The Calcutta City Network

The marrige of the millennium is comming up. All speculations can be put to rest now. Abhishek "is" getting married to Aishwarya, after all. All the horoscopic differences and family resistance could not deter Chhota B from conquering the world - his world now - miss Aishwarya Rai. The Abhi-Ash is scheduled for early 2007. In fact Abhi had given her the "ring" long before the Vivek-Ash split became apparent. They were committed and didn't waver in the face of all the rumours that flew around them. Seems Abhi was determined to clear all the mumbo-jumbo about how Ash's presence would bring more bad luck to him a la Vivek and Salmaan. Our Chuppa Rustam silently kept his ladylove by his side, moved steadily ahead towards success. Friends say that Abhi is so besotted by Ash that he just can't do without her now. Ditto with Ash. Actually her accident in Chennai during the shoot of Mani Ratnam's film Guru helped them make up for the lost time they were away from each other. The wait will be over soon!

Believe it or not, thanks to Manoj Jhade, a Maharashtra-based investor, solar powered robots are all set to scare the hell out of crows. And in this process farmers can increase their productivity. Farmers just need "proper motivation and awareness" to adopt theese life-like scarecrows says the inventor.
Jhade, a professor at the K.K Wagh Institute of Engineering, saw the plight of farmers and thought of bringing his own mini revolution in the country's villages by devising the solar-powered scarecrow.His model comprises of a number of electronic "guns" and a micro-controller. These guns are nothing but electronic circuits fitted with amplifiers, which produce a sound similar to the firing of a gun as soon as its switched on. The micro-controller fitted within the scarecrow controls the firing of the guns. The system is programmed in such a way that it starts firing from all the guns at the same time or one after the other. The interval between two friings can also be controlled by the micro-controller, which issues start and stop commands to the guns.

Subhas Sarobar, the largest waterbody in the city barring Rabindra Sarobar, is turning into a bog due to deposition of soap and detergents and lack of maintanence by Calcutta Improvement Trust(CIT).
The waterbody, owned by the CIT, is looked after by the West Bengal Anglers' Association(WBAA),though it's lease expired 4yrs ago.
During a recent survey, the water resources engineering department of Jadavpur University found dead fish floating in Subhas Sarobar: The abnormally low percentage of oxygen in the water is beleived to be the cause of deaths. The researcers blamed th detergents and soapsuds for the fall in oxygen.
According to the director of the water resources engineering wing, Asis Majumdar; at a depth of 3mtrs, the dissolved oxygen was 10% lessthan the minimum requirement for the survival of fish. They cannot survive if the oxygen content is below 3mg/L,he added.
"Steps should be taken immidiately for conservation of the lake. If Subhas Sarobar is not included in the National Lake Conservation Project(NLCP), like Rabindra Sarobar, its future looks bleak," added Majumdar.
Research scholars Nihar Ranjan Samal and Pankaj Roy are currently doin a chemical analysis of the water samples from the lake.
"We have sent a proposal to the central goverment for Subhas Sarobar's inclusion in the NLCP. We are yet to get a reply," said a deputy secratary of the urban development department.
The CIT is now exploring the feasibility of developing Subhas Sarobar in conjunction with private parties," revealed the Trust's Chief Engineer Dibyendu Biswas.
"We will welcom the inclusion of Subhas Sarobar in the NLCP. But we are against the privatization of the waterbody in the name of joint venture," asserted assistance of WBAA Arun Nandy.
The CIT can itself develop Subhas Sarobar into a recreation centre and introduce an entry fee for visitors, he suggested.

New research shows that current of former alcoholics have a high risk for developing Streptococcus Pneumoniae , a bacteria known to cause Pneumonia. A joint Spanish German team compared the cause of the desease, antibiotec resistance of S pnemoniae, serverity, and outcome of patients with alcohol abuse with non-alcoholics hospitalised with community accquired pneumonia. Results indicated that patients with a history of alcohol abuse had the highest incidence of S pneumoniae, according to a study in the journel, Chest.

The Second Vivekananda Bridge will collapse within 5 - 7 yrs of its opening due to severe structural faults and poor engineering warned a German supervisor a few days before yesterday's cave-in.

"If work goes like this , the bridge will collapse after 5 to 7 yrs of its
commissioning due to critical technical shortcomings and poor engineering
hygiene,"

Jurgen H.H. Dorbecker commented before leaving the country last following differences with project contractor L&T.
On Friday a portion of the bridge collapsed killing two labourers and injuring two seriously. Other labourers have stopped work blaming the use "poor quality material" in building the Calcutta - Howrah bridge over Hoogly. They also allege that since construction began in 2001, six laboureres have died and the accedents have been hushed up.
Dorbecker, who has worked on the Suez canal Bridge and the Singapore Second Crossing, said,

"We are talking of hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people crossing the
bridge every day and such compromise - be it for cutting costs, ignorance, or
time pressure - is criminal. As a professional, I dont want people to call me up
after 10yrs and hold me responsible for a bridge collapse,"

before returning home to Brisbane.