In addition to immediate ex-gratia payment to injured and next of kin of dead, Railway will pay a compensation of Rs.4 lakh in case of death and injuries which deprive a person of capacity to work. For other injuries the compensation would vary from Rs.32,000/- to Rs.3,60,000/-. The application for the compensation will have to be made to the Claims Tribunal.

    Earlier, a special train brought the survivors of the Gaisal train accident to the Old Delhi Station early this morning amidst adequate arrangements made by the Northern Railway with deployment of doctors, nurses, medical staff, porters and food arrangements at the station.

    The Railways is running a special train tomorrow from the Delhi Main (Old Delhi) station for the kith and kin and relatives of the passengers who have been injured or killed in the Gaisal Railway accident. The train will start from Old Delhi station at 6’o clock in the morning on August 5, 1999 and will go to New Jalpaiguri via New Delhi Railway Station. The people who want to avail this opportunity may contact the Station Manager (Commercial) at Old Delhi as well as at New Delhi Railway Station.

    As reported earlier, 5610 UP Delhi-Guwahati Awadh-Assam Express collided head-on with 4055 Dn Dibrugarh-New Delhi Brahmaputra Mail at Gaisal station in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal on the New Jalpaiguri-Malda town section of North Frontier Railway in the early hours of Monday.

    The meeting will discuss important policy and administrative matters relating to roads and road transport development in the country. The Council will also consider the draft standards and Codes of Practices relating to roads and bridges for finalisation including Manual for Survey, Investigation and Preparation of Road Projects, Standard Specifications & Code of Practice for Road bridges, Section V- Steel Road Bridges and Guidelines for the Use of Polymer/Rubber Modified Bitumen in Road Works.

    The Council will also discuss Approach Paper for the next 20 Year Road Development Plan (2001-2021). The Council Meeting is taking place in Jaipur at the instance of the Government of Rajasthan.

    This follows doubts whether a partnership firm can be registered as a joint stock company under Part-IX of the Companies Act, 1956.

    It is also clarified that a partnership firm can not be prevented from being registered as a company under Part-IX of the Companies Act, 1956 provided it fulfils all other requirements of the Company Law.
 
 
 

    This follows the experiment by KVIC on trial basis of the fabrication and processing of high fashion ladies garments which proved to be a remarkable success in the market. This forms part of the new marketing strategies adopted by the KVIC.

    The KVIC has also decided to launch a joint venture for opening two sales counters in collaboration with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). For this, preliminary discussions have been held between SIDBI and KVIC.

    The high fashion khadi garments will be available on Khadi Sales Counters in Metros and other important cities.
 
 
 

1. Shri S.B. Bhattacharya, Chief Operations Manager

2. Shri R.K. Thanga, Chief Safety Officer

3. Shri S.N. Mukherjee, Divisional Railway Manager, Katihar

4. Shri V.R. Lenin, Senior Divisional Operating Manager, Katihar

5. Shri Hariram Rao, Divisional Safety Officer, Katihar

    Ministry of Railways have also directed Shri Rajendra Nath, General Manager, Northeast Frontier Railway to proceed on leave with immediate effect.
 
 
 

    The Rehabilitation Council of India is a national level statutory body under the Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment to enforce uniform standards in the training of disabled, maintenance of Central Rehabilitation Register and other connected matters.
 
 

    It may be recalled here that in a bid to boost the exports of cotton yarn, the Ministry of Textiles had earlier decided that the ceiling 200 million kgs. in respect of cotton yarn exports shall be increased to 300 million kgs. for the calendar year 1999. It had also been decided that EPCG (Export Promotion Capital Goods) units would also be given the same relaxation as 100% EOUs for the year 1999 i.e., to export cotton yarn without any restrictions pertaining to count/sourcing of domestic cotton, as long as such exports are within the prescribed ceiling. The Ministry had also decided to do away with the restrictions on export of cotton waste by 100% EOUs as also to exempt the deemed exports from the Hank Yarn Obligation as buyers under the deemed export category are otherwise eligible for import of yarn on which there is no requirement of Hank Yarn Obligation.

    The exports of cotton yarn had to struggle for the major part of the financial year 1998-1999 primarily due to the crisis in the South-East Asian economies. During the period April 1998- March 1999 the exports of cotton yarn were valued at US$ 1419.1 million (Rs 5970.52 crores) as against US$ 1578.3 million (Rs 5865.65 crores) during April 97- March 98 which was a decline of about 10 per cent in dollar terms.
 
 
 

Aluminium:-

 Production of Aluminium metal in the Public Sector Units, namely, Bharat Aluminium Company Limited(BALCO) and National Aluminium Company Ltd, (NALCO) and Private Sector units, namely, Indian Aluminium Company Limited (INDAL), Hindustan Aluminium Company Ltd. (HINDALCO) and Madras Aluminium Company Ltd. (MALCO) in the country during April-June, 1999 was as follows:-
 

Copper:-

    The production of Copper Cathodes and Continuous Cast Copper Rod by Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) during April-June, 1999 was as follows:-

Zinc & Lead:

    Production of Zinc in the organised Sector by the Public Sector Unit, Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) and the Private Sector unit, Binani Industries Limited (BIL) and Lead by the Public Sector Unit, Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL) and Private Sector Unit, Indian Lead Limited (ILL) in the country during April-June, 1999 was as follows:-

Gold:

    The production of gold by Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) and Hutti Gold Mines Limited (HGML) during April-June,1999 was as follows:-

    In the meantime, the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety, Dr. M. Mani started the statutory inquiry into the accident from today.

    A special train for New Jalpaiguri also left this morning from the Delhi Main (Old Delhi) station for the kith and kin and relatives of the passengers who have been injured or killed in the Gaisal accident.
 
 

    The visit of the Indian delegation was a sequel to a request from Shri Sathiamoorthy Sunassee, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Government of Mauritius seeking assistance from Government of India to set up and strengthen consumer protection machinery in Mauritius, during his visit to India early this year.

    The delegation held a series of discussions with the officers of Ministry of Industry and Commerce and various other departments dealing with consumers, representatives of University of Mauritius, NGOs, private sector representatives etc. to acquaint themselves with the existing legal system and the procedure for enacting laws in Mauritius. A working paper was prepared to structure a new department for handling consumer matters at Government level and to take steps to improve consumer awareness, education research and training, for the Governement of Mauritius.

    A proposal given by the Indian delegation comprises a two tier consumer courts set up on lines of the system existing in India to ensure disposal of consumer complaints quickly with no cost or the least cost. India has promised cooperation on this respect at the implementation stage also.

    Further, a Memorandum of Understanding between Bureau of Indian Standards and Mauritius Standards Bureau was formally signed on 2^nd August, 1999 at Port Luis.