Happy Kali Puja & Happy Diwali 2016. Stay blessed.

Wishing you & your dear ones a very Happy Kali Puja & Happy Diwali 2016.
Stay blessed.

Bangalore to Coimbatore and back Road Trip in October 2016

A friend in FMCG marketing drove in his Toyota Etios from Bangalore (Koramangala) to Coimbatore for a 2 days work in early-October 2016. This was his maiden trip after relocating to Bangalore.

He left home at 6 am. The route taken by him for the onward journey was (with mention of intermediate distance & time):
Bangalore (Koramangala) - Electronic City - Attibele - Hosur = 35 kms (1 hr)
Hosur - Krishnagiri = 53 kms (50 mins)
Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri = 51 kms (45 mins)
Dharmapuri - Salem = 60 kms (1 hr 10 mins)
Salem - Bhavani via NH544 = 68 kms (1 hr 10 mins)
Bhavani - Coimbatore = 105 kms (2 hrs)

During the return journey to Bangalore from Coimbatore on Day 2, he drove via the Bhavani, Mettur, Mecheri route . The distance was about 55 kms lesser (vis-a-vis the toll road he took on Day 1), but took him about 45 mins more.
He left Coimbatore at 11.30 am and was back home at 7 pm.
He claims that the return route was somewhat scenic but slow.

Road trip to Bandhavgarh and Kanha from Kolkata for jungle safari in May 2016

Bandhavgarh National Park:
The forest area in the Umaria District of Madhya Pradesh has been protected and declared a National Park since 1968. It is home to a substantial tiger population and one of the largest National Parks in central India.











Kanha National Park:
The forest area under Kanha National Park is one of the most well maintained parks in Asia since its inception in 1955. It is home to the highly endangered species of Swamp Deer and has been in attention for the extensive efforts undertaken to conserve them. Another attractive feature out here is the sunset point, Bamni Dadar from which one can catch a 360-degree view of the surroundings around and the wildlife in their natural habitat.


In May 2016 an Indian Roadie fan and his family drove in his Maruti Swift VXi from Kolkata to Bandhavgarh and Kanha tiger reserve forests and back covering a total distance of 2590 kms in 8 days.

* The road stretch from Rewa to Bandhavgarh via Beohari was better than his expectation and had no great reasons to complain. He had tanked up his car to the brim in Rewa fearing that facilities might be bad upto Beohari.
* He was awed by the beauty of the reasonably good road stretch between Bandhavgarh & Kanha.
* The road surface between Kanha and Raipur was also satisfactory.

He was lucky to spot two tigers during one of the jungle safaris in a Maruti Gypsy. He went for 2 jungle safaris in Bandhavgarh and 1 in Kanha.
Locals had told him that he could be lucky to spot a tiger or two even on the state highway!
He was also warned not to stop his car or get out of the car to click photos in the event of spotting animals crossing the highway or relaxing in the jungles to ensure his own safety.


The route/ itinerary from and to Kolkata:

Day 1: Kolkata - Asansol - Varanasi (680 kms/ 12 hrs).
Day 2: Varanasi - Narayanpur - Mirzapur - Bhaisore UP/MP border - Hanumana - Managwan - Rewa - Govindgarh - Beohari - Bandhavgarh (390 kms).
Day 3: Bandhavgarh jungle safari.
Day 4: Bandhavgarh jungle safari.
Day 5: Bandhavgarh - Umaria - Shahpura - Mandla - Rata - Kanha Tiger Reserve (240 kms).
Day 6: Kanha tiger reserve forest & jungle safari.
Day 7: Kanha - Raipur - Saraipalli - Bargarh - Sambalpur (510 kms/ 11 hrs).
Day 8: Sambalpur - Rairakhole - Angul - Dhenkanal - Manguli Chowk - Bhadrak - Balasore - Kharagpur - Kolkata (696 kms/ 11 hrs 30 mins).


Break-up of intermediate distances and driving time:

** Junction of NH2 and NH7 (near Ramnagar prior to Ambedkar Bridge over River Ganges at Varanasi) to Rewa via NH7 = 230 kms.
** Rewa to Bandhavgarh National Park via Beohari and via Madhya Pradesh State Highway No. 9 = 145 kms/ 3hrs 15 mins.
** Bandhavgarh to Rata via Umaria, Shahpura and via SH-11 = 225 kms/ 4 hrs 30 mins.
** Rata to Kanha Tiger Reserve = 12 kms.
** Kanha to Raipur via NH30 = 220 kms/ 4 hrs 45 mins.
** Raipur (Jail Road) to Sambalpur (Gole Bazaar) = 290 kms/ 6 hrs.
** Sambalpur (Gole Bazaar) to Manguli Chowk = 280 kms/ 5 hrs 45 mins.
** Manguli Chowk to Balasore (Phulwari Chowk) via NH16 (erstwhile, NH5) = 176 kms/ 2 hrs 15 mins.
** Balasore (Phulwari Chowk) to Kharagpur (NH6 crossing) via NH60 = 126 kms/ 1 hr 15 mins.
** Kharagpur (NH6 crossing) to Kolkata (Vivekananda Setu/ 2nd Hooghly Bridge toll plaza) = 117 kms/ 2 hrs 15 mins.

