by rakesh | Dec 11, 2006 | Env & Geography
The State Level Renewable Energy Park set up at Khandagiri foothills, Bhubaneswar with funding from Union Ministry of New & Renewable Energy was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Orissa Shri Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneshwar yesterday.
The park covering an area of about 3 acres demonstrates most of the new working systems such as solar cooking, lighting, drying, water heating, gasifier, wind generator, biodiesel power, solar energy drier and models of small hydro power, wave energy, geothermal energy. An attractive and informative Interactive Media Center and conference hall/auditorium on solar passive architecture concept has been constructed to screen films and organizing meetings/conferences. An expenditue of over Rupees One crore has been incurred on the park.
While inaugurating the park, Hon’ble Chief Minister mentioned the renewable energy policy, biodiesel policy and renewable power purchase obligation by the state government . He mentioned the interest of private industries who were taking interest in renewable power development in the state.
Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has been supporting setting up of district and state level Renewable Energy Parks to create public awareness and education on renewable energy technologies & systems. It also provides funds for the park, remote village electrification and village energy security projects
On the occasion, Dr. N.P. Singh, Adviser, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy briefly mentioned the developments taken place in the area of renewable energy such as Solar Wind, Biomass, Small Hydro, etc and desired the accelerated use of renewable energy sources which were in plenty in the State of Orissa. Dr. Singh mentioned the 14 Renewable Energy Clubs sanctioned to engineering colleges and district level energy parks in the State of Orissa.
by rakesh | Dec 8, 2006 | World News
Shri J.P. Batra, Chairman, Railway Board has been elected as Chairman of the International Union of Railways (UIC), a prestigious world-wide organization for international cooperation among railways and promotion of rail transport mode, headquartered in Paris, France.
For the past one year, the organization is gearing up for new challenges, in particular, railway liberalization, increasing competition from other modes, the growing economic constraints on railways together with the challenge of globalization of the transport market which creates new opportunities for railways. Shri Batra, who is also presently the Chairman of World Executive Council (WEC) of UIC, an executive body of Chief Executives from different geographical regions of the world and responsible for UIC activities at global level, had led the transformation of UIC to meet the aspirations of all its members across the globe.
The new UIC will focus on the development of intercontinental freight corridors (N.E.W. Corridor, etc.), cooperation within the Metre Gauge, Broad Gauge groups, etc., interactive seminars between customers (railways) and suppliers (world industry), projects in the field of training and strategic management i.e. creation of Inter Railway Strategic Management Institute (IRMSI).
He is the first non-European to be elected for the prestigious assignment. The organization founded in 1922, has 171 members including railways, rail operators, infrastructure managers, railway service providers, public transport companies, etc. spread over all five continents.
Major functions undertaken by UIC involve promoting technical cooperation between its members and maintaining the overall coherence of the railway system, notably at pan-European level, and achieving interoperability which is one of the keys for bolstering rail transport competitiveness. In this context, UIC is responsible for:
· Putting forward specifications and standards to standardization bodies;
· Acting as a technical platform to support the work of railway associations;
· Spearheading international rail cooperation projects which dovetail with its core technical tasks;
· Defining common provisions and recommendations intended for its members; and
· Concluding agreements with Intergovernmental organizations and other trade organizations responsible for transport matters or which cooperate with the railways.
by rakesh | Dec 8, 2006 | India News
The Railways propose to introduce a better designed and passenger friendly AC 3-tier coaches with increased capacity of passengers. Indian Railways have always endeavored to improve upon the passenger coaches to make them as passenger friendly as possible. Design changes towards this objective is a continuous process.
Arising out of a transfer of technology from M/s. ALSTOM, Indian Railways have started manufacturing state of the art Air Conditioned coaches including Air Conditioned 3 Tier sleeper coaches to Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) design.
These are presently running in a number of Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express services. These coaches have aesthetically pleasing interiors, and higher passenger carrying capacity. Newly introduced Air Conditioned 3 Tier coaches for “Garib Rath” Express Trains have also been designed with a higher passenger carrying capacity of 75 persons as against 64 berths in the conventional Air Conditioned 3 tier coaches being run on Railways until now. Two rakes of such coaches have already been manufactured at Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala / Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai. All passenger amenity items viz., Snack Tables, Bottle holders, Mirrors, Magazine holders, improved illumination using Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL), mobile charging sockets etc. have been provided and comfort of passengers taken due care of these coaches.
Furthermore, by increasing the overall height of the coach shell, a new Air Conditioned 3 Tier coach design and layout is presently under consideration of the Ministry of Railways wherein the passenger carrying capacity is expected to be further enhanced to 81 passengers per coach. This information was given by Shri R.Velu, Minister of State for Railways in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.
by rakesh | Dec 1, 2006 | India News
Three rounds of talks with People’s Consultative Group (PCG) set up by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) have been held. The Government had agreed favourably to consider the request of ULFA for release of five ULFA detenues in consultation with the Government of Assam provided ULFA made a formal approach to Government of India / Government of Assam for holding direct talks, nominated the delegation for these talks, indicated the time frame and abjured violence in all forms including extortions, notices, etc. Efforts with People’s Consultative Group representatives for holding these talks were continued even after three rounds through mutual initiatives. Government had also declared unilateral suspension of operations by Army against ULFA from 13 Aug 2006 to 20 Sep 2006 with a view to create a conducive atmosphere for holding peace talks. Since there was no direct response from ULFA and reports were received of regrouping, new raisings, violence and extortion by ULFA cadres, operations against ULFA have been resumed.
The Government is open to talks with any militant group provided they shun violence. However, Government is duty bound to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
This information was given by the Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri Girdhari Lal Bhargava and others in Lok Sabha today
by rakesh | Nov 30, 2006 | India News
With an objective to promote India as a favourite tourist destination, the Government has introduced a long term tourist visa with multi entry facility for the nationals of 18 countries. They are France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Vietnam.
The visa will have five-year validity with the stipulation that continuous stay in India on each visit shall not exceed 90 days. The long term visa would facilitate repeat visits by the nationals of these countries for tourism purposes.
Page 2 of 32«123...»Last »
