The Making of India's Biggest Airport........ ..

Away from some of the more visible projects in Delhi, one of the biggest construction efforts in the country is about four months away from completion. Over 20,000 workers are working round the clock everyday—among them 100 foreign nationals working in the planning and construction effort—to give wings to one of India's most ambitious projects: Delhi's new airport terminal, T3, that will cater to both international and domestic flights.
Work is on at a frantic pace to meet the March 2010 deadline. About 82 per cent work is over and its developers—the GMR group and Fraport (Frankfurt Airport)—are confident the airport will be ready in the next four months and ready to handle 27 million passengers a year.
With 78 aerobridges, of which 71 are already installed, the new terminal will be one of the few in the world to service all aircraft through aerobridges. Changi airport in Singapore has 64 aerobridges. The terminal building covers an area of about 5 million square feet—just the area of its roof accounts for 20 acres. While the developers have to get the terminal ready by March 2010, it may get operational only by July after all the certifications are in place.
With its scale and size, the new terminal is set to change the traveller's perception. For instance, the forecourt where vehicles line up to drop passengers, will have 10 lanes with dedicated lanes for buses and cabs.
Once inside the departure hall, there will be six check-in islands with 168 check-in counters. This will be an integrated terminal for both domestic and international flights, which will make it easier for transit passengers. However, the plan is to allow only those domestic airlines which fly international to start operations from here. This could put the low cost carriers at a slight disadvantage as they will be located at the recently operationalised Terminal 1D.
So, the check-in area will be common and then the terminal divides itself into two wings. Both sides have a boarding pier each which extends to 1.2 km from one end to the other with 48 boarding gates. Most of these have already been constructed. Given the long distances, some 90 travelators have been installed which includes the longest in Asia measuring 118 m.
Such is the magnitude of the exercise that the developers could not find a supplier who would meet their demand for granite. Ultimately, a vendor was located in Bahrain from where the granite needed for the flooring is being imported. The glass curtains that have to be fixed at a particular angle too had to be brought from China.
Already, delegations from the Beijing airport, Changi airport and Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, among others, have visited the construction site. What has come in for particular praise is the open space called the 'canyon' where a glass roof allows the entire arrival area to be lit up. Bridges, just above the arrival area, meant for departure passengers have glass corridors that permits arrival and departure passengers to see each other.
The one advantage of having boarding piers as wings of what is roughly like a large 'H' like structure means the duty-free shopping hall in the centre is not cluttered because of rush at boarding gates. Besides this, a multi-level car parking facility for 4,300 cars is well on course to be ready by next year.
Recently, Delhi overtook Mumbai as the city handling maximum air passengers with a figure slightly less than 24 million for 2008-09. This terminal will be able to handle 27 million next year and capacity would be enhanced to 34 million by 2012. This compares with some of the best—Changi handles 22 million passengers, Heathrow about 25 million and the new Beijing airport about 45 million. And going by the understanding reached with the government, it should reach 100 million by 2026—the last phase of this construction effort.
The developers claim this will be the sixth largest terminal in the world when it opens, but what is more important is that standards are already being rated. The Airport Council International, Geneva, is said to have been rating the under construction terminal every quarter. Its marking is 4.2 while the quality standard set by the government requires a minimum of 3.5.
While these cannot be made official until the end of the financial year, Delhi, apparently, has already climbed to the 24th position going by its scores. Judgment, however, will have to be reserved till it gets functional. Once the new terminal opens, the plan is to keep the current international terminal (T2) as a buffer, which can be used to step up capacity during special occasions like the Commonwealth Games—like Beijing airport has a buffer that was shut after the Olympics.

Govt. issues advisories to 8 coastal states and UTs over cyclone...

