Govt to focus on reducing water, power use by half in 20 years
Reducing water and power use by half and promoting renewable energy and public transport are “key elements” of the government’s urban development strategy for the next 20 years, according to a report released today. Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister M Venkaiah Naidu released the India Habitat III-National Report on World Habitat Day today, ahead of the UN Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador later this month where a global new urban agenda for the next 20 years is going to be adopted. India’s strategy for urban development intends to give a big push to use growing urbanisation for rapid economic development while at the same time committing itself to address issues of sustainable development and climate change, Naidu said. “The challenge is about ensuring sustainable development while taking advantage of economic growth that results from rapid urbanisation in the country. For long, urbanisation has been looked at from the limited perspective of providing basic services… We need to go for a big push to harness fully the potential of urbanisation,” he said. Stating that cities need to be made efficient, productive, inclusive, safe and sustainable, he said the agenda for the next two decades proposed in the national report will be ensuring economic growth and productivity, improving quality of life, addressing issues of inclusivity, sustainability and climate change. The minister said the outcomes of new urban agenda based on sustainable urban planning would include reducing water and electricity use by 50 per cent from that of normal use, enabling over 60 per cent of urban travel by public transport, generating half of power from renewable sources, and promoting walking and cycling for last mile connectivity. Promoting natural drainage patterns, reducing waste generation of all kind and promoting greenery are some of the government agenda for sustainable urban development, he said. On India ratifying the Paris Agreement on Climate Change yesterday, Naidu said, “It is an eloquent testimony of India’s commitment to sustainable development.” Referring to the theme of this year’s Word Habitat Day of ‘Housing at Centre’, Naidu said that under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) launched in June last year, construction of over 10 lakh houses for urban poor has been approved which is close to the number of houses approved during the nine years of JNNURM during the previous regime. Differently-abled children who have won in painting competitions organised on the theme of World Habitat Day were felicitated by Naidu and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Rao Inderjit Singh. HUPA Secretary Nandita Chatterjee also spoke on the occasion. Ben Roethlisberger Womens Jersey
BSES to give temporary power connections in a day
Power discom BSES today launched a ‘tatkal’ scheme to provide temporary electricity connections within a day to community events such as pujas and marriages during the festive season. A BSES functionary said the ‘tatkal’ scheme aims at smoothly catering to the usually heavy demand witnessed every festive season. “Under the scheme, a consumer will be able to get a temporary connection the same day of applying and completing the commercial formalities. All a consumer has to do is contact BSES call centre numbers 39999707 (BRPL) and 39999808 (BYPL),” the company said. Usually, it takes around three-five days to get a temporary connection, it said. Tatakal applications are also available online at www.bsesdelhi.com or at the customer care centre at the company’s division office. Announcing the scheme, a BSES spokesperson said, “Our entire machinery is geared up to meet the rush.” Cory Littleton Womens Jersey
Monsoon shortage might effect power generation in Kerala
A drastic shortage in monsoon rainfall and subsequent fall in inflow to dams, the lowest in the last 10 years, is likely to affect power generation in Kerala, state government said today. “There has been a drastic drop in rainfall this monsoon compared to previous years, due to which only 58 per cent of water inflow than expected has been received in dams for power generation. This is the lowest inflow to dams in the last 10 years,” Power Minister Kadakampally Surendran said here. As this would effect power generation, the state has already taken steps to purchase 150 MW to overcome the anticipated shortage, he said, replying to the debate for grants for power department in the assembly. The minister said the government’s objective in the power sector was to have all houses electrified by March 2017. A Rs 10,000 crore project TransGrid-2 will be implemented to modernise transmission lines using the latest technology. Funds for the purpose would be made available from the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board, he said. Besides, it was also planned to set up 400 KV sub-stations and 24 220 KV sub-stations in next five years. Government’s objective was to make Kerala self-sufficient in power in the next five years, he said, adding that the Centre’s new power policy meant that the state cannot expect more electricity from the Central power grid. As a first step, work of the now defunct power generation projects would be revived, he said adding nearly 300 MW additional power would be generated in the coming years. On conventional power generation, he said steps would be taken to complete a 50 MW project in the first phase in one year, which is being taken up as part of the 200 MW solar power park at Kasargod. Tender process for purchase of additional 200 MW solar power also was in the final stages, he added. Trevor Linden Authentic Jersey
Coal shortage over, UP overcomes power crisis
The UP government on Monday claimed of having overcome the power crisis orginated out of coal shortage at its 2,420 Mw Anpara power plant. The UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (UPRVUN) said that but for one unit of 500 Mw, all other six units have started working. Managaing director, UPRVUNL, AP Mishra said only unit number 7 of 500 Mw is shut down, while the rest have been fired up and synchronized with the grid. He said that the seventh unit too will start by Tuesday evening. The shortage of coal at the state owned power plant had partially derailed the power supply to the state. While the demand has been to the tune of around 15000 Mw, the state was in the position to wheel in around 12000 Mw leaving a gap of around 3000 Mw. The shortage had forced the state government to resort to rostering, not only in the rural but also urban areas. Marshall Faulk Authentic Jersey
Jharkhand becomes first state to launch DBT in Kerosene
Jharkhand has become the first state in the country to launch the ambitious Direct Benefit Transfer in Kerosene (DBTK) scheme, the petroleum ministry said in a statement today. The scheme aims at eliminating subsidized Kerosene from the supply chain for better targeting of beneficiaries, eliminate pilferage and black-marketing and cut down adulteration of the cheap cooking and lighting fuel with diesel. Jharkhand has initiated roll-out of the scheme in four identified districts — Chatra, Hazaribagh, Khunti and Jantara – beginning 1 October. “Under the DBTK Scheme, Public Distribution System (PDS) kerosene is being sold at non-subsidised price and subsidy, as admissible, is being transferred to consumers directly into their bank accounts,” the ministry said. The statement also clarified the government’s initiative is aimed at rationalising subsidy based on the approach to cut subsidy leakages but not subsidy. The DBTK scheme, which works on the lines of a similar programme for LPG subsidy, was initially to be rolled out across 40 districts in nine states from 1 April 2016. However, lack of bank accounts and their seeding with Aadhaar numbers coupled with problems in creating biometric database of beneficiaries had pushed back the launch of the ambitious plan to introduce DBTK. Under the scheme, consumers pay the non-subsidized price of kerosene at the time of purchase. Subsequently, the amount of subsidy is directly transferred to the bank account of the beneficiary. In order to avoid any inconvenience to the beneficiaries during the initial purchase through payment of un-subsided price, an initial amount of subsidy is credited to all eligible beneficiaries. Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan had earlier said the centre is hopeful of covering at least 33 districts in nine states in 2016-17 calling it “A substantial leap forward in the reform process”. In a bid to incentivize states to implement DBTK, the states are given cash incentive of 75 per cent of subsidy saving during the first two years, 50 per cent in the third year and 25 per cent in the fourth year. The scheme is being launched initially in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Phillip Lindsay Womens Jersey
Saudi cabinet says eager for oil market stability
Saudi Arabia welcomed on Monday an agreement reached in Algiers last week on restraining oil output, and said it hoped for further cooperation between oil producers inside and outside OPEC to help the interests of producers and consumers. “The council of ministers stressed the kingdom’s keen desire for the stability of the international oil market in the interest of producers and consumers, the energy industry and the world economy,” state news agency SPA quoted a statement by the cabinet as saying. The cabinet also said Saudi Arabia was “ready to participate in any collective action” to achieve this goal. Lee Smith Jersey