05-11-2016, 03:11 PM
1465398342-JadhavAmitR.pdf (Size: 986.13 KB / Downloads: 6)
The Instrumentation and Control Department of Pad. Dr. Vithalrao
Vikhe Patil College of Engineering, Ahmednagar had organized Industrial Visit
to “Radhanagari Dam” and ‘mapro industries’ for B.E. students.
The first day of our visit was at radhanagari dam which is located at kolapur. We
saw it as a huge pyramid on earth. Engineer working at station has guide all
II
students and shown the generation of hydroelectricity step by step with all the
controlling facility.
Radhanagari Dam, is a gravity dam on bhogawati river near radhanagari in state
of Maharashtra in india. This is the first ever built dam in india. Dam construction
was initiated by visionary rajarshi shahu on 18 feburary 1907.dam is being used for
irrigation as well as hydro-electricity power generation. Dam is located amidst
scenic surrounding in backdrop of thick forest cover.
SpecificationsThe
height of dam above lowest foundation is 42.68m(140.0ft) while the
length is 1,143m(3,750ft). the gross storage capacity is 236,810,000m3.
Purpose-
Irrigation
hydroelectricity
‘mapro industries’
I was not aware that there was such a thing as the Mapro Garden which
housed the Chocolate factory. While taking a break with a bunch of friends in
Panchagani earlier this month, the collective efforts of my Outlook weekend guidebook
and our rather insistent vehicle operator serendipitously made me aware of its
existence. Re-kindling childhood memories etched by Roald Dahl, I set out with my
bunch to visit the Mapro Garden factory. Ironically, other than statically taking in
the sites and views of the hills, there isn’t much to do in Panchgani and so
the Mapro Garden has become a major attraction of sorts.
Mapro Garden is nearly at the centre of Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. We
were staying at the Ravine Hotel, which is a 20 minute drive from it. It turns out that
Mapro Garden Factory is a well maintained production, point-of-sale and
entertainment hub for the company. All their products were on display across long
counters and freely available for tasting. Staff all around the campus were polite and
helpful, despite the fact that they were handling a large crowd – probably dealing
with twice their usual footfall. The ladies at the tasting counter took turns to
prepare large glasses of the Mapro shakes or juices, equally slicing the mix between
4-5 smaller glasses and then start all over with a new flavour. They were actually
keeping glasses poured and ready instead of waiting for customers to request for
sample overdoses. I have noticed that at free samplings, there are several who
prefer to fill themselves with samples, rather than make any purchase. I know this
because I was a pioneer in exploiting this form of “freebie” back when I was still in
college. Interesting to see, it’s a trait that lives on in humans.
At the retail counters there were teams of young men and women explaining
the contents of each Mapro labelled jar and in the process, politely soliciting a few of
them. As usual, I got into my whole “Where you from” dialogue with one of them
wherefrom I learned that they stay locally, rotate their profiles periodically across
the counters, and that this factory was one only 1 of their production centres. The
cafe was their own. The food at the cafe was primarily vegetarian. Seating
arrangements were ample and pleasant. towards the rear of the campus, there was
an open area which provided great views of the hills. On account of having left our hotel only an hour earlier, we skipped both. That said, on the whole, a pleasant
experience with very efficient staff in a pleasing, albeit crowded campus.
At the side, lay the chocolate factory. To be honest, the chocolate factory was
no more than a large room with a couple of chocolate-making machines. But this
was the Mapro Chocolate factory. The factory was made visible through windows
on one side. While walking down from one end to the other, you could see the
fundamental stages and processes involved in making a bar of chocolate, just from
loose cocoa beans. The beans were already chosen and roasted upon their arrival at
this factory (or perhaps they were bought readymade, I didn’t confirm) and were
put through “airing” machines and then a “melter” of sorts. The liquid chocolate was
then “rolled” through yet another machine and finally “settled” in the last machine.
Packaging was done behind the scenes and the packed products were sold on the
floor below. They sell 2 varieties, chocolate coated raisins and chocolate coated
peanuts in 2 sizes. They are reasonably priced. The chocolate is good, but had a
drying effect in the mouth. Certainly not the kind you would find at a passionate
pastry shop like Le15 Patisserie or in certain variants of lindt. The tour was short,
self-guided, informative but not intimate. There were some sets for amusement as
well.
Surprisingly, we spent an 2hour in Mapro without eating anything, although we
shop some of product of mapro.. I took some extra packets for folks back in the Bay
area…. the Ahmednagar area. It was just past noon when we decided we were done
at Mapro and headed further to Nagar.
When we were returning home I read some history of Mapro on their site as
Founded in 1959, the Company had its humble beginnings in the hill-town of
Panchgani, near Mahabaleswar, when a businessman named Kishore Vora a
pharmacist by profession, decided to make some strawberry jam. He then went on
to develop innovative products such as jelly sweets, fruit cubes with fruit juice and
rose syrups with rose petals – all for the first time in country. Today, his ‘hobby’ has
borne fruit in the shape of Mapro, one of the most modern, hygienic, qualityfocussed
fruit product manufacturing units in India. His vision has been taken
forward, thereby transforming the region around Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani,
the erstwhile sleepy hill stations of Maharashtra, into a flourishing fruit processing
zone.