work on the project to commence before March 2016 and will be completed by 2020,”

Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) Managing Director Ashwini Bhide, told reporters here today.

She said MMRC has already shortlisted nine consortia for the over Rs 23,000-crore, 33-km underground rail link, which will now go through the second round of bidding.  “Since the project will be developed in seven packages and is the first of its kind in the city, we have to go through a long process of selecting the final bidders.

Currently, we have shortlisted nine bidders. We expect the selection process to be completed over the next 6-7 months,” she said.

Bhoomipujan for the project was carried out in August last year at Marol in the northern suburb of the city.

Talking about fares for the metro, Bhide said it will be determined on the lines of the fares fixed by the DMRC, indexed at 7.5 per cent and would be revised every second year.

The MMRC has fixed fares between Rs 11 and Rs 37 for the proposed corridor.

“The initial fares would be fixed on lines of those charged by DMRC. Later, it will be determined by the fare fixation committee,” she said.

On the funding for the Rs 23,136 crore project, Bhide said that the Japanese funding agency JICA would be providing a soft loan to the extent of Rs 13,235 crore in tranches.

Apart from state and Central governments’ support for the project through equity, the company is also expecting Rs 1,000 crore from property development along the alignment of the metro, which would be used for funding the project.

Last September, MMRC had shortlisted nine consortia in the pre-qualification bids, whereas five were disqualified from the 33-km-long underground project.

Afocons Infrastructure-Kyivmetrobud, Continental Engineering Corporation-ITD Cementation India-Tata Projects, Dogus-Soma, IL&FS Engineering and Construction-China Railway 25th Bureau Group, J Kumar Infraprojects-China Railway 3 Engineering Group, L&T-Shanghai Tunnel Engineering, Moscow

Metrostroy-HCC, Pratibha Industries-Guandong Tuantian Engineering Unity Infraprojects, and IVRCL-China Railway Tunnel Group, are the selected bidders.

The project will connect Cuffe Parade, Nariman Point, Fort, Girgaum, Mahalaxmi, Worli, Bandra-Kurla Complex, airport and SEEPZ.

Construction work on the car depot planned at Aarey Colony will commence in September.

It will have passenger interchange facilities with Central Railway at CST, Western Railway at Churchgate, Mumbai Central and Mahalaxmi, Metro Line 1 at Marol Naka, Metro Line 2 at Bandra-Kurla Complex, and Monorail at Mahalaxmi; all facilities are being designed to provide seamless travel.

7 Things Every Engineering Student Has to Face in College

Engineering may be fun for some and a nightmare for others, but a few things are common. Find out the seven things that every engineering student goes through in college.

1. Realising you bombed the first test because you underestimated how hard this was going to be

So you thought your engineering course was going to be just like studying Physics or Maths in class XII? Maybe a step up? Wrong. And you have the (dreadful) results of your first test to prove it.

2. Assignments not going the way they were planned

You have a project or assignment due tomorrow. You thought you had it all mapped out and enough time to complete it in, but with just a few hours to go, it all falls apart in front of your eyes. Nothing is working the way you intended. NOTHING.

3. Falling asleep in class

Because you stayed up the night before. Oh and the night before that. Oh and the night…

4. Spending birthdays in the lab, or in the library

Other people plan birthday lunches, dinners, parties, outings, etc. You plan to put in some extra lab hours.

5. Receiving a question paper that looks like it was written in Greek

Seriously. Were all these strange, scary-looking topics part of the syllabus too? When did that happen?

6. You’ve considered dropping out. Multiple times.

You lie in bed making lists of all the careers you could have chosen instead of engineering. Why couldn’t you have gone for a nice, simple course like your friends in the humanities fields?

7. Realising that your friends and roomies are what make it worth it

That, and the engineering degree that will make you so proud someday and set you apart from the crowd for the rest of your life. 

7 Things Engineering Students Can Learn from 3 Idiots

are seven things we learned from the movie.

1. Follow your dreams: If you believe in yourself enough, you can achieve what you want. Every human being is blessed with something they are meant to do. If you feel engineering isn’t it, find out what is.

2. Don’t underestimate the low scorers: Marks don’t matter. You can be a topper, yet be miserable throughout your life. History has shown that the silent introvert is more likely to be an achiever than the topper.

3. How an induction motor actually starts: Brrrrrrrrr...

4. Even engineering students can find love: Surprise! The greatest fear of the engineering student has been squashed. Yes, you can find true love. You may have to stand on a swing and sing in the rains in the process.

5. Don’t be a hater: Rancho was treated by everyone like a spoilt brat; no one knew his actual story. So don’t judge a book by its cover, unless the cover says “written by Chetan Bhagat”.

6. What to do when you submit a paper late: We all have strict external invigilators during exams. So in case you need those extra minutes after the exam time is over, just jumble up all answer sheets when you submit yours and then run as fast as you can.

7. Don’t give up: Things will happen for you, life will find a way. Don’t ever give up on life, and if you find yourself thinking such thoughts, think of the people who love you. Keep calm and take life as it comes. As an engineer you are destined for a tough life initially, but once it settles, you’ll be glad you stuck through it!

7 Reasons Why Late Night Dhaba Dinners Are the Most Unforgettable Ones for Hostellers

No matter what part of the country you are in, it is universally understood that dhaba food tastes better than mess food. Especially late at night. But it’s just dhaba food, nothing special, right? Wrong. If it wasn’t for good old dhabas, the lives of hostellers would never be the same. Let’s look at some of the reasons why dhaba dinners make up some of the most unforgettable memories of a student’s life. 

