Pul’s sends proposal to centre on tourism and civil aviation
Chief Minister Kalikho Pul called on Minister of State for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Dr Mahesh Sharma on Thursday to discuss on ways to develop tourism in the state. Unveiling his plan, the CM proposed to develop the circuit from the entry points along Assam-Arunachal border upto the tourist destination. CM informed that state government is making efforts to make easily available inner-line permits (ILP) and the restricted area permit (RAP). For that to achieve, he informed that entry check gate at the state’s border will have provision to issue the permits “on-arrival”. Pul further informed that proposed tourist circuits would provide wayside amenities at every 50-60 km points with all facilities to assist the travellers. The CM requested to expedite the process of connecting and improving helicopter services for all the district headquarters. Pul requested the minister for one-time waiver of all pending dues for helicopter service in Arunachal, to which the minister agreed to consider it.
Noida Metro races to set world record
The civil works on the Noida-Greater Noida Metro track is about 40% complete. Announcing this on Saturday, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials said the Metro corridor was likely to roll by the end of next year and also set a world record as no Metro line has been commissioned in a span of two and a half years. Earlier on Saturday, Dr Mangu Singh, MD, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), conducted an inspection of the corridor and expressed satisfaction with the pace of work, which began in May last year. Singh’s inspection of the corridor started at 9am and continued till 1pm. During the four hours, he carried out a detailed scrutiny of the track quizzing DMRC officials. Singh also issued directions for procurement of two additional cranes to expedite work on the track. Now a total of six cranes will be deployed for work on the link. The MD also visited the facilities – rest room, training room and cafe – put in place for the labour working on the track and shared space with them. According to DMRC officials, work on the Metro line is progressing at a fast pace. Till now, out of a total 1,800 U-girders, 90 U-girders have already been cast. Piling work on stations is also being carried simultaneously at all 21 stations along the track. Piling work has been completed in 19 ot the 21 stations. Currently, concourse casting is being done at those stations which have completed piling work. Concourse casting has also been completed at seven stations and platforms will be cast next. The first station to be completed will be the Sector 72 Metro station in Noida, which is likely to be in place by the end of May. The second station to follow will be the Delta station in Greater Noida, officials said. Officials further told TOI that they had also completed 70% work on the depot in Greater Noida. The depot will cater to the requirements of the corridor and is to be used for maintenance and servicing of the Metro coaches that will run on the route. The depot will be environment-friendly and its boundary wall and building will be equipped with solar panels. The electricity generated by the panels will be used by the depot for lighting its building. Coming up across 50 acres of land in Greater Noida, it will also house a ‘Metro security park’. The MoU between DMRC and Noida & Greater Noida Authorities was signed in October 2014 and the construction is being executed by CEC-SAM India JV. Once the track, costing Rs 5,533 crore, is in place it would not only provide a fast link between the two townships but also bring these places closer to the national capital.
After Bihar liquor ban, alcohol sellers flourish on India-Nepal border
The complete ban on alcohol in India’s Bihar state seems to have come as a boon for small traders in Nepal who sell low-quality alcohol. Reports here say there has been a sudden rise in small huts along the India-Nepal border to target alcohol customers from Bihar. Authorities from India’s border districts have sought help and cooperation from their Nepali counterparts to check the possible smuggling of alcohol and increase in surveillance along the border. Bihar imposed a complete ban on sale of alcohol from April 1. At a recent meeting in Forbesganj in Bihar, Indian authorities sought help from their Nepali counterparts to curb the movement of people seeking alcohol from Nepal. Toyam Rai, chief district officer of Sunsari district who led the Nepali team, said that due to the open international border, there was high chance of smuggling of alcohol from Nepal to India, and so the Indian authorities asked Nepal to cooperate in preventing the smuggling. Himanshu Sharma, district magistrate of Araria in Bihar, local police chiefs and others also participated as part of the Indian side in the meeting. Reports said mostly people from the working class come to the Nepali side to buy alcohol. But when there is a holiday, businessmen and youth also cross the border. Local hoteliers say there has been a 2-3 fold rise in sale of alcohol in the past one week, since the ban in Bihar. Nepali traders have now increased the prices of local alcohol, but reports said the quality was quite poor due to the sudden rise in demand. “With the ban on alcohol in Bihar, the Indian authorities have asked us to curb the smuggling of alcohol from Nepal. They are also concerned that after the ban, criminals may sneak into Nepal that will further invite security complications,” said Sunsari Superintendent of Police Sandip Bhandari. “With this new unfolding situation, we may face new security threats along the border,” said Rai. “We have assured the Indian side about the security arrangements on the border.”
