The Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday reviewed the coal supply and power generation scenario as the government looks at ways to defuse the energy crisis being faced by several states.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday pitched for formulating a policy for using the Reserve Bank of India's rising foreign exchange reserves for funding road projects, saying the country needs low cost finance for such infrastructure projects. Addressing a virtual event organised by industry body CII, Gadkari further said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should also have a financial arm like the power ministry's Power Finance Corporation (PFC). "We have a surplus of dollar reserves in the country. I have decided to talk with the RBI Governor, about how we can formulate a policy by which we can use this foreign exchange reserves for development of infrastructure in the country," he said.
The Centre has completed asset monetisation worth Rs 96,000 crore during FY22, surpassing the target of Rs 88,000 crore. For FY23, it has set itself a goal of Rs 1.62 trillion, and already has a pipeline of assets worth Rs 1.6 trillion under advanced stages of implementation, an official said. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday reviewed the progress made by several ministries and nudged departments to achieve the targets set for them, the official added.
Way before the rains arrived at Talwandi Sabo Power plant in Punjab, the one check the coal ministry was carrying out was the availability of coal stock with the generator. Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), the 1,980-Mw thermal power plant of Sterlite Energy, part of the Vedanta Group, which supplies about 15 per cent of Punjab's power, is one of the most difficult locations to manage coal supplies. It is nearly 1,700 km from the mines of Mahanadi Coalfields in Odisha, the longest coal route in India and possibly the trickiest as it cuts through the traffic heavy rail lines between Delhi and eastern India.
The party 'Mera Adhikar Rashtriya Dal' (MARD), registered in 2018, had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow and Varanasi.
The ministry further said the prime minister's appeal is to simply switch off the lights, and there is no call to switch off either street lights or appliances like computers, TVs, fans, refrigerators and ACs in homes.
Refusing to link his seeking voluntary retirement, a year before his superannuation, to his transfer to the relatively low profile power ministry, he said that he had conveyed his decision to the Prime Minister's Office on July 18.
Punjab has sent an email saying that four deaths suspected to be due to lack of oxygen have been reported in a private hospital in Amritsar district, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a written reply.
Union Power Minister R K Singh says the Mumbai power outage of October 2020 was caused by 'human error'.
A greater payment security mechanism for power generation companies to ensure timely payouts for supply of electricity will be in focus in 2022 as stricter rules are on the anvil for 24x7 power supply amid discoms' outstanding dues at a whopping Rs 1.56 lakh crore. Mounting outstanding dues of distribution companies (discoms) to electricity generation companies (gencos) have been a perennial issue affecting the entire value chain in the power sector and are also a hindrance for the ambitious goal of 24x7 power supply across the country even when the payment for coal is made in advance. The situation persists despite the fact that discoms' dues become overdue after 45 days of generating bills and they also have to pay penal interest on the overdue amount in most of the cases to gencos.
Darul Uloom Haqqania madrassa, one of Pakistan's largest and oldest seminaries and dubbed as a 'university of jihad' by its critics for helping sow violence across the region for decades, has educated more Taliban leaders than any school in the world and its alumni now hold key positions in Afghanistan, according to a media report.
The statement comes in the wake of reports that warned of power crisis looming large due to the coal shortage in the country.
It was not immediately clear when Garg submitted his voluntary retirement scheme application to the government. It was also not known if the government would accept the application. If he hadn't applied for VRS, he would have retired from government service at the end of October 2020 on attaining of 60 years of age. Garg did not answer phone calls seeking his comments.
When the Centre tries to encroach upon the subjects that are under the prerogative of the state, or where the centre tries to evade from any responsibility guaranteed to a state through a constitutional provision/obligation, it poses a threat to federalism.
'This is a crisis which did not happen overnight. It was happening slowly.' 'Now we are mining very fast and this crisis won't last long.'
Violation of the provisions entails a punishment of a jail term up to five years or with fine up to Rs 1 crore or with both, the ordinance released by the Ministry of Law and Justice on Thursday said.
India's power consumption grew 11.45 per cent to 55.37 billion units (BU) in the first half of October this year, mainly driven by buoyancy in industrial and commercial activities, as per government data.
Thackeray held a meeting on the issue and instructed authorities concerned to ensure there is no recurrence of the episode, an official statement said.
The appointments committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared Bhalla's appointment as OSD in the ministry with immediate effect.
The change in stance follows a strong opposition by automakers of the proposed government plan to ban two-wheelers (below 150cc) and three-wheelers by 2023 and 2025, respectively
Violation of the provisions entails a punishment of a jail term of up to five years or with fine up to Rs one crore or with both.
LIC, EPFO and PSBs are likely to be asked to subscribe to bonds.
The highest cap for the capacity would be 2 GW and can be set up in tranches at whatever location the project developer deems fit.
Subhash Chandra Garg, the former finance secretary who was shunted out of the finance ministry within three weeks of Modi-2.0 government's first budget last year, on Saturday alleged that new Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman got him transferred out.
The banking regulator is seeking an early exit mechanism for private banks under Prompt Corrective Action.
A few more cross border links with neighbouring countries are in the pipeline which would further increase export of power.
It could end the payment backlog and improve the revenue flow of discoms, says Piyush Goyal
If required, the power ministry would challenge the Jairam Ramesh-led Environment Ministry, sources in the know said.
Cheap or free power is viewed as a right rather than a privilege by many Indians
Power Minster R K Singh said, "The power supply ramp down and ramp up -- they (officials) handled very smoothly, and I along with my senior officials -- power secretary, POSCO CMD -- were personally monitoring the situation from National Monitoring Centre in the ministry. I congratulate all the engineers of NLDC, RLDC and SLDCs for handling the situation very efficiently especially in huge response to the Prime Minister's call".
The power ministry has got an assurance from the government that its company will be duly compensated.
The nodal agency for implementing energy conservation programme, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency is expected to implement rating of cars on the basis of fuel efficiency charging about Rs 200 per unit from manufacturers.
In a recent letter to the power ministry, the Planning Commission recommended allocation of Rs 10,630 crore (Rs 106.3 billion) gross budgetary support for the ministry.
The power ministry is planning to start a second version of UDAY, aimed only at reducing the losses of discoms and improving the quality of power supply.
On July 27, power ministry had written to the oil ministry saying 'the marketing margin being charged by RIL is not in line with the decisions of an empowered group of ministers on pricing formula (for KG-D6 gas)'. While Anil Ambani Group firm RNRL on Sunday alleged that RIL was charging 'unauthorised' marketing margin, 35 firms buying KG-D6 gas are paying the $0.135 per mmBtu to RIL without protest.
State-run NTPC, Essar Power and Torrent are among the firms identified by the Union power ministry for buying natural gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore D6 block.
Power Ministry said on Wednesday it is working on a legislation to fix more responsibility on the states for the financial health of the electricity boards.
Sharp differences have emerged within the government over the performance of power equipment manufacturer BHEL and the need for setting up another state-owned supplier to meet the electricity shortfall.
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