The inaugural run of the "Millennium Express" will take place on September 19, 1999. The train will have a one day travel programme between Howrah and Bandel, a distance of approximately 40 kilometres. The train will consist of one AC Chair Car, a pantry car, a generator car and a brake-van.

    The steam engine of the Millennium Express is Heavy Goods Superheated (HGS) class of tender locomotive which was manufactured in the year 1922 by W.M. Beardmore Company of England. The engine has a total weight of 103 tonnes and in its heydeys could achieve a maximum speed of 56 kilometre per hour.

    This locomotive initially worked on the Oudh and Rohilkhund Railway (O&RR). It was subsequently transferred to the Eastern Railway where it was based for maintenance in the Madhupur Locomotive Shed in Bihar and plied trains in the Asansol Division. This Locomotive continued its active service till 1985 and would once again rule the tracks after 14 years.
 
 

    The Mettur reservoir in Tamil Nadu had a storage of 40.362 TMC on 31.8.99 against its total live storage of 93.48 TMC. (Thousand Million Cubic Metre).
 
 

    The Committee also decided that as an emergency measure dredging of Surma river in the active channel will be undertaken by the Water Development Board of Government of Bangladesh in order to increase the carrying capacity of Surma river.

    The 13^th meeting of the Standing Committee of Indo-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission on border river problems was held at Dhaka from 14-18 August, 1999.
 
 

    The meeting will also discuss implementation of recommendations made by Twelfth All India Whips' Conference related to functioning of Parliamentary institutions all over the country. The Conference has made about two dozen recommendations for implementation by the Centre as well as States. The primary objective of these recommendations is to strengthen functioning of Legislative bodies and to bring about standardization of Parliamentary procedures throughout the country.
 
 

    The all-India Consumer Price Index for urban Non-Manual Employees CPI(UNME), with base 1984-85=100, for the month of August 1999 has been released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), Department of Statistics & Programme Implementaiton; together with the Centre-wise indices for 59 selected urban centres in India. The all-India CPI(UNME) for August 1999, at 352 which is 2 points more than the index for the month of July 1999. With the corresponding all-India index for August 1998 being 337 the index for the month of August 1999 has shown a rise of 4.5 per cent over a year.

    The average index for the period April, 1999 to August1999 works out to 347, which is higher by 6.1 per cent over the average index of 327 for the corresponding period of the previous year. The CPI (UNME) for August 1999 in respect of four metropolitan cities of India, together with the corresponding indices for the previous month and for August 1998 are given below:
 

City	August 1998	July 1999	August 1999
Calcutta	316	327	328
Chennai	365	381	381
Delhi	342	360	362
Mumbai	337	350	349

     It may be noted that the rise in index for various centres ranges from -0.9 to 26.9 per cent; with the largest increase being in the case of Siliguri, and the least in the case of Bhopal. The increases are between -0.9 to 0.0 per cent for 3 Centres, 0.1 ti 3.0 per cent for 13 centres, 3.1 to 6.0 per cent for 25 centres, 6.1 to 9.0 per cent for 13 centres, 9.1 to 12.0 per cent for 4 centres, more than 12.1 per cent for centre. As many as 31 centres have lower annual percentage increase compared to that of the all-India figure of 4.5 per cent and 28 centres have higher percentage increase as compared to the all-India figure.
 
 

    These rules will for the first time fix responsibility on Municipal Authorities for disposing garbage within their areas of jurisdiction. It is also for the first time that garbage disposal rules are being brought out in the country.

    Amongst the highlights of the proposed rules is the provision for prohibition of littering of municipal solid waste in cities, towns and urban areas notified by the Government. The Municipal Authorities will notify the waste collection schedule and likely method to be adopted for public benefit in a city or town. The Municipal Authorities, it is proposed will organise awareness programmes to involve the local community for segregation of waste and will also encourage recycling/re-use of segregated material.

    The rules propose that every Municipal Authority will within its territorial area be responsible for the provisions of the rules, and for any infrastructure development for the collection, storage, segregation, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid wastes.

    The rules propose that the Municipal Authorities will comply with the rules according to the schedule given below: -
 

    The Municipal authorities will furnish an annual report to the District Magistrate or the Deputy Commissioner who will send the report to the State Pollution Control Board or as the case may be to the Pollution Control Committee in Union Territories.

    It is proposed to give the District Magistrate or the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned district the powers to enforce the rules.

    The responsibility for monitoring of the collection of samples, their analysis and compliance with standards regarding ground water, ambient air and leachate quality are proposed to be given in the State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee in the Union Territories.

    The Central Pollution Control Board, it is proposed will coordinate the State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees in matters of municipal solid waste disposal and its management and handling.

    The State Pollution Control Boards and Pollution Control Committees of Union Territories will send an annual review report about implementation of these rules every year on or before 30^th June to the Central Pollution Control Board. The Central Pollution Control Board will prepare a consolidated annual review report and send it to the Central Government along with its recommendations before 15^th September every year.
 

    In some of the cases, the CLB has directed appointment of Government Directors on the Board of such companies to protect the interest of the companies and their shareholders.

    In the area of public disputes, the CLB has taken action against a large number of companies numbering 300 including non-banking financial companies, found defaulting in repayment of deposits . Action has been taken under Section 58 A of the Companies Act and Section 45QA of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act. In all these cases, the defaulting companies have been ordered to refund their deposits.

    However, in respect of 100 non-banking financial companies the whereabouts of the directors of such companies are not traceable. As such, no action has been taken against these companies

    The CLB and the RBI have been coordinating closely to implement the CLB orders in respect of defaulting companies not complying with the orders of CLB. Prosecution proceedings are initiated by the Registrar of Companies or the RBI.

    The CLB was constituted on May 31,1991 to exercise jurisdiction on various matters under the Companies Act, 1956. It has four Regional Branches at Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai with a Principal Bench at New Delhi. The Principal Bench deals mostly with alllegations of oppression and mismanagement in the affairs of a company, the powers of which were earlier with the High Courts. The Regional Benches deal with the disputes relating to transfer of shares and also matters relating to non-payment of public disputes by companies and non-banking financial institutions.
 
 
 

    One car of the Lifeline Express contains an operating theater capable of handling three surgical procedures simultaneously. Another houses a small laboratory, a diagonostic center and a 12-bed ward. All of the 20 to 30 doctors and nurses are volunteers. The train usually remains in one spot for six weeks. The staff concentrate on common medical problems; cataracts, midear deafness or polio - all of which can be alleviated with relatively simple surgery. Roughly 80 million Indians are thought to suffer from these afflictions.

    It has benefited from strong corporate and institutional backing as well. The Indian Oil Corporation and Coal India, the private Steel giant TISCO and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation have all underwritten its mercy mission. In its camps many official and unofficial agencies contribute to the Foundation.

    The people call it a magic train. The train’s magic lies not only in the hands of its surgeons but in the midns of the people who enjoy its benefits.
 
 

    It may be recalled that Disinvestment Commission had recommended disinvestment of Hotel Corporation of India Ltd. (HCI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India. Air India had initiated preliminary action for this purpose.