PIB Press Releases


		23rd April, 2003


		Ministry of Railways Mechanised washing of train coaches Procurement of five automatic coaches washing plants is under process in the Ministry of Railways to provide for mechanised washing of train coaches........................... Ministry of Railways Moscot of Bholu made a permanent fixture on Indian Railways The Ministry of Railways has decided that BHOLU, the Guard, holding a hand signal lamp, chosen as the official moscot for the celebrations of the 150th year of Railways in India, to be a permanent moscot for Indian Railways............................ Ministry of Mines Shri Bais inaugurates International Aluminium Conference The 3-day International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL'03) began here today with 700 delegates from India and abroad representing primary and secondary producers, researchers, academicians and end users............................ Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Utilisation of road funds The following steps have been taken by the Government to motivate the States for full utilisation of road development funds............................ Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Construction of roads on BOT basis For the State of Chhattisgarh, one proposal for four laning of Raipur-Durg Section of NH-6 has been received under Build Operate and Transfer (BOT)............................ Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Implementation of National Highways Projects Some of the highway projects in the following states have been delayed due to the problems faced in matter relating to pre-construction activity like Land Acquisition etc............................ Prime Minister's Office PM's statement in Lok Sabha on his two day visit to Jammu & Kashmir April 23, 2003 Following is the text of the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee's statement in the Lok Sabha on his two day visit to Jammu & Kashmir ............................ Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation Per-Capita Expenditure The estimated monthly per-capita consumption expenditures of people in rural and urban areas at current rate according to the surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) are as follows............................ Ministry of Textiles Implementation of Scheme for handloom weavers in Karnataka The Government had released a sum of Rs. 480.65 lakh during 2001-02 and Rs. 498.57 lakh during 2002-03 to Karnataka for implementing the different handloom sector schemes............................ Ministry of Textiles Technology Mission on Jute The Ministry of Textiles has provided an amount of Rs.2.97 crore in the budget estimates for 2003-04 for the Jute Technology Mission............................ Ministry of Textiles Reduction of cost of production in Cotton Textile Industry The Government had approved a proposal of the Cotton Textile Exports Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) for conducting a study on "Benchmarking of Costs of Production of Textiles in India vis-à-vis China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka" through Zurich based professional consultancy firm Gherzi Textil Organisation. The main findings of the study include ............................ Ministry of Mines Judicious exploitation of mineral resources The National Mineral Policy, 1993 (NMP), inter alia recognizes that the policies governing the mining and mineral sector should be harmonized with the policies meant for industrial and socio-economic developments in the country ............................ Ministry of Coal Decentralisation of purchasing powers of C.I.L. The Government have decided that all powers exercised by Coal India Limited (CIL) relating to procurement of all items, except procurement of explosives be delegated to its coal producing subsidiaries ............................ Ministry of Rural Development Allocation of foodgrains to drought affected State Under the Special Component of the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) about 63.40 lakh tonnes of foodgrains have been released during 2002-2003 to the 15 drought affected States ............................ Ministry of Rural Development Non-utilization of grant under Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission by Kerala Ministry of Rural Development has allocated Rs. 63.31 crore and Rs.36.98 crore to the State Government of Kerala during the year 2001-02 and 2002-03 under the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) ............................ Ministry of Information & Broadcasting I&B Minister condoles Balwant Gargi's death The Information & Broadcasting Minister, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad has condoled the death of noted playwright, theatre personality and novelist, Balwant Gargi who passed away in Mumbai ............................ Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources Electricity from mills waste and garbage National Programmes are under implementation for surplus power generation through bagasse co-generation in sugar mills and energy recovery from urban and industrial wastes ............................ Ministry of Power Formula of power allocation No specific proposal has been received from Government of Madhya Pradesh for amendment in the formula of power allocation to States from Central Sector Generating Stations. ............................ Ministry of Power Unelectrified villages in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal According to Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), there are 97,135 inhabited villages as per 1991 census. ............................ Ministry of Power Subsidy on interest on loan given to Rural Electrification Projects The salient features of interest subsidy scheme under Accelerated Rural Electrification Programme (AREP) are . ............................ Ministry of Power Import of power from Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan And Pakistan Exchange of power between India and Nepal is taking place through low voltage interconnections with the bordering States of India . ............................ Ministry of Commerce & Industry Central Excise Norms for Powerloom Sector relaxed The Government has relaxed the pre-condition of registration for the traders of yarns and fabrics who pass on the credit of the duty paid on goods sold by them . ............................ Prime Minister's Office Prime Minister condoles the death of Shri Balwant Gargi The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee has condoled the death of noted author and playwright, Balwant Gargi, who passed away earlier this week ............................ Ministry of Road Transport & Highways Transporters' strike called off A Meeting was held today by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Road Transport and Highways, Maj Gen (Retd) B C Khanduri with regard to calling off the strike by All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) . ............................ Ministry of Science & Technology Special committee favours, hazard and operability study of nuclear process plants An investigation committee comprising specialists has recommended a hazard and operability study of all nuclear process plants. The Committee's suggestion follows an investigation conducted by it, into an explosion at the Nuclear Fuel Complex Hyderabad on the 20th November last year . ............................