Govt plans to invite bids for Cheyuur project by Jul

The government plans to invite bids for a 4,000MW coal-based power project at Cheyuur in Tamil Nadu by July in the hope of restarting its so-called ultra mega power project (UMPP) scheme, which has been weighed down by ecological concerns and local resistance.

Power secretary P. Umashankar said environmental studies for the Cheyuur project are expected to be completed by April. “We expect to start the award process by June-July,” he said.

The project will rely on imported coal, whose price, including freight charges, are prone to fluctuations. It will thus be crucial for companies to secure coal supplies to bid for the project, as movement in international coal prices would impact input cost.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government wants to set up 16 UMPPs, or power projects that produce at least 4,000MW each, to meet the needs of the world’s second fastest growing major economy after China. India has a power generation capacity of 169,000MW and expects to add 62,374MW by 2012.

Nine UMPPs were originally planned, but only four have been awarded—at Mundra in Gujarat, Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand. Two projects, at Girye in Maharashtra and Tadri in Karnataka, had to be abandoned due to local resistance. The bidding process of two others, located near coal mines at Bedabahal in Orissa and Surguja in Chhattisgarh, has been delayed.

Power Finance Corp. Ltd, the nodal agency for awarding UMPPs, extended the deadline for companies to respond to the request for qualification (RFQ) for the Orissa project for a fifth time on 31 January. The new deadline for submission of RFQ applications for the Orissa project is 31 March, and 8 March for the Chhattisgarh project.

“The RFQ deadline for the Orissa project has already been extended till 31 March. We are working with the MoEF (ministry of environment and forests) to find a solution,” said Umashankar.

The power ministry is working with MoEF on a compromise that would allow coal mining to fuel the Orissa project—in an exception to the government’s so-called “no go” policy for coal miners.

In June 2009, MoEF and coal ministry announced “go” and “no-go” areas for coal miners to protect best quality forests.

Mint reported on 26 November that MoEF is ready for a compromise to allow coal mining to fuel the Orissa UMPP.

UMPPs follow a competitive tariff-based bidding in which a special purpose vehicle (SPV) is set up to reduce risk perception and increase investor confidence. This SPV takes care of regulatory requirements such as land acquisition and environmental clearances and transfers these to the winning bidder. Each project requires an investment of around R

s.

20,000 crore.

“After the award of the first three projects, the whole process has taken enormously long,” said Anish De, chief executive at Mercados EMI Asia, an energy consulting firm. “The drive which was there for the earlier UMPP award process needs to be brought back.”

Source: Govt plans to invite bids for Cheyuur project by Jul - Home - livemint.com

Ramesh, Jaiswal meet; GoM will now take up contentious no-go issue

NEW DELHI: A second round of meeting between the Union environment and coal ministers on Friday yielded some results though the contentious no-go zoning plan remained unresolved. It will now be taken to the meeting of the group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Environment minister Jairam Ramesh offered to call a meeting of the senior forest officials from Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra to expedite forest clearances at the state level.

Also, in an attempt to ease the process he offered to amend the compensatory afforestation rules and allow coal miners to plant trees on degraded forest lands instead of going on a wild hunt for difficult to find new government land.

The coal ministry, headed by Sriprakash Jaiswal, submitted a list of 15 projects that are awaiting final environmental clearance out of which it was pointed out four were awaiting clarifications from the coal companies.

The mismanagement at the coal company's end was also highlighted between the two. One project where actual production is far less than the permitted levels, it was noted, has asked for expansion. Three coal mines where illegal extraction has been carried out in excess of clearance have asked for regularisation.

The coal ministry had also demanded that the moratorium put on mining in seven coal blocks due to high levels of industrial pollution be withdrawn. Ramesh has committed to send expert teams to the seven sites to assess improvements if any.

Ramesh also noted that only two of the 55 coal projects awaiting forest clearance were with the Centre, the rest being stuck at the state level for various reasons.

After the meeting though Sriprakash Jaiswal initially told media that the no-go policy had been withdrawn, he soon retracted to align himself with Ramesh in stating that it had not been discussed and would be taken up later at the GoM.

Read more: Ramesh, Jaiswal meet; GoM will now take up contentious no-go issue - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Ramesh-Jaiswal-meet-GoM-will-now-take-up-contentious-no-go-issue/articleshow/7470135.cms#ixzz1Dd5oykDn

India begins headcount of its 1.2 Billion population - General news

New Delhi: An estimated 2.7 million officials fanned out across the country Wednesday to begin the gigantic exercise of headcounting India's estimated 1.2 billion population, the world's second largest after China.

The decadal exercise, which will be the 15th headcount of India's population since 1872, is undertaken to create a database on demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanisation, fertility and mortality, social structure, language, religion and migration.

