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First compressed biogas plant to start this year: Pradhan

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The government expects the nation’s first compressed bio-gas (CBG) plant to become operational within the current quarter of the fiscal, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

“We expect the SATAT plan to be working fully inside of the next three months and the first CBG plant to be operational within this quarter itself,” Pradhan said while launching the Centre’s Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative designed to benefit both vehicle users as well as farmers and entrepreneurs.

“Our aim is that the cleaner green fuel CBG replaces LNG (liquefied natural gas) for use in households, as well as in transportation,” he added.

The event organisers, state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) IOC, BPCL and HPCL, announced the call inviting expression of interest from potential entrepreneurs to set up CBG production plants to market the clean fuel for vehicular use.

Under the initiative, CBG plants are proposed to be set up mainly through independent entrepreneurs.

A Petroleum Ministry release said the 1,500-strong compressed natural gas (CNG) stations network in the country currently serve about 32 lakh gas-based vehicles.

“The Working Group on Biofuels, set up under the National Policy on Biofuels 2018, is in the process of finalising a pan-India pricing model for compressed bio-gas,” it said

“The entrepreneurs would be able to separately market the other by-products from these plants, including bio-manure, carbon-dioxide, etc. to enhance returns on investment.”

Noting that OMCs have decided to pay a higher procurement price for CBG than they currently pay for domestic natural gas, Pradhan asked the state-run companies in oil and gas to jointly devise a production offtake guarantee plan for CBG entrepreneurs.

“It is planned to roll out 5,000 CBG plants across India in a phased manner, with 250 plants by the year 2020, 1,000 plants by 2022 and 5,000 plants by 2025. These plants are expected to produce 15 million tonnes of CBG per annum, which is about 40 per cent of the current CNG consumption of 44 million tonnes,” the Ministry said.

“At an investment of around Rs. 1.7 lakh crore, this initiative is expected to generate direct employment for 75,000 people and produce 50 million tonnes of bio-manure for crops.”

IANS

Government takes IL&FS to NCLT, seeks dismissal of Board

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The Central government on Monday moved the top corporate tribunal to change the management of the beleaguered IL&FS.

According to sources, the matter has been listed in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai, for hearing later in the day.

The debt ridden IL&FS has been taken to the NCLT, Mumbai, by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the sources told IANS here.

The development comes a day after Congress President Rahul Gandhi alleged that public money was being used to bail-out IL&FS.

In a tweet on Sunday, Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was bailing out the IL&FS group which has a long-term debt liability of around Rs 91,000 crore via public savings in LIC and the State Bank of India (SBI).

The Congress has raised the issue and warned of “an impending ‘Lehman Brothers-type’ economic crisis facing the country”.

The party has also called for a forensic audit of the group over the disbursement of Rs 42,000 crore in the last four years.

The call for an audit comes at a time, when concerns have been raised regarding the financial stability of the group after some of its subsidiaries defaulted on commercial paper repayment obligations.

On Saturday, the cash-strapped company said it was planning to have a “successful” rights issue and would sell its assets to repay creditors.

The company in its Annual General Meeting sought shareholders’ permission to carry out its plans to recapitalise itself.

Recently, IL&FS Financial Services, a group company, defaulted in payment obligations of bank loans (including interest), term and short-term deposits and failed to meet the commercial paper (CP) redemption obligations due on September 14.

On September 15, the company reported that it had received notices for delays and defaults in servicing some of the inter corporate deposits accepted by it.

Consequent to defaults, rating agency ICRA downgraded the ratings of its short-term and long-term borrowing programmes.

IL&FS Ltd is a core investment company and serves as the holding company of the IL&FS Group, with most business operations domiciled in separate companies which form an ecosystem of expertise across infrastructure, finance and social and environmental services.

Initially promoted by the Central Bank of India, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd and the Unit Trust of India, IL&FS was incorporated in 1987.

Over the years, it has inducted institutional shareholders including SBI, LIC, ORIX Corporation of Japan and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).

As on March 31, 2018, LIC and ORIX Corporation are the largest shareholders in IL&FS with their stakeholding at 25.34 per cent and 23.54 per cent, respectively. Other prominent shareholders include ADIA (12.56 per cent), HDFC (9.02 per cent), CBI (7.67 per cent) and SBI (6.42 per cent).