He stayed at the Club Mahindra Kanha Resort.

Total driving distance: 2590 kms (including local travel at the locations visited).

New numbers for national highways in North East India

The next time you travel from Cooch Behar in West Bengal to Guwahati via North Salmara, Nalbari and Baihata Chariali through National Highway-31, make sure you are taking the right stretch. Again, if you refer to the 680-km road from Goalpara to Guwahati to Saikhowaghat in Tinsukia district as NH-37, you could be wrong again.

For, NH-31 is now the road from Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh to Katihar in Bihar, while NH-37 is the highway from Imphal in Manipur to the India-Bangladesh border at Karimganj in the state. The ministry of road transport and highways has re-numbered national highways in the country according to their direction and location and hence the change. The 3,300-km East-West corridor, linking Silchar in the east with Porbandar in Gujarat in the west, will be NH-27 and the second longest national highway in the country. The North-South corridor, linking Srinagar with Kanyakumari is 4,000 km and has been re-numbered NH-44.

According to the ministry of road transport and highways, the present length of NHs in the country is about 66,754 km and are numbered from 1 to 228, with some having suffixes such as A, B etc. "The existing national highways do not give any indication of their location and direction. Therefore, the ministry has adopted a systematic numbering of national highways. It will indicate the direction of national highways," the ministry said.

All the national highways in the state have been re-numbered along with the rest of the country, replacing almost half-a-century of old numbers. The gazette notification was issued by the Centre on March 5, 2010. The ministry of road transport and highways has informed all state PWDs about the changes. However, only Manipur and Nagaland governments have notified the changes. State PWD secretary, J N Sharma, told TOI, "We have not yet notified the changes. We are still following the old numbers."

According to the rationalized numbering, the national highways from the East to West have odd numbers while those from the North to South are even numbered. The new NH-2 is the highway from Dibrugarh to Sibsagar and Amguri to Mokochong, Wokha and Kohima in Nagaland to Imphal, Churachandpur in Manipur to Seling, Serchhip and Tuipang in Mizoram.

National Highway-6 is now the stretch from Jorabat near the city to Shillong, Kanpui, Aizwal in Mizoram, terminating at Seling in Mizoram, while NH-15 starts from Baihata Chariali to Mangaldoi, North Lakhimpur via Tezpur and then Brahmaputra to Dibrugarh through the under-construction Bogibeel bridge right up to Doomdooma.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/New-numbers-for-national-highways/articleshow/10438355.cms

Choolanur Peacock Sanctuary, Palakkad, Kerala

Choolanur Peacock Sanctuary in Palakkad is home to assorted and affluent breed of birds. There are over 100 assorted breed of fauna in the Choolanur Peacock Sanctuary. Avid bird watchers and attributes lovers can analyze the forested regions of the sanctuary. Choolanur Peacock Sanctuary is best visited after the monsoon season for a view of variety of butterflies.

Choolanur Peacock Sanctuary spreads over 485 hectares of forest land from the villages of Peringottukurissi, Chulannur and Thenur in Palakkad district and the Thiruvilwamala-1 village in Thrissur district. This sanctuary is within the Alathur Forests Range. The sanctuary is home to numerous other birds as well as a herbal garden.

Kunchan Smritivanam is a 200 hectare forests area named after the acclaimed Malayalam poet Kunchan Nambiyar. His birthplace, Killikkurissimangalam, is only a few km from Choolanur.

Peafowl Sanctuary is dedicated to the memory of a leading Indian ornithologist, Sri. K.K. Neelakantan.

Photo credit: Athikarath Viswanathan
Photo & content courtesy: Palakkad Trails
For more on fascinating Palakkad, visit www.facebook.com/groups/PalakkadTrails.

Paikaray Filling Station (IOC), NH16 (erstwhile, NH5), Khurda, Odisha - Indian Roadie Preferred Filling Station

Indian Roadie Preferred Filling Station:
Paikaray Filling Station (IOC), NH16 (erstwhile, NH5), Khurda, Odisha.

Clean washroom for women.
Clean drinking water.

While driving from Kolkata towards Chennai:
83 kms from Manguli toll plaza;
51 kms from Rasulgarh crossing, Bhubaneswar;
41 kms from Khandgiri Police Station, Bhubaneswar;
6 kms from Gudipada toll plaza;
60 kms prior to Gurpali toll plaza;
115 kms prior to Brahmapur.

