Mamata’s men get infrastructure development portfolios

August 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Kumari Selja has called upon experts and stakeholders in the tourism sector to develop world class tourism infrastructure for putting India's tourism industry on the world tourism map. Inaugurating a workshop on the subject here today she said, "We should look at comprehensive development of infrastructure which includes roads, water, sanitation, cleanliness, hygiene, proper lighting, landscape, signages and proper maintenance of tourism destinations and heritage sites." She said tourism and hospitality sectors contributes six per cent of the GDP and certain streamlining is required in infrastructure facilities.

July 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath on Thursday said that roads would play an important role in infrastructure development in the next decade. During a seminar at Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI), Kamal Nath said that roads are important as they provide domestic economic stimulus.

July 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) has been constituted under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

July 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Friday welcomed the Railway budget presented by Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee. "This budget is unique in the way inclusivity and overall development has been the focus without losing focus on safety, technology adoption and commercialization while providing opportunities for industry though its capacity expansion programme and setting up infrastructure through PPP mode", said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

June 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) Wednesday urged the government to exempt infrastructure projects from excise, value-added tax (VAT) and central sales tax (CST) to make them more cost-effective. "On account of excise, VAT and CST, the capital costs of projects become dearer by over 20-25 percent which puts huge burden on companies commissioning infrastructure projects," said Assocham president Sajjan Jindal.

June 18th, 2009 LUCKNOW - After being shaken by the Lok Sabha election drubbing and with an eye to the 2012 assembly polls, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has decided to speed up development projects in her state in order to win back the electorate, official sources said. To accelerate implementation of infrastructure projects and to keep track of their progress, the chief minister has set up an eight-member Infrastructure Monitoring Committee, headed by the chief secretary.

May 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The expansion of the Union Cabinet is likely to be delayed by a day or more reportedly because of Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee demanding a seventh ministerial berth. Some reports said the cabinet expansion could take place on Thursday and would include the nominees of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Trinamool.

May 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Accepting that the two financial stimulus packages and a relaxed monetary policy have put pressures on India's fiscal deficit, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday hinted the fiscal deficit ceiling could be raised, saying it neded a "fresh look". In an interview to a television channel, Mukherjee said monetary measures such as cuts in lending rates have been taken to ensure increased liquidity in the system, but admitted the move had led to the fiscal deficit swelling.

May 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Pakistan "must take credible action" to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on its soil if it wants to resume dialogue with India, new External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said here Saturday.

May 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Pranab Mukherjee returned Saturday as India's finance minister after 25 years as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh allocated portfolios to six senior colleagues in his new cabinet. P. Chidambaram will continue as home minister and A.K.

May 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) today announced that it would now give outside support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government after talks failed on the issue of ministerial berths in the Cabinet. "Congress' proposal is not acceptable to us.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The corpus of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) was increased to Rs.140 billion (Rs.14,000 crore) in 2008-09 from Rs.55 billion in 2003-04, acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Monday. Presenting the interim budget for 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee said a separate window for rural roads was created under the RIDF with a corpus of Rs.40 billion for each of the last three years.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Singapore-based Universal Success Enterprises Ltd (USEL) Monday said it has signed three agreements with the Gujarat government and will invest about Rs.87,000 crore (Rs.870 billion) in various infrastructure projects. USEL, a diversified group in the field of infrastructure development, real estate, energy trading, hospitality and manufacturing, has identified thermal power generation, seaports, and mixed-use industrial and urban development as focus areas in West Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

January 9th, 2009 JAMMU - Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Saturday allocated portfolios among nine of his ministers, keeping the home, planning and power departments for himself. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand of the Congress will look after housing and urban development, munciplaities, elections, and printing and stationery, while National Conference's senior most minister Abdul Rahim Rather will be in charge of finance, law and parliamentary affairs.

January 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Tata Teleservices, the country's leading CDMA telecom services provider, and Kolkata-based Quippo Telecom Infrastructure, Monday announced the merger of their infrastructure businesses to create an independent telecom infrastructure company. Under the terms of the partnership, the Tata group firm and Quippo will swap 51 percent and 49 percent stake respectively in the infrastructure business held by them.