IANS

Indonesia races to aid quake, tsunami victims as toll passes 840

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Rescuers continued on Monday to hunt for survivors in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami that killed 844 people in Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, leading to large-scale destruction and prompting food and fuel shortage.

Palu, a city of 350,000, was the worst affected and reduced to ruins. Dead bodies covered by tarps lay in the city’s streets, exposed to Indonesia’s blistering heat, as rescuers searched rubble for survivors buried in crumpled buildings.

Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said the final death toll could be in the thousands. Authorities started burying some of the confirmed dead in mass graves as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of disease, the BBC reported.

An estimated 2.4 million people were affected by the disaster, Indonesian Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. At least 600 people were hospitalized and over 48,000 were displaced.

People were sleeping in the open, wary of returning to their homes. Reports say that aid started to reach Palu, but rescuers were still trying to reach Donggala regency, home to over 300,000 people.

Hundreds of people, screaming for food, jostled outside the Itudulaka military command, in the city. Officials said that they required more volunteers, more supplies of water and rice that could be distributed at different points in the town, instead of in one place.

Fuel shortage was affecting power generators, which were currently the only source of electricity in the city and were also being used for emergency communication.

According to authorities, aid has been slow to trickle in, delayed by severe damage to Mutiara Sis Al Jufri Airport in Palu, which was closed for 24 hours after the tsunami but has since reopened to limited flights.

Priority will be given to evacuating survivors and allowing aid workers to bring in food and fresh water, said Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who visited the disaster site on Sunday.

Widodo also agreed to accept international help for disaster response and relief, officials said. The EU and South Korea offered $1.7 million and $1 million respectively, while the Australian government said it was working with Indonesia to identify options for assistance.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Justice Ministry reported that 1,200 convicts escaped from three different detention facilities in the Sulawesi region following the earthquake and tsunami.

Blocked roads, a damaged airport and broken telecommunications made it difficult to bring help into the affected area and impossible to contact more remote regions. “We don’t know for sure what is the impact,” said the disaster management agency spokesperson.

Reports said that mobile phone signals were detected in the rubble of the shopping mall in Palu and shouts were heard under the debris of the Roa Roa Hotel. Workers were scrambling to rescue 50 people trapped beneath its debris.

The current and former mayor of Palu were among the dead.

An early tsunami warning had been issued by the Indonesian meteorological agency, but was later lifted after the agency ascertained that the water had receded.

IANS

GST collection crosses Rs 94,000 cr in September

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Despite reduced tax rates on several items, revenue collection under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) stood at Rs 94,442 crore in September after sliding to Rs 93,960 crore in August.

“The revenue collected in September shows an upward trend as compared to the August collection,” the Finance Ministry said.

The government had last month attributed the dip in tax revenues to “probable postponement” of sale of over 50 items, including refrigerators, washing machines and small televisions, on which tax rate was reduced by the GST Council at its July 21 meeting. The reduced rates were to come into effect from July 27.

“The actual impact of reduction of rate of taxes would be observed only from next month (September),” the Finance Ministry had then said.

Of the total gross revenue collected in September (for August), Rs 15,318 crore was collected as Central-GST (CGST), Rs 21,061 crore as state-GST (SGST) and Rs 50,070 crore as integrated-GST (IGST).

An additional Rs 7,993 crore was collected as cess, an official statement said.

“The total number of GSTR-3B returns filed for August up to September 30 was 67 lakh,” it said.

“The total revenue earned by Central government and the state governments after settlement is Rs 30,574 crore for CGST and Rs 35,015 crore for the SGST.”

Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad elected Hockey India President

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Bihar’s Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad was elected the President of Hockey India following the eighth Hockey India Congress on Monday.

Ahmad, who formerly held the Secretary General’s post, will succeed Rajinder Singh after being elected unopposed, according to a Hockey India statement.

While Gyanendro Ningombam of Manipur will take over as the Senior Vice President, Asima Ali of Jammu and Kashmir and Bhola Nath Singh of Jharkhand will be the new Vice Presidents.

Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajinder Singh has been elected the Secretary General and Tapan Kumar Das of Assam was re-elected the Treasurer.

Former Indian women’s team Captain Asunta Lakra of Jharkhand was elected the Joint Secretary along with Firoz Ansari of Chhattisgarh.

Meanwhile, Arti Singh of Rajasthan, M. Renuka Lakshmi of Tamil Nadu and S.V.S. Subramanya Gupta, currently heading Hockey Karnataka, were elected unopposed as Executive Members.

R.P. Singh and Joydeep Kaur were re-appointed as Athlete Representatives after their nomination was ratified at the Congress.

Naval helicopter crashes in Tamil Nadu

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An Indian naval Chetak helicopter crashed at the INS Rajali Naval Air Base at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu on Monday morning, officials said.

According to police and naval officials, three persons who were on board were safe.

The helicopter was carrying out a dry winching dual sortie when the incident happened about 70 km from here.

The helicopter suffered damage to its rotors. A probe has been ordered.

IANS

Yogi promises all help to slain Apple executive’s widow

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday promised all help to Kalpana Tiwari, the widow of Apple executive Vivek Tiwari who was shot dead by a police constable for allegedly not stopping when asked to do so on Saturday.

At the meeting, the Chief Minister assured all help to the bereaved family and said that justice will be done at all costs.

He also told the family that the conduct of the killer police constable, Prashant Chowdhary, was unacceptable and he had been sacked and booked for murder.

At the meeting, which took place in a sombre atmosphere, an official told IANS that the distraught widow broke down many times and wondered aloud how she would bring up her daughters in the absence of her husband.

Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma had taken Kalpana Tiwari and her two daughters – Shanu and Shivi. She was also accompanied by her brother Vishnu Tiwari.

The Chief Minister also spoke briefly to the two daughters of Vivek Tiwari.

Dinesh Sharma met Kalpana Tiwari and other family members of the deceased late on Sunday and coordinated a teleconference between them and the Chief Minister.

Clearly cornered by the horrific incident, senior officials and political leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party swung into action late at night on Sunday and ensured that the Chief Minister met the family the first thing on Monday.

Adityanath has already announced Rs 25 lakh in financial assistance to the family and a government job for Kalpana Tiwari with the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.

A CCTV footage that surfaced on Monday also punctured the claims of the accused policemen that they opened fire at the 38-year-old when he refused to stop the car, drove away at high speed and tried to run them over.

The footage, a police official privy to the probe ordered by the government said, showed the SUV being driven at normal speed and halting about 500 meters from where the man on the wheel was shot and then bumping into a pillar of the under pass.

IANS

Equity indices open in red

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The key Indian equity indices opened on a negative note on Monday amidst mixed cues from the Asian markets.

Heavy selling pressure was witnessed in banking, auto and financial stocks, analysts said.

At 9.26 a.m., the wider Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange traded 10,885.45 points, lower 45 points or 0.41 per cent from its previous close.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which had opened at 36,274.25 points, traded at 36,186.10 points, down 41.04 points or 0.11 per cent from its previous close of 36,227.14 points.

So far, it has touched an intra-day high of 36,291.51 points and a low 36,083 points.

IANS

Progress of nation more important than debates: Kamal Haasan By Sugandha Rawal

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New Delhi Not religion, not culture, progress is what matters, says cine icon Kamal Haasan, who has embarked on a journey in politics. He says people in India are busy debating trivial issues whereas the need of the hour is to rise above them.

Haasan has always been vocal about the need to steer away from the politics of caste and religion. So, how important is it to address the real issues?

“It is very important. We have lost that dialogue. We are talking about everything else… We are trying to prove a point which does not exist. We are debating things that don’t matter at all,” Haasan told IANS in an exclusive interview here while opening up about his decision to enter politics, his aspirations, his vision for the country and about contesting the Lok Sabha elections.

“Yes, keep your religion, keep your culture, but progress as a nation is much more important than these debates. We are giving knee-jerk reactions to things which are not useful in everyday life or for the future generation. We (his party) are making that the focal point and that is what you have to talk about. The younger India is ready to talk about such issues,” he added.

The 63-year-old actor took the political plunge by launching his Makkal Needhi Maiam party on February 21 in Madurai. In just 48 hours, 201,597 people registered to join the Tamil film icon’s party.