New Delhi: The Government on Wednesday issued advisories to eight coastal States and Union Territories over cyclone Phyan and put the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) batallions in Gujarat and Maharashtra on alert.
The movement of a depression in the central Arabian sea region since early Tuesday morning has been watched very closely by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Assessing the impact of its movement, in consultation with the IMD, Ministry of Home Affairs has sent advisories to the concerned State Governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Union Territories of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep, every few hours.
Eight such advisories had been sent till Wednesday evening.
"Following the movement of this cyclonic depression and the consequential heavy rainfall caused by it, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Bns. in Maharashtra and Gujarat have been put on the alert," said an MHA release.
"Simultaneously, to meet any emergent requirement of rescue and relief, the NDRF teams comprising about 400 trained personnel with boats and other equipments, have been pre-positioned in Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Another 200 have been kept in readiness for Mumbai. Ministry of Defence has also alerted the Air Force," the release added.
The cyclonic system has, however, moved north-eastwards due to which the IMD has withdrawn the warning from the States of Gujarat and Goa. The IMD has alerted Maharashtra on the possibility of heavy rainfall in Maharashtra region, the MHA release stated.
However, the Ministries of Home Affairs and Defence have kept themselves in readiness to assist in any rescue and relief operations, if required.

Asteroid almost smacked into Earth...

London: Astronomers have revealed that the Earth had a narrow escape from a cataclysm on when an asteroid came within 8,700 miles of hitting the planet.
According to a report in The Courier-Mail, astronomers spotted the object only 15 hours before its closest approach to our planet.
Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 463,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) away.
Although the asteroid passed within 14,484 kilometres (9,000 miles) of Earth, it measured just (7 metres) 23 ft across and wouldn't have dented the surface.
Even had it been on collision course with us, the 7 metre (23ft wide) asteroid, known as 2009 VA, is unlikely to have made much of an impact because it would probably have all but burnt up in the atmosphere.
It was picked up by the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona, then identified by the Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a near Earth object and plotted by experts at NASA.
It was the third-closest approach on record for any asteroid that has failed to make it through our atmosphere.
Earlier, NASA scientists monitored a 30.5 metre (100ft) asteroid that passed 72,420 kilometres (45,000 miles) above our planet's surface on March 2.
An object of similar size hit Siberia in 1908, levelling 1931 kilometres (1,200 square miles) of forest.
By 2020, NASA aims to have detected most large asteroids and comets that approach the Earth.

Festive Season puts Spring Back In Sales of Cars & Scooters..

Automobile manufacturers are certainly feeling the festive cheer with October aiding a sharp turnaround in sales and bringing, alongwith Diwali, a bright growth outlook for the full year. While market leader Maruti's car sales jumped 22 per cent, Hyundai topped sales in the segment with a 41 per cent increase. Tata Motors' sales rose 18 per cent.
"The festive period of the last two months generated strong sales and has given the Indian automobile industry some respite from the sluggish performance of the last few months. It looks that this period of strong sales would propel the industry to a positive double digit growth for the remainder of the year. This might be the turning point the industry has been waiting for," said Arvind Saxena, senior vice-president, Hyundai Motors India.
Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) surprised the market by growing 347 per cent selling 6,909 units this October over 1,546 units last October. While it does have a small base and sales had plunged during last year's lacklustre festive season, the New Honda City is becoming the car to beat in the sedan segment, accounting for 5,129 units of HSCI sales.
Segment leader Maruti Suzuki started the new quarter strongly with a 22 per cent growth thanks to sales of 71,383 units in October over 58,515 units sold during the same month last year. Hyundai, its nearest competitor, sold 28,301 units this October, growing 41.44 per cent over last October's 20,009 units. Despite having been overtaken by Hyundai, Tata Motors has shown consistent signs of a recovery. Where 17,014 units were sold in October last year, 28,310 units were sold in the same month this year, including 3,018 Tata Nanos, giving Tata Motors a 17.61 per cent growth increase.
General Motors registered sales of 7,413 units over the 6,465 units in October 2008. This gives the company a 14.66 per cent growth increase, which GM executives said could have been higher were it not for non-delivery of a number of orders "due to supply constraints of some of the parts". Fiat's new models continue to do well, selling 2,221 units this October. In 2008, before Fiat expanded its portfolio with the Linea and Grand Punto brands they sold 364 units, giving it a disproportionate 508.77 per cent growth. Sales of the Mahindra Logan also continued its consistent decline by 62.42 percent. In October 2008, 1,067 units were sold whereas 401 units were sold in that same month this year.
In the two-wheeler, segment for the first time in over a year, Bajaj appears to be making a comeback and Honda's sales haven't been quite as extraordinary as one has come to expect. Though they continue outsell their nearest rivals by over a lakh units, Honda only grew 0.48 per cent in what has been a very good start to the festive season for everyone else. The company sold 3,54,156 units in October against 3,52,449 units in 2008. Bajaj sold 2,49,974 units this October — a 51.06 per cent jump in sales.

