India Travel News

New Delhi: In a twin treat for the cash-strapped aviation industry on Friday, oil companies slashed aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices by 17% while the Centre abolished customs duty of 5% on ATF, a move that will see a further drop in prices by November 15.
Though ATF prices have come down by a whopping 38% over the past three months, domestic airlines, especially full service ones, are unlikely to reduce the high fuel surcharge they started levying when ATF was at its peak of over Rs 71,000 per kilolitre in August.
The cut has taken ATF prices to the level of March 2008 when there was a uniform surcharge of Rs 1,650. But the surcharge today is nearly double that figure as it has been hiked several times.
A short sector flight has a fuel surcharge of Rs 2,250-Rs 2,350 and medium ones have a cess of Rs 2,900-3,100. Fares have soared since March, leading to fewer people flying within India this summer than last summer.
FUEL Factor
ATF prices started rising in April and peaked in August Fuel surcharge kept rising and peaked in July ATF prices have fallen 38% since September Today, ATF prices are at March levels but surcharge is at peak price level along with higher base fares

New Delhi: Times of India- From homemakers to corporate honchos, from foreign tourists to local residents, you’ll find them all here — carrying sacks of cement and mortar on their heads and sweeping the steps and floor of the holy tank at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib.
Over the past week, a steady stream of ‘‘kar sevaks’’ has made this gurdwara a busy place. Irrespective of their caste, creed or religion, people from all walks of life have been flocking to Bangla Sahib to offer their services in repairing and cleaning up of the holy ‘‘sarovar’’. What has made this community service more special for them is the fact that the holy tank is being cleaned after almost a decade.

As the manager of the gurdwara, Satnam Singh Uppal, explains: ‘‘It’s a great opportunity for people from all over the world, from different religions, to gather here and partake in such community services, and at the same time pray to god. Chanting ‘Satnam Waheguru’ while sweeping the floor or carrying sacks full of cement and mortar all adds up to make the atmosphere very peaceful. It’s a very good way to connect to god.’’

The ‘‘sevaks’’ constitute an interesting mix — ranging from high-flying professionals to housewives, the elderly and school-going kids. Says Guneet Singh Arora, a businessman, ‘‘I believe that I owe my success to god and this my way of showing gratitude.’’

Sukhraj Want Singh, an employee of a multinational firm, makes it a point to involve himself in community service, irrespective of his hectic schedule.‘‘At times, it is tough for me and others to take out time from their 9-5 job schedule. But then, we somehow always manage. In fact, I used to take a half-day off so that I could take part in the cleaning up of the tank.’’

People from other religions are equally excited to be a part of this community service. Says Ashok Dogra, a contractor, ‘‘I used to suffer from severe joint pain. That’s when I started frequenting Bangla Sahib and within no time I was cured. Although I am not a Sikh, but I have always been welcomed here. I am filled with a sense of peace and fellow feeling when I see people doing community service here.’’

This year has also seen a considerable number of foreign tourists partaking in the ‘‘kar seva’’. Ladislav, a Czech national, is totally in awe of the hard work put in by the ‘‘sevaks’’.‘‘ In my country too, people do a lot of charity and give donations. What I see here is absolutely unique and it’s wonderful to be a part of this experience,’’ he says.

New Delhi-Times of India: Delhi Metro’s enviable track record of meeting its deadlines — often beating them by a few months — has made it a case study for efficiency and good work culture.
So far, it was just a model to be emulated. But Delhi government, in an effort to get out of a sticky situation on the much-delayed construction of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences at Vasant Kunj, has decided to simply hand over the second phase of construction of the building — touted as a unique healthcare project in Asia — to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) after a series of delays by PWD in the first phase.

Confirming the development, DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said they were taking up the work as a special case. For the first time, Metro will step out of its domain and construct a building for another organisation. And for this DMRC has already procured equipment from the fire department.

Asked why the project was taken away from PWD, government officials said DMRC is quick and efficient and known for its expertise while PWD is saddled with lot of work. ‘‘It’s not a comment on PWD’s performance. The chief minister wants no compromise on the quality of the institute,’’ said an official.

The foundation stone of the institute was laid in 2003 but delays since then have taken a toll on the project. Problems of acquiring land from multiple agencies and delays by PWD have proved to be major roadblocks.

Chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday reviewed the project’s progress and directed senior PWD officials to speed up the work and finish it fast. ‘‘It will be dedicated to the people of Delhi very soon,’’ she said.

