Monday 11 July 2011

Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News

Bihar News, Latest News from Bihar, News of Bihar, Biharprabha News

Bihar’s power bid gets no response yet

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 07:33 AM PDT

Patna: Bihar's efforts to tackle the power crisis do not seem to work as planned. Bihar State Electricity Board's (BSEB's) decision to invite bids to purchase 300MW of electricity from the open market for a short-term period has not received any response from bidders so far.

BSEB on June 30, had invited bids for procurement of 300MW power on a short-term basis for a period of three months from September 1 to November 30, 2011. The last date for submission of bids is July 15 after which the bids would be opened.

If it materialises, the deal would provide the power-starved board relief in dealing with power problems, as electricity would be available instantly unlike the one in which the board has signed an agreement with Essar Power in July 2010, for the supply of 450MW of electricity for a period of 25 years from July 2014.

"There has been no response from bidders so far, but we expect they will come forward as there is a week left for submitting bids," sources told.

The state is heavily dependent on the central sector allocation for power availability as its own power generation is barely about 150 to 200MW against the state's peak demand of 2,500MW. The state normally receives about 1,000 to 1,300MW from the central sector against the scheduled allocation of 1,772MW. The allocation sometimes dips whenever there is crisis at National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plants.

Of the allocated power from central quota, the state has to supply around 450MW to the capital and 350MW for essential services, which includes 60MW to Nepal (according to agreement with the central government), 90MW to the railways, 75MW to continuous process industries, 35MW to defence, airports, agriculture university, dairy and others. It also provides another 20MW to powerhouses, 20MW for the Buddha tourist circuit and about 50MW is lost in transmission.

Keeping these in mind, the board floated tenders for supply of about 1,050MW of electricity on a long-term agreement basis in January.

Of the eight power companies, which submitted their bids in request for proposals to purchase 1,050MW of electricity from the open market through competitive bidding, Essar Power's bid is the lowest for supplying 300MW of power to the state.

"Essar Power has offered to sell 300MW to the state at Rs 3.69 per unit according to the long-term agreement plan for 25 years," a senior BSEB official told The Telegraph, adding that the proposal might be placed in the board meeting in end-July where it would be ratified.

The board has planned to purchase 1,500MW of electricity under Case-I bidding in which the board would purchase power from the open market on a long-term agreement.

Under the Case-I bidding, the board has far signed power purchase agreement with Essar Power Jharkhand Limited for a supply of 450MW of electricity from its 1,200MW coal-based Tori I power project located in Latehar district of Jharkhand. Power would be available from July 2014. Even in the case of Essar, if the deal is signed to supply 300MW of power, it would be available from July 2015.

Bihat Flood affecting more than three lakh people

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 06:27 AM PDT

According to officials, almost all major rivers in north Bihar are flowing above the danger mark and flood-waters are affecting more than three lakh people.

Flood-waters have spread to areas in Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, Sitamarhi, Araria, East and West Champaran and Saharsa districts, officials of the state disaster management department said.

“Flood situation remained unchanged since Wedneday,” an official of the state water resources development department said.

The Bihar government has sounded a state-wide flood alert.

Bihar Water Resources Development Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said a National Disaster Response Team is camping in Saharsa with four boats.

Rail traffic on the Narkatiaganj-Raxaul section was suspended after floodwaters submerged railway tracks.

The Kosi is posing a threat to its eastern embankment. The Gandak was threatening a newly-built embankment in Gopalganj district, a disaster management department official said.

Authorities have asked thousands of people to shift following the rising water levels of the Kosi. The state government has asked engineers and district officials to keep a 24-hour vigil on the water levels.

Choudhary said the eastern Kosi embankment was totally safe.

In 2008, over three million people were rendered homeless in Bihar with the Kosi river changed course, causing the worst flood in the state in the last 50 years.

According to the water resources department, a lot of water has been discharged into the Kosi in the last one week.

