Zojila tunnel to miss September 2026 deadline, to be ready by February '28
NEW DELHI: The completion of the strategic Zojila Tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir has been pushed back to Feb 2028 due to multiple factors, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a terrorist attack at the Sonamarg Tunnel project, and extreme adverse weather conditions, the road transport and highways ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The earlier deadline for this crucial project was Sept 2026. The ministry said that the current physical progress stands at 64%. It added that the total project cost is Rs 6,809 crore, out of which Rs 3,934 crore has been spent so far.
After completion, the project located at an altitude of 11,578 feet will provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Ladakh. It will not only play an important role in the country's infrastructure development but also enhance civilian and military movement in the region.
Deficiencies, damages found in 81 NH projects in 5 yrs
In another reply to a question, the ministry informed the Lok Sabha that in the past five years major deficiencies and damages in NH works were found or received in 81 projects. A maximum of 23 instances were reported from Maharashtra followed by 12 in Rajasthan and six in Kerala.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India.com
2 minutes ago
- India.com
Who is Matt Deitke? 24-year-old genius who rejected Rs 1000 crore salary offer of Mark Zuckerberg, Meta boss went to meet him and then...
New Delhi: To make Meta the king of the AI world, Mark Zuckerberg is on a hiring spree, for which he has given lucrative offers to the employees of Thinking Machines Lab, an American startup. During this recruitment process, Zuckerberg himself became a fan of a young man and offered him 125 million dollars, i.e. about Rs 1000 crores. The surprising thing was that the man turned down his offer of Rs 1000 crores, after which Zuckerberg himself went to meet him. Who is the man who refused Mark Zuckerberg's Rs 1000 crore job offer? According to American media, Meta had offered Rs 1000 crore to Matt Deitke, a 24-year-old Artificial Intelligence researcher, but he turned down the offer. Then Zuckerberg himself reached out to him and offered him $250 million, i.e. about Rs 2200 crore. Deitke still did not accept the offer immediately but asked to consult his friends. Eventually, Deitke accepted that offer. This is being said to be one of the most substantial salary packages in the history of AI. Who is Matt Deitke, and why has Zuckerberg become his fan? Let us tell you that Matt Deitke is a famous name in the world of AI. After taking admission in a PhD in Computer Science from Washington University, he left it midway and then started working at the Allen Institute for AI in Seattle. During this time, he also contributed significantly to creating an AI chatbot 'Molmo'. Not only this, Deitke received the Outstanding Paper Award at NeurIPS 2022, which is one of the most prestigious AI conferences in the world. What is Vercept, which is run by Matt Deitke? Matt Deitke also runs a startup called Vercept, which he started in November 2023. His startup has 10 employees, one of the investors in which is former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Matt Ditke's increasing repute led to the top tech companies trying to get him on the board, and in 2024, Meta approached Ditke to join its Superintelligence Lab.