This first of its kind liver institute in Asia will provide better and advanced treatment for liver and biliary ailments. ‘‘The mission of this institute is to emerge as a dedicated international centre of excellence for diagnosis, management and advanced training and research in the field of liver diseases,’’ the CM said.

According to health department officials, the first phase of construction of the institute is nearing completion. In this phase, about 180 beds will be made available, out of which 74 will be set aside for the Intensive Care Unit.

Project director Dr SK Sarin said the institute will have a separate department to promote basic and translational research in the area of Hepatobiliary Sciences. The department of Hepatobiliary Medicine would be the first dedicated department in the country and will also house Transplant Hepatology and Paediatric Hepatology as independent units.

New Delhi: When the signs of ‘ageing’ started showing up on Taj Mahal sometime back and the marble started getting a yellowish colour, conservationists prescribed a beauty treatment for the monument of love in the form of mud-pack. Now, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is using the same age-old formula of applying multani mitti on the historic gates of the 17th century mosque Jama Masjid.

Intricate Mughal craftsmanship and exquisite engravings on the north, south and eastern gateways of the Jama Masjid — each over 25-feet high — were wrapped under years of neglect. But after the mud-pack treatment, the gates, made of an alloy comprising tin and copper, are slowly regaining their glory and original design, says Syed Tariq Bukhari, general secretary, Jama Masjid Delhi Consultative Council. ASI officials say that this is the first time that the gates, which had turned black with age, are being given a proper cleaning.

Elaborating on the treatment, Sunil Upadhyay, archeological chemist, ASI, says: ‘‘We generally apply four to five layers on a structure for a visible effect. The layers dry up and fall off in three to four days. The process is repeated several times. This multani mitti used for the gates has a different chemical composition than that applied on Taj Mahal.’’

At Jama Masjid, workers are in the process of peeling off the dried mud with toothbrushes to give it a polished look. Stating that it’s a time-consuming and rigorous process, an official said: ‘‘Work on each gate can take up to three months. The colour — originally bronze — that will emerge after the treatment will stay for at least 10 years.’’ Officials said that while conservation work has happened in the mosque in the past, hardly any attention were paid to the historic gates.

The mud-pack treatment on gates is part of the Jama Masjid conservation plan, that started after an HC order in 2006. Delhi Wakf Board prepared a conservation report which was submitted to HC. The report was forwarded to ASI for starting the conservation plan in phases. The conservation work finally kick-started last year.
Since then the ASI has repaired the broken flooring, fixed seepages in the main dome and replaced damaged jhajjas. However, a lot of work still remains to be done and officials say that it will take up to two to three years. The initial phases of work will be concentrated on areas that require immediate attention after which more elaborate work will take place.

The Masjid-i-Jahan Numa Urdu, known as Jama Masjid, is the biggest mosque in India. Commissioned by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, it was built in 1656 AD. The architecture and design of the Jama Masjid is very similar to the Badshahi Masjid in Lahore, which was commissioned by Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb in 1673.

The car dream of middle class family is looking thornier then a year before because international oil price and inflation rate is going up regularly. These hasty changes in world economy are making tough social life in all countries. In this condition your car is going only 8 to 10 Kilometer in one litre and burning a good amount of your income in petrol or diesel.

But recent trade fare in Delhi has been shown one hope to fight in oil price war. TATA’s Nano car can be the best option for local commute. It will cost just Rs. 1Lakh in India and according to the recent report it will run 20 km per litre.

The company is installing Nano production plant in Singur, West Bengal and according to the public information, this plant will start up to the end of this year, 2008. Other international countries are also waiting this world cheapest car very enthusiastically because it follows international standards.

Nano car’s new models and production are being increased due to excellent demand in India and International markets because this car will cost 50% less than current lowest price model in market and fuel efficiency will be just double.

New Delhi: one of the popular news papers in Delhi, Times of India publishes news of installing the condom vending machines in all over the India capital. According to this news, the MCD is about to setup the 2,000 brightly- colored condom machines at public places ( example- cinema halls, community toilets, shopping centers, petrol pumps, hospitals and even offices). This is the first step to make aware about STD (Simple Transmitted Diseases). MCD believes that this project will do good and positive response will come in the city.

If this project will perform according to the set standards, MCD will install more condoms machines in capital.

Actually it is the best solution to make aware about STDs and HIV-AIDS to people, who are too shy and they can take benefits of this kind of machines in just Rs. 5/- per packet cost. These machines will well stocked by 82 active NGO’s in Delhi city.