#1 Dhaba food tastes like heaven after you’ve been eating hostel food for a while

When all you can get at the hostel mess is rice and watery dal, dhabas, with their rich flavours and large servings, quickly become your best friend.

#2 Dhabas are a food haven for non-vegetarians

For non-vegetarians, the local dhaba is the go-to place for delicious and juicy tandoori chicken, butter chicken, and other items the mess won’t serve.

#3 This is where you make friends for life

Late night dhaba dinners are about much more than just eating. You bond over plates of food, and everything from blossoming love to heartbreak finds its place here.

#4 No exam is over until you have celebrated it with a dhaba dinner

After all the stress of exams, it’s only fair that you rush to the nearest dhaba to chill out, chat with close friends and relax over delicious food.

#5 They give you value for money

While students want to eat out all the time, they are also the ones who are broke most of the time. A dhaba is the perfect place for them as it allows them to get away from the hostel for a late night rendezvous, with the minimum expense possible.

#6 Hunger has no time limit, and neither do dhabas

Students are notorious for feeling hungry at odd hours, especially hostellers, because of all the late night study and chat sessions. A dhaba is the only place which suits both hostellers’ pockets and timings.

#7 The “khaata” system

Last but not least, the “khaata” system, which is basically a credit system that students use to settle accounts between themselves, makes life easier and helps bring friends closer.

7 Stupid Things Men Expect From A Prospective Bride

First things first: believe it or not there are many who go for arranged marriages. So, to those men who open their mouth and ask a question to, or demand something from, their prospective bride, these illustrations will be of immense help. They won’t make you look like an idiot, at least.

1.

MarryinaWeek</span

2.

MarryinaWeek

3.

MarryinaWeek

4.

MarryinaWeek

5.

MarryinaWeek

6.

MarryinaWeek

7.

8 Red Light Areas In Popular Indian Cities

One of the oldest occupations in the world is that of Prostitution. Read any eons-old piece of literature, like Chaucer’s great Canterbury Tales, you’ll get a reference to prostitution. Even in India’s age old classics, references to prostitution are often found. While not all are comfortable in bringing up the topic, except a few, like Charles Baudelaire and TS Eliot, that prostitution is still a harsh reality of any and every developed nations cannot be denied. Here in this list, we’ve make an attempt to chart out some of the infamous red light areas in our country.

8. Meeraganj, Allahabad

Allahabad, the city of Sangam and the pious Kumbh Mela is where one of the most notorious red light areas of the country is. Meeraganj is a very dangerous place as it is not somewhat secluded and houses one of the biggest shopping centers of the city. In fact, it is a place where ruffians bring in minor rural girls and force them into prostitution or sell them off.

7. Chaturbhujsthan, Muzaffarpur

In the bygone eras, in India, many temples accompanied brothels. In fact, we have a whole area of research—Shivdasis—for that, and Chaturbhujsthan in Muzzarfarpur is just an exemplification of that. The fourth-most populated city of Bihar has an old temple at the said locale which has numerous small brothels in the adjoining area. And, we’re still hoping for a change, are we?

6. Shivdaspur, Varanasi

Varanasi, since times immemorial, has been famous for brothels and the elegant danseuses or what we know as the “tawaif culture”. However, similar situations can be noticed even now, in fact, at a more heinous scale. The place we’re talking about is about a 10 minutes journey from the Varanasi Railway Station and is one of the biggest red light areas in UP. Of the many NGOs working there, Gudia is one of the foremost which aids in saving children from getting into prostitution.

5. Ganga Jamuna, Nagpur

One of the most notorious red light areas of Maharashtra resides in Nagpur’s Ganga Jamuna area, though the name suggests peace and piety. The brothels in Ganga Jamuna not only run sex business, but also are major depots of criminal activities and smuggling.

4. Budhwar Peth, Pune

Now this is one strange place that we are talking about. If you want to shop electronics, books and exquisite curios while in Pune, people will inevitably name Budhwar Peth to you, one of the busiest shopping destination in the city. If you want to visit the richest Ganesh Temple in India, you’ll have to go to Budhwar Pet’s Dagadusheth Halwai Ganapati Temple; and, if you want to buy cheap or expensive sex, still you’ll have to visit the same place. Is this what we call an epitome of a hi-tech city?

3. Kamathipura, Mumbai

Kamathipura is no longer known by this name. The place is so much famous for its brothels that it’s now being called the Red Street of Bombay, and boasts of being the second largest red light areas of Asia. Needless to say, this place is one of the most dangerous zones in the city where the crime rate never comes down. Is this what we call a “sparkling city of dreams”?

2. G.B. Road, Delhi

G.B. Road or Garstin Bastion Road is again a commercial center of the city where you’ll get to see lots of old multi-storied buildings crumbling up side by side, the ground floor of which act as shops while the rest of the floors as brothels. These brothels are where girls and minors from the whole of India are sold.

1. Shonagachi, Kolkata

Here we come to the most dangerous, notorious and, of course, the largest red light areas of Asia. Situated along the banks of the Ganges in North Kolkata, Shonagachi is one place in Kolkata with a very high crime rate. Well, within half an hour’s distance from here, you’ll get at Premchand Boral Lane or the Haarkata lane where still the baiji culture (or the tawaif) culture is prevalent. It is the oldest red light area in Asia and infamous for its offensive criminal activities.

The Indian Locomotives in Use currently_Chittranjan Locomotives