Adirupa Filling Station (IOC), Bahanaga, Dist Balasore, Odisha - Indian Roadie Preferred Filling Station

Adirupa Filling Station (IOC), NH16 (erstwhile NH5), Bahanaga, Dist Balasore, Odisha.

Clean washroom for women.

Clean drinking water.

Safe car parking 24x7.

Location:
While driving from Kolkata towards Chennai...
225 kms from Azad Hind Dhaba, Uluberia;
150 kms from Kharagpur;
83 kms from Laxmannath toll plaza;
27 kms from Remuna, Balasore;
15 kms from Sergarh toll plaza;
7 kms prior to Soro;
77 kms prior to Panikoili toll plaza.

Govt plans Rs 12,000-cr project to connect Char Dham

The highways ministry is planning to connect Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri in Uttarakhand with 889 km of disaster-proof two-lane roads at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore.

Officials said detailed project reports were in the final stages and the ministry had planned to invite bids for road stretches in October 2015.
The Char Dham Yatra during April-November is among the most popular Hindu pilgrimages. Three million tourists registered for the yatra in 2012, but the number has declined since floods and landslides killed about 5,000 persons the following year. In 2015, 750000 pilgrims have registered.

The road network will be built in seven packages over three years. The ministry intends to award each engineering, procurement and construction contractor projects not more than Rs 1,000 crore.

Project reports for the new road network have been prepared with buy-ins from the Geological Survey of India, Survey of India, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Central Water Commission, and Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre.

The ministries of aviation, tourism, home affairs, revenue, forests and irrigation also contributed, a highways ministry official said.

"We are planning to realign and stabilise all major landslide locations. Realignments will be kept away from the river horizontally as well as vertically. Bridges, viaducts and tunnels will bypass landslide-prone zones and routes with substandard geometrics," the official added.

Suggestions from the Border Roads Organisation, the Uttarakhand public works department and local villagers were considered for realignments and bypasses.

"The consultations were designed to make the pilgrimage less arduous and reduce the impact of natural calamity," the official added.

"Uttarakhand is vulnerable to floods, earthquakes and landslides. Geologists have warned before undertaking major infrastructure projects here, proper study should be done, devising appropriate methods," Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator for the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, told Business Standard.

The government will undertake an environmental impact study for the road network.

The roads will be connected to the state's 20 helipads, so that tourists can be evacuated in emergency. Wayside amenities include food joints, rest houses and parking areas.

"The project involves reconstructing all narrow and weak bridges and increasing the number of cross-drainage structures. It will also provide bypasses and realignments for towns and built up areas," the highway ministry official added.

(Source: Business Standard, New Delhi dated 2015-09-29)

Khed Shivapur toll plaza gets eight additional lanes in August 2016

Driving past the busy Khed Shivapur toll plaza on Pune-Kolhapur-Bangalore national highway (NH4) has just got easier from August 2016 with the addition of eight more lanes to it.
Till recently, a common toll plaza with six lanes on each side was in operation. The authorities have now not only added more lanes, but also commenced separate toll collection centres on each side to ensure speedy movement of vehicles, which are otherwise stuck in long queues up to the toll collection booths.
Also, four additional booths have been set up on each side to accommodate more vehicles. These are in addition to a booth on each side kept reserved for two-wheelers.
Over 35,000 vehicles are estimated to pass through the Khed Shivapur toll every day. During weekends and holidays, daily turnout increases up to 40,000.
While traveling to Kolhapur, passing through Khed Shivapur toll was a daunting task. During weekends, there used to be such long queues here that it was impossible to even spot the toll plaza. The augmentation was long pending. It is a welcome step that separate booths have been set up now. Hopefully the collection of toll will be faster. Authorities should ensure that a vehicle should not wait at the booth for more than 2 to 3 minutes.
Earlier some lanes remained shut which led to queuing of vehicles. Authorities should operate all lanes and ensure that separate lanes are reserved for cars and heavy vehicles.
Toll plaza administration has confirmed that separate booth has come up at Pune-Kolhapur lane. The construction was underway over the last few months and was completed in end July 2016. All lanes on both sides are now functioning, besides a separate lane marked for vehicles paying the toll through cards.
Meanwhile, the authorities claimed that the on-duty staff at the plaza has been asked to ensure that the toll is collected in a minimum time. The staff has been told to wear uniforms and be polite with the drivers. A separate team has also been appointed to look after the movement of vehicles at toll booths and bunching of vehicles in first few lanes.
Recent surge in residential colonies and commercial activities in Khed Shivapur and Shidnewadi area along the highway has led to an increase in vehicular traffic at the toll plaza. Few months ago, Pune district collector had asked the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to initiate steps to minimize waiting time at the toll and also provide basic infrastructure facilities, including toilets for commuters.

Note: The picture was clicked at the same toll plaza in May 2013.
(Additional source of information: TNN | Aug 12, 2016)