Cloud Computing: The Power Of One..

In their quest to find answers, experts have demonstrated that the future of medical discoveries, environmental challenges, energy deficit, all lie in collaborating through Cloud Computing.
With Cloud Computing, users have been able to access data, share expertise and high-end infrastructure from around the world, and vice-versa. The resources are shared through a public platform like the internet. Several companies like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, etc have invested heavily as they reach out to users.
Cloud Computing companies have customers of three kinds -
• Infrastructure-as-a-service: Option of renting and utilizing computing power and storage capacity of vendor's quality.
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Vendors license particular services to subscribers on-demand and once the contract expires, the services are disabled.
• Platform-as-a-Service: Here a developer is given the opportunity to utilize various web-tools to build and host applications.
The Cloud (other computers in the network) does have its pros and cons in this formative stage. Its advantages include,
• Better performance by PCs in the cloud network, as fewer processing will be loading in each individual PC, the rest on the Cloud.
• No more spending on computer upgrades, instead services of another high-power PC can be made use of.
• Lesser hardware and software required, so costs of maintenance are tremendously lowered.
• Permanence of data, as all information stays in the cloud, even if you experience a hard-disk crash.
• Sync with experts worldwide on multiple projects and avail optimum results through the Cloud.
• Work from any PC and on the move, with the availability of internet access.
Cloud Computing also has some drawbacks like,
• The over-dependence on the providers.
• The reliability of the vendors.
• Protection laws in different countries vary. For eg, according to EU data protection regulation, personal information cannot be transferred outside the European Economic Area.
• Threat of unauthorized access to confidential data.
• Requires internet throughout and near-impossible to work with dial-up connections.
The concept isn't entirely new and is evolving even today. In the recent past, several variations have been introduced through 'Grid' and 'Utility Computing'.
- Grid Computing is a virtual super-computer formed by a cluster of computers in concert, each performing complex tasks.
- Utility Computing is a format in which subscribers are charged based on their usage, similar to the way in electricity is charged.
As new developments take place with increasing frequency, your world is on the brink of transition.

Some Foreign Car Designs..

Bentley Continental Flying Spur
The name Bentley conjures up images of fast and deluxe saloons rolling down a highway towards St Moritz or Monte Carlo. The Flying Spur is a four-door variant of the Bentley Continental GT coupe, and the Bentley Continental GTC convertible. New for 2009 is the Bentley Flying Spur Speed, a model that ups the output of the engine to 600 horsepower and 553 pound-feet, achieving 0-60 times of 4.5 seconds and a 200-mph top speed.

Rolls-Royce Phantom
Rolls-Royce is as synonymous with state-of-the-art luxury and safety features as it is with prestige. Phantom has a rare sense of scale and occasion that makes it a truly modern interpretation of a Rolls-Royce. The grille and Spirit of Ecstasy immediately mark out Phantom. The Phantom has a base price of $400,000. Just as Phantom's presence is quietly authoritative, the delivery of power from the direct-injection V12 engine is equally impressive.

Maserati Quattroporte
The new Maserati Quattroporte stands out from the crowd. It is a car that excels in terms of technology and craftsmanship. The Maserati Quattroporte means opulent interior of a super-luxury car coupled with the performance and beauty of an exotic sports car. The result is a car with a personality all its own. Maserati's flagship luxury performance sedan Quattroporte has been simplified to base and S trims in 2009. The base trim is powered by a 400 horsepower 4.2-liter V8 engine, while the S trim's 4.7-liter V8 puts out 425 horsepower.