This step is very necessary to be successes because only 6% Indian are currently using condoms as family planning or controlling sex diseases. A Central Government year-2006 survey tells that only 42% of Indian males use condoms with non-regular partners. This percentage goes down in case of casual sex; it is only 3.4% in Bihar and maximum in Punjab with 69.3%.

These machines are already installed in Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand states. These states were considered in Phase-I of this kind of condoms machines installation. Now in second phase the metro cities are being considered and around 11,000 machines will installed in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. In Delhi these machines are being installed in Secretariat, RML Hospital, Nirman Bhawan and Delhi University Areas.

New Delhi: Fares of Indian domestic airlines are also increasing due to International crude oil price raise. Domestic airlines are about to increase 5 to 15 % of current domestic airline fares. One of the India’s largest news paper said that this is second time increase in domestic airlines fares in one month; it had been increase due to fuel surcharge in the beginning of this June month.

According to Jet Airways and Air India -Domestic airlines are increasing fares according to the route lengths. The minimum fare will be as follows.

*The base fares are also increase due to fuel and congestion surcharge.

All other domestic airlines are also increasing their fares and soon announced their new fare list for airline’s passengers.

Due to increase in oil price in all over the world and around 8000 Cr. Loss in this economic year, it is necessary to increase airlines price to give some compensation for all domestic and international airlines. But increase in airlines’ fare can affect tourism in India. So higher authority of airlines are talking for reduce sale tax on airlines fuel. It can bring some relief in airlines and passengers.

New Delhi: Passengers’ friend DMRC is now setting up to construct multi-level parking lots at its station and trying to give good parking space to its commuters.
DMRC’s chief spokesperson said that the first multi-level parking is to finalize because it was not a part of Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the airport express line. Once this project is approved by DMRC; the construction of multi-level parking will start. This parking will connect to Indian railway and bus services because this express metro line is proposed from New Delhi Railway station to Indira Gandhi Airport.

This metro station parking will be modern and well equipped because there will be two underground levels; lower for metro station and upper lower will be arranged for airline counters. Enter and exit will be arranged at ground level and parking will be arranged at top seven floors. This parking will be constructed in 9000 square metre area and 350 cars would be parked in this parking easily.

The maintenance of the parking will be handled by private sector after construction of this parking. This multi-level parking will solve the parking problem of Delhi metro commuters. By solving this problem, Delhi metro traffic can be reduced because some time person is not go in metro because there is no proper parking in metro parking areas.

Air fare hiked in all over the world due to oil price escalating. Now it is not easy to travel by air. If you are making plan to travel for another country, you have to make analysis again according to the increase air fare because this increase air fare can frighten your travel budget.

Air fare ramble is making businessmen uneasy to travel for business meeting or trade fares. Now they are trying to save their trip for that country. On other side this is also affecting tourism of all countries; Indian tourism is one of them.

According to the recent report by American Express, oil price hikes was one of the main factors hitting business travel. Oil prices have smashed through the $130 per barrel mark.

Here, I am showing some previous data of crude oil prices.

Crude oil runs all over the world. if its price goes up, the tourism goes down because air fare and other oil running vehicle become more expensive for all people.

Uttar Pradesh Roadways is introducing new Volvo buses for Delhi- Agra travel and believes that it will improve the tourism facilities for both Agra and Delhi. It will take 3 to 4 hours to reach Agra from Delhi Sarai Kale Khan. This bus will run in the morning from Delhi and reach to Agra at noon time. The fare for this bus will be Rs. 331 per passenger from Delhi to Agra or vice versa; it will be expensive then ordinary bus, cost Rs. 120 per passenger for one side.

On the other side, Delhi government is not behind in introducing the Volvo buses for city. Government introduced eight sleek cherry-colored air-conditioned buses on 5 June to roll out on the roads of capital. These buses will run on selected routes. Its fare will be Rs. 10 for 8 K.M., Rs. 15 for 16 K.M. and Rs. 20 for 16 to 24 K.M. and for more than this distance it will be Rs. 25. Delhi transport minister said that 25 more buses would be add in the last of the month for Delhi public. 5000 Volvo buses will be in Delhi Transport Corporation before common wealth game in Delhi. These buses will be air conditioned and non air conditioned. The ratio of air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned will be 25:75 percent respectively.

New bus service will improve the bus travelling facilities for Agra and Delhi. It will make your road journey more comfortable and memorable. Volvo buses are well equipped and have air conditioned. Bangalore is the first city where Volvo buses use first time. Volvo buses are very popular city buses in this information technology city.

These bus services are changing the look of the Indian transportation and travel facilities. This improved transportation services will attract more tourists for India.

Source: Travel news India