Government mulling standards for noise levels due to aircraft ops
The government is planning to come up with standards to curb noise pollution due to aircraft operations and ensure that noise levels are maintained within permissible levels. The proposal, which has been in the works for some time, comes against the backdrop of concerns expressed in some quarters, including by resident welfare associations, about noise pollution being created by aircraft operations. To assess the situation at airports, various studies have been carried out by agencies and discussions have been going on between different government departments over the last few years. The Environment Ministry is working on a proposal for bringing in standards on noise levels pertaining to aircraft operations and measures for maintaining noise within the permissible limits, a senior official said. Multiple rounds of discussions have already taken place among various agencies including the Environment Ministry, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the official said. Back in September 2013, a study on noise levels from aircraft operations at the Delhi international airport was conducted by DGCA through a foreign entity. Besides, CPCB has done studies on few other airports, the official said. In December 2014, the regulator had issued a CAR (Civil Aviation Requirement) on ‘noise management of aircraft operations at airports’. The issue of noise pollution from aircraft operations has been simmering for sometime and some entities had also moved court and tribunals in this regard. Earlier this week, the National Green Tribunal, while hearing a bunch of pleas, asked why night curfew is not implemented for flights to and from airports across the country. According to a DGCA official, the general view has been that it would not be practical to put in place restrictions for night operations on aircraft in the country. Such a move could result in foreign carriers choosing other countries rather than India as their hub for operations. Many overseas airlines operate flights at night as that helps them in reaching their destinations in the morning hours, the official said.
Fuel in tanks of Indian aircraft exempt from customs duty
Revenue department said fuel in tanks of aircraft of all Indian airlines entering the country are exempt from customs duty. As per a notification of 1994, fuel in the tank of an aircraft of Indian Airlines or Indian Air Force is exempt from customs and additional duty “when imported into India”. Responding to representations from the industry on the notification, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said exemption is available to all Indian airlines. “The matter has been examined by the Board and it is observed that in reference (to the notification) exemption is not limited to the ‘Indian Airlines’ (now called as ‘National Aviation Company of India Limited’). “It is available to any Indian airline, in other words, to all Indian airlines,” it said. As per the 1994 notification, the duty exemption is given when the quantity of the fuel is equal to the quantity of the same type of fuel which was taken out of India in the tanks. Also, the rate of duty of customs or Central Excise leviable on such fuel should be same at the time of the arrivals and departures of such aircraft.
High Court seeks DIAL, AAI reply on entry fee on commercial vehicles
Delhi High Court has sought the responses of Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) on a cab firm’s plea against the entry fee of Rs 150 levied upon all commercial vehicles entering the IGI airport to ferry passengers. Magic Sewa, an app-based cab company, has also alleged that DIAL and AAI were giving “preferential treatment” to some taxi operators at IGI airport by allowing them to enter and pick-up passengers while denying the same privilege to others. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked AAI and DIAL to file their replies in two weeks to Magic Sewa’s plea before the single judge who is hearing the matter and disposed of its appeal against the single judge’s decision not to grant any interim relief. The division bench also advanced the next date of hearing in the matter before the single judge to May 17 from July 22. The single judge had on February 24 declined to grant any interim relief to Magic Sewa which had sought stay on the Rs 150 entry fee. On the alleged exclusivity being granted to the three other cab companies — Easy, Meru and Mega Taxi — to enter the airport and pick-up passengers while denying this benefit to others, Magic Sewa claimed this privilege was being granted as the three operators had paid huge sums of money for it. During the hearing before the division bench, AAI said that tenders were floated for grant of special privilege and the three companies are being charged huge amounts for it. Magic Sewa has claimed that grant of such special rights “kills competition” and was “anti-people and consumer”. “Apparently, the cost incurred by the said cab companies is passed on to hapless domestic and international passengers in one form or another. Besides, these privileged cab companies also charge from passengers the maximum rate notified by respondent 3 (Delhi government) under the law which at present stands at Rs 23 per km. “In today’s market, competition is so high among cab companies that the average cost works out to less than Rs 15 per km. By granting special rights to select companies to the exclusion of other similarly placed companies to park taxis at and pick up passengers from the airport kills competition and is anti-people/consumers,” Magic Sewa has said.