Maybach 62S
The Maybach 62S gets the same massive 6.0-litre twin turbo V12 as 52S, which delivers a barely believable 612bhp at a very low 4800rpm. With this abundant power to rocket from 0-60mph in just over five seconds, the 2,855kg Maybach will zoom on to a top speed of 155mph. The rear compartment is still the most luxurious cabin ever to travel on the road. All this can be yours for a whopping $448,500.

Jaguar XF
Stepping away from the conventional Jaguar design, the XF is Jaguar's new four-door sports sedan with a fresh, modern look. The XF has it all - stylish looks, a spectacular cabin, amazing handling, an agile motorway ride and top refinement. Jaguar's 4.2 liter V8 is the XF's standard-fit powerplant, with 300 horsepower underfoot. This gargantuan of a car comes with a base price of $51,150.

Mercedes-Benz S550
A living room on wheels. That describes all about the stunning Mercedes-Benz S550. Resembling a long, sleek, low-slung limousine, the monster is over 17-feet long. Step into the car and an embarrassment of riches awaits you. No wonder the S550 is favorite of wealthy dads and heads of state alike. The 2009 Mercedes-Benz S550 bears a base price of $86,950.

BMW 750Li
BMW has always been legendary for comfort, luxury and unmatched performance. So, naturally the 2009 BMW 750Li, the flagship of BMW's starfleet, delivers exciting tech features on all fronts, helping justify its high price range of $84,200.00. The twin-turbo 4.4L DOHC V8 under the hood accelerates the 750Li to 100 kmph in just 5.5 seconds despite the avoirdupois.

Lincoln MKS
The MKS fills a giant chasm in Lincoln's lineup. The 2009 Lincoln MKS sports a distinctive styling and a new 275-horsepower, 3.7-liter V-6. The MKS' fine blend of clean lines, luxurious materials, and lighter trim colors inside plants it squarely in the Lexus idiom of luxury. Price ranges from $40,870 to $47,760.

Cadillac CTS
One of the best cars GM has built in years, the Cadillac CTS is competitive with the best entry-level luxury cars in the world. Compared to the original CTS, the second-generation 2008 Cadillac CTS sedan model is more refined and powerful. The uprated interior and lively powertrains have put the CTS into top-tier status for a luxury sport sedan. Price ranges from $36,730 to $51,820.

Audi A8
A modern classic, Audi A8 is the German marque's flagship model. The latest generation of A8 redefines all the cliches. The car is priced from $74,050 - $120,100. It may not be the most desirable luxury car in the world, but the Audi A8 takes Audi a big step closer to that goal.

Indian Oil Fire..

Indian Oil fire: Deora says no option but to let fuel burn...
Fri, Oct 30 09:48 AM
Jaipur, Oct 30 (IANS) Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said there is no option but to let all the fuel burn at the Indian Oil Corp depot here where containers and tankers went up in flames Thursday evening and claimed over 10 lives and injuring over 150.
'This is unprecedented in India,' said Deora, who arrived early morning to take stock of the situation, even as experts were brought in both from the Mathura refinery of Indian Oil and the Bombay High oil wells, off the Mumbai shore.

'We will have to let all the fuel burn. Only then will experts be able to go anywhere near the site,' Deora told reporters here after a visit to the site with senior officials of the state-run company. 'We expect the fuel to burn out by evening.'

He said he will also order an inquiry into the matter but after due consultations with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The extent of damage was also being ascertained, he added.

The oil minister said the cause of fire was being ascertained but some eyewitnesses said the fire broke out after gas leaked from one of the tanks, which also caused a loud explosion. The flames could be seen from a distance of over 15 km.

The company has 11 huge tanks and all of them were seen burning. Around 25 fire tenders were pressed into service.

'The incident occurred at around 7.15 p.m. and we immediately pressed ambulances and fire tenders into service,' a district administration official told IANS, adding. 'As a precautionary measure we have evacuated the nearby villages.'

The injured have been admitted to the government-run SMS Hospital and the nearby Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, he said.

'I work in a factory very near the area. As soon as the fire broke out, we rushed out of our factory. We also heard a couple of loud explosions,' Ramkumar, a worker in a small factory, said.

Amit Agarwal, a student of a private engineering college around 2 km away from the site, said the glass panes of his building were shattered due to the explosions.