Hans India
2 minutes ago
- Hans India
Manipal Hospitals seeks CCI nod to acquire Sahyadri Hospitals for about Rs 6,400 cr
Healthcare major Manipal Hospitals has sought approval from the fair trade regulator CCI to acquire Pune-based Sahyadri Hospitals from global investor Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board in a deal pegged at around Rs 6,400 crore. The companies did not share the deal size, but industry sources estimate the transaction to be in the range of Rs 6,200-6,400 crore. "The proposed transaction envisages the acquisition of up to 100 per cent shareholding by the acquirer (Manipal Hospitals Pvt Ltd) in the target (Sahyadri Hospitals Pvt Ltd) in multiple tranches," according to a notice filed with the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Manipal Hospitals and Sahyadri Hospitals said the "proposed transaction does not have any impact on any relevant market in India, let alone any appreciable adverse effect on competition (AAEC), and therefore, the definition of the relevant product and geographic market may ultimately be left open. In any event, in order to aid and assist the CCI in its assessment". Last month, Manipal Hospitals announced that it had inked definitive agreements with Ontario Teachers' for the acquisition. The Bengaluru-based healthcare major said the acquisition of Sahyadri Hospitals will bring Manipal's total bed count to about 12,000, making it one of India's largest hospital networks. The acquisition will add 11 hospitals to Manipal's network across Pune, Nashik, Ahilya Nagar and Karad, increasing its total number of hospitals to 49, it added. Through this acquisition, Manipal said it will expand its presence in western India, in line with its strategy to augment its pan-India footprint. "With the strong partnership of our valued stakeholders like Temasek and our other investors, we are excited to grow our operations and bring Manipal's trusted brand of quality healthcare to many more patients," Manipal Health Enterprises MD and CEO Dilip Jose said. Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) Chairman Ranjan Pai said the acquisition will strengthen Manipal's presence in western India. "With this expansion, Manipal Hospitals will have a network of approximately 12,000 beds nationwide, solidifying our position as one of the largest hospital chains in India," he added. Manipal Hospitals is backed by Temasek, a global investment company, headquartered in Singapore, with a net portfolio value of around USD 324 billion as of March 31, 2025. A global investor with net assets of USD 266.3 billion as of December 31, 2024, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') acquired a majority stake in Sahyadri in 2022. The Pune-based hospital chain is now one of Maharashtra's largest, with 11 hospitals and over 1,400 beds.
Time of India
2 minutes ago
- Time of India
IT services hiring almost nil in last 6-7 quarters; no demand pick up likely in Q2: Quess Corp
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills Hiring in the IT services sector has remained stagnant over the past six to seven quarters, with no active demand likely to pick up in the second quarter either, a top official from staffing firm Quess Corp has said. Quess Corp ED and CEO Guruprasad Srinivasan told PTI that demand for technology talents is coming from global capability centres and non-IT companies."At least for the last six to seven quarters. And we are also not seeing very active demand coming in, even in Q2 as well. So, IT services being a bit muted or dehiring happening, there has been no impact on Quess," he added that 73 per cent of staffing demand for the company comes from non-IT and GCCs, where demand for the technology talent pool is high."Skills for AI, cloud, and cybersecurity kind of profile are high in demand. On average, the wage in itself is about Rs 1.25 lakhs. It's a high margin for us. When it comes to margin, it's about 15 to 18 per cent," Srinivasan Corp has posted a 4 per cent increase in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 51 crore compared to Rs 49 crore it recorded in the year-ago period, driven by growth in the professional staffing company's general staffing and overseas business remained almost flat on a year-over-year basis, while digital platform business revenue declined by more than said the mix of the company has improved with an increase in professional staffing, which is a high-margin segment for the have been signs of recovery in general staffing, with strong momentum in the June quarter, he the June 2025 quarter, the general staffing segment of the company reported a revenue of Rs 3,122 crore, flat year-on-year and down marginally quarter-on-quarter amid a challenging operating environment."June 2025 was the first month since December 2024 that we saw an uptick across headcount, new demand, open mandates and fulfillments. Overall, in the quarter, we had net adds of 2,000, where we also experienced a decline in April. However, we saw a recovery in the later part of the quarter by adding 6,500 numbers in the month of June itself," he said that the majority of new additions this quarter came from manufacturing, followed by banking, financial, consumer retail and telecom consumer, while retail and telecom saw a marginal decline."Professional staffing maintained its momentum from the previous year, posting its best quarterly performance in over 15 years with revenue of Rs 244 crore. It achieved a double-digit margin of 10.2 per cent with our annualised revenue run rate approaching Rs 2,000 crore," he said the company's exposure to GCC is 73 per cent, driven mainly by demand from digital, high-tech, telecom, media and technology and electronics sectors."During the quarter, we also added 12 new contracts, each with a promising projection of headcount growth in upcoming quarters. Our open mandates are currently over 1,200 positions. I mean, positioning us well to meet our demand from the sector perspective," he continues to drive the growth, followed by telecom, product and tech sectors, while pharma and retail, auto and manufacturing faced pressure due to tariff-related headwinds, he said.
