PIB Press Releases


		13th March, 2003


		Ministry of Railways Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi Express trains There are 16 pairs each of Shatabdi Express and Jan Shatabdi Express trains running on the Railways ...................... Ministry of Railways Uses of UTS rails Sixty kilogram 90 UTS (Ultimate Tensile Strength) rails have been adopted in view of increasing traffic density, axle load and speed ...................... Ministry of Railways Development of Railways The Railways formulates its plan towards growth of passenger and freight traffic, for the entire network across the country and not region-wise or State-wise ...................... Ministry of Railways Food at reasonable prices on Railways The sale prices of food items are fixed uniformly for departmental and private licensee. During the last four years there has been an increase of sale price of standard meals in June 1999 and an increase of price of tea/coffee in September 2000 ...................... Ministry of Railways Running of train with bio-diesel The Railways have decided to offer 500 hectares of land to M/s Indian Oil Corporation on a token lease of Rs. 1 per year for plantation of Jatropha Curcas which can produce bio-diesel ...................... Ministry of Railways Privatization of ticket reservation To facilitate rail reservation and to improve customer service, Passenger Reservation System (PRS) terminals have been allotted to three Rail Travellers Service Agents (RTSAs) in Mumbai area of Central Railway on an experimental basis ...................... Ministry of Environment & Forests Environmental degradation is no development says Lok Sabha Speaker The Lok Sabha Speaker, Shri Manohar Joshi has said "the edifice of economic growth cannot stand for long on a weak foundation of degraded environment" and called for a balance between the demands of economic development and environmental concerns ...................... Ministry of Mines Mineral production in January up 2.7 per cent The total value of mineral production (excluding atomic & minor minerals) in the country during January 2003 was Rs. 5059 crore as against Rs. 5057 crore in December 2002 ...................... Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas ONGC Videsh takes over 25% equity in the Sudanese oil field acquisition a path-breaking step towards oil security: Ram Naik Shri Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas announced here today that ONGC Videsh (OVL) has taken over 25% stake in the Greater Nile Oil Project of Sudan from Talisman Energy of Canada on 12th March, 2003 ...................... Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Government to upgrade 15 DD transmitters in tribal districts Fifteen existing Doordarshan transmitters are envisaged to be upgraded by the end of 2003-04 under Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) districts ...................... Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Proposals for shooting foreign films in India being reviewed The Government have received 49 proposals for shooting feature films by foreigners in India during the last three years ...................... Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Government denies financial crisis in AIR The Government have denied that the All India Radio (AIR) is in financial crisis ...................... Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Special plan for expanding AIR, DD in J&K A special plan for expansion and improvement of All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan services in Jammu and Kashmir is being implemented at a cost of Rs. 430 crores ...................... Ministry of Steel SAIL poised for record production in 2002-03 The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), a public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Steel is all set to produce more than 10 million tonnes of saleable steel during 2002-03 surpassing its previous best record of 9.5 million tonnes achieved in the last fiscal ...................... Ministry of Shipping Guidelines for shipbuilding subsidy The Ministry of Shipping has announced guidelines for admissibility of shipbuilding subsidy in respect of vessels built in Central and non-Central Public Sector Shipyards and Private Sector Shipyards ...................... Ministry of Defence Setting up of National War Memorial It is proposed to set up a 'National War Memorial' preferably along the Central Vista in New Delhi to commemorate those who have laid down their lives for the country ...................... Ministry of Defence Revamping of production units As a part of modernisation programme, the ordnance factories located at Jabalpur, are being modernised ...................... Ministry of Defence Joint venture for manufacturing artillery gun A South African public sector company had proposed a joint venture for cooperative efforts between South African and Indian Government Defence Production factories for artillery guns and related systems ...................... Ministry of Defence Link with ISI Cases of former and serving Army personnel having connections with ISI agents have come to the notice of the Government ...................... Ministry of Defence Defence Agreement between India and Poland An Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of India concerning cooperation in the field of Defence was signed on Feb 17, 2003 ...................... Ministry of Defence Building of submarines The original proposal to build submarines based on the design of the German company, HDW ...................... Ministry of Defence Production of Bofors Guns At present, there are no plans to produce Bofors Guns indigenously. However, spares for Bofors guns are being produced indigenously ...................... Ministry of Defence Indigenous Air Defence ship The Government has accorded approval for construction of a 37,500 ton Air Defence ship at Cochin Shipyard Ltd, Kochi ...................... Ministry of Defence Agreement with France Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bangalore has signed an agreement with Institute Aeronautique et Spatiate of France...................... Ministry of Defence Vacant posts There has been some shortage of officers in the Armed Forces. The present shortage of officers in the Army is 12554, in Air Force it is 515 and in Navy is 1098 personnel...................... Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution No rotten foodgrains in godowns No incident of rotting of wheat in Government godowns of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra or any other State has been reported...................... Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation Work under MPLADS in Madhya Pradesh As per information received from district authorities upto 28.2.2003, a total of 41,454 works at an estimated cost of Rs. 52,959 lakh have been sanctioned under MPLADS in the State of Madhya Pradesh...................... Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation Committee on implementation of projects As on 31st December, 2002, the anticipated increase in the cost of projects monitored by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation on account of cost and time overruns was of the order of Rs. 46,518 crore...................... Ministry of Environment & Forests Charter on corporate responsibility for environmental protection The Charter on Corporate Responsibility for Environment Protection has been released by the Environment & Forests Minister Shri T.R. Baalu and the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Shri Balasaheb Vikhe Patil...................... Ministry of Commerce & Industry Doha round must address India's concerns - Jaitley Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Law & Justice, has said that India's concerns in the area of market access including less than full reciprocity in tariff reduction commitments and other Special & Differential (S&D) Treatment provisions for the developing countries must be addressed on priority in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations...................... President's Secretariat Mughal Garden to remain open until 23rd March The Mughal Garden of Rashtrapati Bhavan will now remain open for public till 23rd March, Sunday...................... Ministry of Home Affairs Dy. PM/HM's statement in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on POTA dated 13.3.2002 With the intensification of cross-border terrorism and the continued offensive agenda of Pak ISI targeted at destabilizing India and the post 11th September developments, it became necessary to put in place a special law to deal with terrorist acts...................... Ministry of Water Resources India to participate in the Third World Water Forum to be held in Japan An Indian Delegation led by Shri Arjun Charan Sethi, Union Minister of Water Resources will participate in the 3rd World Water Forum (WWF) to be held in Japan from 16th to 23rd of this month....................... Ministry of Road Transport & Highways National Highways in North East Twenty-seven roads in the North Eastern States have been declared as National Highways........................ Ministry of Road Transport & Highways Roads in hilly areas The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is responsible for the development and maintenance of National Highways in the country. ....................... Ministry of Road Transport & Highways Four laning of Delhi-Moradabad-Lucknow Highway In order to facilitate smooth flow of traffic on the Delhi-Moradabad-Lucknow National Highway No. 24, bypasses have been constructed .......................