Ajmer, Kota at work to realise ‘smart’ dream
Ajmer and Kota districts which couldn’t make it to the list of first 20 cities for smart city project will be vying for a spot in the second list. After these two districts were rejected in the first round, the state government is upgrading its smart city proposal and working on the shortcomings highlighted by the Centre. The reworked proposal will be submitted before June, the final deadline. In this regard, the state government has appointed a consultant firm, ICRA, for preparing action plans for these two cities. A local self-governance (LSG) official said, “The state government has appointed a new consultant to prepare the detailed project report (DPR). We are hopeful that these cities will be selected in the second list. The DPR will be submitted in June.” For Ajmer, the state government has also joined hands with US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) which will assist administration and municipal officials in preparing a roadmap for the smart city proposal. After these cities failed to secure a position in first list, the Union ministry of urban development had announced a provision of ‘fast-track round’. In all, 23 cities will compete in the ‘fast-track round’ to qualify for the second list. As per the proposal, Ajmer will be developed on retrofitting model, while Kota will be developed on green-field model. An official explained that there will be three approaches – retrofitting, redevelopment and green-field development. Under the retrofitting scheme, a city can undertake an area of minimum 500 acres and implement the scheme in three years. Similarly, in the case of green-field development, the project area can be a vacant land spread over at least 250 acres and the project can be completed in 10 years. For Ajmer, the state had earlier proposed to develop 1,334-acre area, out of which Rs 925 crore was proposed for area-based development and Rs 341 crore for pan-city development. The major development was proposed in the north side of Anna Sagar Lake in Ajmer. Similarly, for Kota which is to be developed as a green city, the state had proposed 395 acre area adjoined to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) near Ranpur Village. It was proposed that Rs 1,045 crore will be spent to develop the area, and Rs 437 crore for the pan city development.
India’s thirst for oil is overtaking China’s
India’s rise dovetails with a reopening by Iran, once the second-biggest producer in Opec until sanctions choked output and investments. India is increasingly becoming the centre for oil demand growth as its economy expands by luring the kind of manufacturing that China is trying to shun. And just like China a decade ago, India is trying to hedge its future energy needs by investing in new production at home and abroad. India may have one advantage that China didn’t. While China’s binge came during a commodity super-cycle that saw WTI crude reach a high of $147.27 a barrel in 2008 – due in no small part to its demand – India’s spurt comes during the biggest energy price crash in a generation. While oil has tumbled more than 50 per cent from mid-2014 levels, India spent $60 billion less on crude imports in 2015 than the previous year even while buying four per cent more. “In addition to the boost from low oil prices, structural and policy-driven changes are under way which could result in India’s oil demand taking off in a similar way to China’s during the late 1990s, when Chinese oil demand was at levels roughly equivalent to current Indian oil demand,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst for Energy Aspects in London. In 1999, China’s economy was less than a 10th of its current size of more than $10 trillion, and bicycles vied for space with taxis and buses on crowded streets in major cities like Shanghai. In the ensuing 17 years, the economy grew from the seventh largest in the world to the second largest. Vehicle sales surged and oil demand has nearly tripled since then, positioning the country to overtake the US as the world’s largest crude importer this year. China’s thirst for energy sent its companies on an unprecedented buying binge on every continent (except Antarctica), scooping up $169 billion worth of energy assets overseas in the past 10 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. India’s rise dovetails with a reopening by Iran, once the second-biggest producer in Opec until sanctions choked output and investments. Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan will lead a delegation this month to Iran. India is working with the Persian Gulf state to develop a port in Chabahar, near Iran’s border with Pakistan and about 800 kilometres from India’s west coast. The two countries are also discussing economic zones and joint projects on fertiliser plants and petrochemical projects. India appears to be in the same position China was at the start of its growth binge. Asia’s third-biggest economy consumed four million barrels of oil last year, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), and is expected to surpass Japan as the world’s third-largest oil user this year. It will be the fastest-growing crude consumer in the world through 2040, according to the IEA, adding 6 million barrels a day of demand, compared to 4.8 million for China. Just like China’s ascent, the growth is being driven by manufacturing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India campaign aims to create 100 million new factory jobs by 2022 and increase manufacturing’s share of the economy to 25 per cent from about 18 per cent when he took office in 2014. Manufacturing drives oil use both by increasing the amount of goods that need to be moved around on ships and trucks, and