Holding tax defaulters to be withdrawn electricity connection

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 04:21 AM PDT

PATNA:Deputy cheif Minister Sushil Modi said that the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) has been approached to revise its rules and synchronize with the holding tax, meaning, thereby, that if the defaulters of holding tax failed to clear their mounting dues, then their electricity connections could also be withdrawn. Besides, unless the building owners showed their record regarding updated payment of holding tax, they would not get the electricity connection.

Modi, who was talking to mediapersons after listening to the grievances of his party workers at the state BJP headquarters on Thursday, said that CM Nitish Kumar has already written to the Centre saying that unless the Centre paid additional six per cent of total money given to the MPs from the state under the MP Local Area Development ( LAD) fund, the state government’s administrative machinery would not be able to implement schemes taken up for implementation with the MPLAD fund.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday increased the money allotted to the MPs from the earlier Rs 2 crore annually to Rs 5 crore. Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha MPs and 15 Rajya Sabha members. Obviously, as much as Rs 275 crore would be coming to the state annually under the MPLAD fund. If the Centre complies with the demand of Nitish regarding six per cent of additional payment to implement the schemes taken up, then it would have to pay additional Rs 16.5 crore to the state government. As the Nitish government has made its stand open, the ball now is in the Centre’s court.

Modi also said that the civil supplies and consumer protection department would take action against private firms which sell LPG cylinders without a proper licence to do so. Similarly, the labour resources department has been alerted to take action against firms and companies deemed to be fleecing youths in the name of giving them employment, he added.

Priests charged for harassing devotees

Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:12 AM PDT

RAMGARH: Priests at the Rajrappa temple have been charged and an FIR has been lodged against them for beating pilgrims including a woman Sita Devi (52) from Arwal, Bihar, on Wednesday, who along with three of her relatives and a little baby was standing in queue to enter the temple.

She has been admitted to a hospital of Central Coal Fields Limited in Rajrappa area of the district, who sustained multiple injuries after being beaten up by the priests, Rajrappa police station in-charge Chandrika Prasad said here on Friday.

Named FIR against nine priests of the temple were lodged following a written complaint made by Rakesh Kumar and Ranjan Kumar, relative of Sita Devi and injury report issued by the doctor attending her in Rajrappa, said the police. A priest of Rajrappa temple alleged that some innocent priests, who were not present at the time of incident also were named in the FIR.

Government likely to introduce Compressed Natural Gas(CNG) in Patna

Posted: 10 Jul 2011 10:00 PM PDT

PATNA: The state capital, which is among the 16 most polluted cities of the country, is now the second city in eastern India, next only to Kolkata, with a continuous (online) ambient air quality monitoring (CAAQM) station. next to Kolkata.

Set up by Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB), the CAAQM station was inaugurated by deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi at the Indira Gandhi planetarium here on Friday. “In the days to come, Muzaffarpur and Gaya will have similar CAAQM stations. All remaining districts will have at least one manual air quality monitoring station soon,” Modi said while inaugurating the station.

“We cannot control the increasing number of three-wheelers which are the main source of small particulate matter (SPM) pollution in the state. Therefore, we are planning to introduce CNG here too, on the pattern of Delhi”, he said.
Modi said the government has already introduced ‘Green Tax’. “Earlier, the government used to take less tax from old vehicles (15 year old), but as old ones are one of the major reasons for pollution, the state has imposed ‘Green Tax’ on old vehicles,” he said.

Talking about the other forms of pollution, Modi asked the pollution control board to raid shops selling pressure horns. He also said that the city would soon have ‘noise monitoring system’ at five locations in the city.

“The use of adulterated fuel and deforestation are the major reasons for environmental pollution in the city,” said BA Khan, the state’s principal chief conservator of forests. SK Gupta, chairman, Envirotech Online Equipment Private Limited, said, “This (CAAQM) station will monitor air pollution and also generate data like at which time it is the highest.” He added that Patna needed more than one CAAQM station.

A Delhi-based company, Envirotech Online Equipment has been entrusted with the task of running the station, set up at a cost of Rs 95 lakh, for the next five years.

The LCD monitor outside the planetarium would display the standard limit and present limit of small particulate matter (SPM), gas pollutants (sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and benzene) and meteorological parameter like wind speed, wind direction, ambient temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation.
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