Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Seemless travel in golden triangle
New Delhi: October 23, 2009
To improve the connectivity between the mega tourist destination/ circuits, a pilot project on seamless travel will be undertaken on the golden triangle tourist circuit (Jaipur-Delhi-Agra) from 1st December 2009. In a meeting held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Shri Brahm Dutt, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, it was decided that vehicles registered in one state would collect tax on behalf of the three other states lying on the circuit. Thus, Delhi will collect tax on behalf of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Likewise, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh would collect taxes for themselves and two other states and Haryana (which is on transit). This would prevent harassment and undue time delay faced by commercial tour operators. Tax would be collected a day or two in advance. A formatted sticker, designed by Ministry of Tourism, will be issued to the vehicles indicating the period for which the permit will be valid. The scheme would be valid only for the tour operators authorized by the Ministry of Tourism. Those misusing the permit would be de-registered by the Ministry of Tourism.
It was also decided that NHAI would identify 500 sites for providing wayside amenities to the travelers on its completed four/six laned sections. These wayside amenities would be developed on an approximate area of about 20,000 Sq meter (2Ha.) on a land to be given on lease by NHAI to the entrepreneur for a period of 15 years, extendable to the maximum period of 30 years, on the completed four/six laned sections at every 50 km (alternatively). The comprehensive wayside amenities would include parking lots, snack bar/ restaurant, toilets, rest rooms for short stay, first aid, telephone booths, petrol pump/ minor repair shops (optional), kiosks for sake of miscellaneous/ sundry items, landscaping and space for spreading awareness about various Government welfare programs.
Meanwhile, NHAI has so far signed lease agreement with two petroleum companies for establishing, operating and maintaining wayside amenities. While agreement with M/s Reliance Industries is for 2 locations in Gujarat, the same is for 8 locations with M/s HPCL in the state of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Out of these 8 locations, two wayside amenities on Jaipur Bypass Section of NH-8 in the state of Rajasthan have been completed and become operational. Also two wayside amenities on Ahmadabad Vadodra Expressway at KM 24 and KM 78 are being operated and maintained by M/s Reliance Industries.
rs/nv/dk/kol/14:15 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Environment and Forests
Workshop on EPI for Identification of Assessment of Critically Polluted Areas
New Delhi: October 23, 2009
One Day Workshop on Development of Environmental Pollution Index (EPI) for Identification and Assessment of Critically Polluted Areas begins here tomorrow. The aim of this workshop is to develop an Environmental Pollution Index (EPI) for the quantification of the environment health of industrial areas. The EPI helps in synthesizing the available information on environmental status of the area by using quantitative criteria, thus reducing complex information into a smaller, more easily retained, amount of information. EPI also helps in determining the effectiveness and comparing alternative plans and policies and assists environmental decision-makers in initiating appropriate measures in ranking the critically polluted areas. Subsequently, the decision makers can devise an effective and efficient management plans to improve the environmental quality of the identified critically polluted areas.
The new EPI will help to yield information about linkages between causes and effects and cross-link them. It will be possible to analyze adequately complex, multidisciplinary, large-scale, global phenomena.
Objectives of the workshop are to identify the adequacy of the available data and monitoring protocols in terms of air, water and soil quality parameters which could be used for representing the environmental health of the area, to get feedback on the proposed EPI which is based on the concept, Source -> Pathways -> Receptor, which is simple to use, transparent, and expandable across other issues, apply the proposed EPI to selected polluted area and relatively rank them in terms of their environmental health and propose a guideline for preparing action plan (industry specific as well as infrastructure specific) as corrective and preventive measures for the critically polluted areas.
kp/dk/kol/14:15 hrs.
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Ministry of Steel
Nation-wide survey to correctly assess rural demand of steel: Sh.Virbhadra Singh
New Delhi: October 23, 2009
The Steel Ministry has decided to launch a Nation-wide survey on rural steel consumption and demand to correctly assess the rural steel consumption. This survey will cover all the states and union territories covering nearly 300 districts and 1500 villages in the country. The survey conducted by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC) will reveal a true picture of steel consumption pattern and the potential demand, covering all socio-economic and geographical entities of the country. This was announced by the Steel Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh while inaugurating the Conference on 'Diversifying and Enhancing Steel Consumption' here today. He said, based on this survey, we will orient our strategy for an accelerated steel consumption growth in rural India, which will also be in concurrence with the government's programme for a vibrant and developing 'Gramin Bharat'. The Minister said consumption of steel in rural areas remains quite low despite a modest rise in last 2-3 years.
He said, one of the major reasons of low rural consumption is the lack of easy availability of steel in remote blocks and villages. Emphasising the need to strengthen distribution network in rural areas he said if steel items of mass consumption were easily available in the villages, the picture could have been different. The Minister said, over the past few years the PSU steel companies have taken lead in opening nearly 1500 distribution centers in the district and block levels. Steel Processing Units are also being set up in various states to manufacture the products locally to cater to the specific needs of that region. Shri Virbhadra Singh expressed the hope that private sector steel units will soon take action in establishing rural distribution networks and see that their products of mass consumption are easily available in the remotest parts of the country, at affordable prices.
He urged the steel industry to be proactive in steel application designs. Better quality and lower cost of application will certainly be acceptable by the users by way of value offers. This will be one of the most positive ways of improving steel consumption. The Research and Resign (R&D) in steel sector should put higher emphasis on steel intensive product innovations and design applications.
The Minister expressed his happiness that FICCI has been bold enough to choose a topic on the diverse subject concerning steel consumption. He hoped the Conference would elaborate on the various diverse issues and arrive at a common consensus
dnm/pkm/sb/dk/kol/14:16 hrs.
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