by raising living standards of workers. Rising wages allowed Indians to purchase a record 24 million new vehicles in 2015. “In a growing economy, where there is so much of emphasis on manufacturing, naturally the demand for energy will grow,” B Ashok, chairman of Indian Oil Corporation, said in an interview. “The emphasis on manufacturing and infrastructure building contributes a lot to increasing the employment potential, besides bringing in a lot of investments. There is bound to be a lot of more movements on the roads, in terms of goods and services and passengers.” India already relies on imports for 80 per cent of its oil and products needs, so it is also following China’s game plan of investing in energy-producing assets. Indian companies pledged $3 billion in asset purchases outside the country in the fourth quarter of 2015, the highest level since 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Firms have proposed paying $5 billion toward Siberian oil and gas fields, which would make their equity share about 250,000 barrels a day, compared with total domestic output of 760,000. The timing for such investments is fortunate because low energy prices have made many global majors wary of pouring money into oil and gas fields, said Vikas Halan, Moody’s Investors Service lead analyst for oil and gas companies in South and Southeast Asia. In the past, Indian companies would be elbowed out of the way of such acquisitions by deeper-pocketed competitors, including Chinese oil companies. “What is happening now is that a lot of companies, who were in competition earlier, are not able to compete,” Halan said. “It is effectively a free run for companies who have been sitting on cash, like the Indian ones.” India is also developing its own energy resources. State-owned explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corporation recently approved $5 billion more to develop a field off the east coast, even as oil firms worldwide delay more than $380 billion of projects. This could add about 10 per cent to India’s oil production and 18 per cent to its natural gas output, data compiled by Bloomberg show. “Economic expansion is priority for the Modi government, and energy is a key part of that story,” said Virendra Chauhan, a Singapore-based oil analyst for Energy Aspects. “Indian energy companies will be strategic in their buying. With prices where they are, it makes sense.”
IOC in thick of action as India’s fuel demand explodes
With India’s fuel demand set to take off, state-owned refiner Indian Oil Corporation finds itself in the thick of action. After commissioning its largest refinery at Paradip, IOC has drawn up a Rs 150 billion investment plan to expand capacity of its Gujarat, Barauni, Mathura and Panipat refineries in order to cater to fast-growing fuel demand in the country, according to a senior executive of the company.IOC board has already approved the investment plan. “We have lined up Rs 150 billion-investment plan for capacity expansion at Gujarat, Barauni, Mathura and Panipat refineries,” said Sanjiv Singh, director-refineries, IOC told UNI. The company has already done capacity expansion at these refineries through debottlenecking route. Meanwhile, as the country gears up to switch over euro IV and VI auto fuel norms from 2017 and 2020 respectively, the state-owned refiner is undertaking technological upgrades at its refineries, which may cost it over Rs 18,000 crore.IOC, along with Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, the two other public sector refiners, is already working to set up India’s largest refinery in Maharashtra with an investment of Rs 1,500 billion. The proposed refinery will have 60 million ton per annum capacity. To put it in the perspective, India’s total refining capacity is 215 million ton. India’s petroleum demand is projected to more than double to 470-500 million ton per annum by 2040, which would necessitate additional investment of 62 billion dollar, as per official estimates. Luckily for IOC, it has been freed of petroleum subsidy burden just in time to be able to focus on capacity expansion and technological upgrades.”Our cash flows have improved and working capital requirement has come down,” Singh said.
Iran exporting 350,000 bpd oil to India, hopes for more: Shana news
Iran is exporting around 350,000 barrels of crude oil a day to India and hopes to increase this number, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying on Saturday after meeting Indian counterpart Dharmendra Pradhan. The Shana news agency, linked to Iran’s oil ministry, quoted Zanganeh as saying Indian oil purchases from Iran were at 350,000 barrels a day, and that “we hope this number will increase now that sanctions have been lifted”. The two ministers signed a cooperation agreement covering oil exports, the petrochemical sector and the development of a gas field, though there were no reports of any final deals being signed. Pradhan said India was ready to invest $20 billion in the port of Chabahar port in southeastern Iran, according to Shana, adding that “Iran and India’s energy ties are no longer limited to crude oil imports”. Industry sources last week said Indian refiners are looking to ramp up purchases of Iranian crude after sanctions on Tehran were lifted in January, bringing India’s imports to at least 400,000 bpd in the coming year. The Shana news agency, linked to Iran’s oil ministry, quoted Zanganeh as saying Indian oil purchases from Iran were at 350,000 barrels a day, and that “we hope this number will increase now that sanctions have been lifted”. Zanganeh added that Indian companies were looking to invest in oil, gas and petrochemical projects in Iran, but that reaching deals was “a difficult task and needs time”.