Change can only come with unity, feels Haasan.

“Progress can’t be just my vision. It has to be a collective vision. You can take the example of China. Almost 30 years back, China had all the problems that we have, even much worse. And they changed it with will. But then you say it was only dictatorship that responsible for it. I beg to disagree.

“America was not a dictatorship. There were many voices pulling in all directions, and still progress happened.”

The actor, who entered the film industry when he was just three, continued: “(Things change) when people take the onus of building the nation, not just a few contracted people designated by the larger crowd, who are themselves busy going about their everyday chores or trying to reach office on time. They have to spend some time to build the nation.”

Citing an example from India’s long fight for freedom, the actor said: “In the 1940s, people were not ‘bekaar’ (useless). They had their jobs, they had their professions, they had to earn their everyday bread, but they still had time for freedom. Now, the second freedom struggle has started.”

Is he planning to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections?

“Well, anything which is good for Tamil Nadu is the way I see (things). Whichever direction it takes me… I will go and seek the opportunity and seize the day,” he said without dismissing the possibility completely.

The charismatic Tamil cine hero has done over 200 films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. He is known for projects like “Appu Raja”, “Hey Ram”, “Dashavatar”, “Ek Duuje Ke Liye”, “Sagara Sangamam”, “Sadma”, “Thevar Magan”, “Chachi 420” and “Vishwaroopam” and “Vishwaroop 2”.

The Hindi version of “Vishwaroop 2”, presented by Rohit Shetty and the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment, released in August.

After spending so many years in the industry, Haasan avers he will be quitting acting for politics. Asked whether he is planning to manage both, he said: “I shouldn’t do both the things.”

“My advice to the actor (in me) is to step aside because there is much more work to do. I loved the actor. I have lived with him for 58 years, but I have to move to people and that is more important.”

(IANS)

ED attaches Nirav Modi’s foreign assets worth Rs 637 cr

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New Delhi The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday it has attached foreign properties of fugitive diamond jeweller Nirav Modi worth Rs 637 crore in its ongoing investigation into the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud.

A senior ED official said that the financial probe agency has been working in close coordination with other foreign agencies in order to identify and attach foreign properties of Nirav Modi kept secret at various international locations.

The attached properties were in the form of jewellery, bank accounts and immovable properties.

The official also said that it has brought diamond jewellery worth Rs 22.69 crore back to India from Hong Kong.

According to the ED, a stock of jewellery was exported to Hong Kong after a case was registered against Nirav Modi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January.

This was kept in a vault of a private company in Hong Kong on behalf of Nirav Modi.

“The agency contacted the company and its London headquarters and after much persuasion and follow up, it successfully brought back the jewellery to India,” the official said.

He also said that the stock value of the jewellery was around Rs 85 crore and the jewellery was sent to Hong Kong by Firestar Group of Companies. On independent valuation, the value of jewellery came to Rs 22.69 crore.

The ED has also attached a flat in south Mumbai worth Rs 19.5 crore which was on the name of Nirav Modi’s sister Purvi, who is a Belgian national.

The official said that the flat was purchased by Purvi in 2017 and the deed was signed by Nirav Nodi’s brother Neeshal, who is also a Belgian national and who held a power of attorney.

“But the consideration of the flat was paid by Purvi through her Barclays Bank account maintained in Singapore,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the agency also attached five bank accounts containing over Rs 278 crore, belonging to Nirav Modi, Purvi and others in the case.

Interpol has issued an RCN against Nirav Modi, Neeshal, Purvi and his executive Subhash Parab.

Interpol on Monday on the request of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED issued a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Nirav Modi’s trusted official Aditya Nanavati in the PNB fraud.

According to CBI sources, Nanavati’s links with Neeshal have been found.

Nanavati used to head the operations of the Firestar Diamond’s business in Hong Kong. It is learnt that he was also in Belgium.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Group are under probe by both the CBI and ED. The ED had on May 24 and 26 filed the charge-sheets against both.

Non-bailable warrants have been issued against them.

Nirav Modi left India along with his family in the first week of January, before the scam was reported to the CBI.

(IANS)

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