The nationwide exercise, which will continue over the next three weeks, began as a group of officials, called enumerators, visited President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace.

Census enumerator Rita collected information on a number of characteristics about the president's household. Patil signed off on a 29-point questionnaire listing income, religion, education, access to basic utilities and other topics. A similar form will be filled by every citizen of the country through Feb 28.

Speaking after her enumeration, the president asked everyone to "wholeheartedly" take part in the census, considering it "as a national duty".

Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Minister of State for Home Affairs Gurudas Kamat, Census Commissioner C. Chandramouli and Director Census Operation (Delhi) Varsha Joshi were present at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi also provided the details about their respective households to the enumerators.

The family members of governors and chief ministers were among those enumerated on the first day of the second phase.

A similar exercise would be carried out in more than 7,000 towns and 600,000 villages across the country, including in troubled Jammu and Kashmir, the far-flung northeast and areas by Maoist insurgency in east and central India.

According to officials, around 100,000 enumerators and supervisors have been appointed in the eight northeastern states. Soldiers and paramilitary troopers have been engaged as enumerators in their respective camps and barracks.

In Jammu and Kashmir, even separatist leaders have supported the exercise, urging the people to provide full details to census officials. The first phase of the exercise was held from July 15 to Sep 30 last year, which passed off peacefully. The state had missed on the exercise in 1991 when insurgency was at its peak.

In Orissa, the population count began with the enumeration of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The chief minister also flagged off a publicity van, which will travel through various parts of the state during the second phase that will conclude Feb 28, an official said.

The first round of houselisting and collecting housing data for Census-2011 was completed from April to September last year.

The houselisting is done because there is no complete address system in India and each and every structure is being listed so that when the enumerators come for headcounting, they know exactly where to go, officials said.

In the second phase, enumerators will ask questions on literacy, work status, marital status, languages spoken, mode of transport and number of children.

On the last day of the survey, enumerators will count the homeless on the streets across India. And between March 1 and 5, they will compile the data for the entire population.

New features added to the 2011 census include revised questions on the institutional household, new category in gender parameter for transgenders, a code for separated and divorced, new codes under status of school attendance and a separate code included under non-economic activity.

Census 2011 has also introduced new initiatives to sensitise school students about census operations. For the first time, officials are stepping beyond the demographics and economic activity and would collect details like ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet access, and availability of treated or untreated drinking water.

The census is the only source of credible data base in India that the government uses to formulate its policies.

Source: India begins headcount of its 1.2 Billion population - General news

SAIL may not get nod to mine Chiria

Forest Advisory Panel Asks Ministry Not To Grant Clearance To PSU
Urmi A Goswami NEW DELHI

Akey environment ministry panel, the Forest Advisory Committee, has recommended that the public sector steel major SAIL not be allowed to mine iron ore from the Chiria reserves in Jharkhand. The recommendation is likely to put Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh in a tough spot yet again. It is likely to re-open the economic growth versus the ecological and environmental imperatives debate. 

The steel ministry is keen that SAIL be given the clearance to mine the Chiria reserves. These reserves, located in the West Singbhum district of Jharkhand, have depositis of nearly 2 billion tonnes of high grade iron ore. SAIL has the rights to half of these deposits or 1 billion tonne. SAIL has argued that it needs access to the Chiria reserves to fuel its expansion plans. 

However, the forest panel has recommended to the ministry not to grant the clearance. This is because the Chiria mines are located in the Saranda forests bordering Orissa and Jharkhand. This is among Asia’s largest and best sal forests. It is also an important elephant habitat. The Saranda forests area is home to tribal groups like the Ho. 

Uncontrolled mining, both legal and illegal, for iron ore has been destroying the forest and wildlife. The area is dotted with iron ore mining towns including Gua, Chiria, Kiriburu and Noamundi. The impact on the forests has been significant. State forest reports show that that between 1997 and 1999, about 3,200 hectares of forest was lost in the Singhbhum region. Between 2001 and 2003 some 7,900 hectares of dense forests were lost in the East and West Singhbhum districts. Experts say that further degradation of the Saranda forests, which has been affected, will have serious consequences for the area’s considerable biodiversity. It will also have an adverse impact on the livelihood of the local tribal communities. 

The Chiria reserves are located in an elephant corridor and habitat. The report of the Elephant taskforce stated that mines are a major issue in the region, especially in the rich sal forest of Saranda, which is a prime elephant habitat. 

The taskforce report Gajah: Securing the future for elephants in India suggests that Saranda forests “can be secured with careful regulation to protect intact habitat from being fragmented by mines.”

Source: Article Window