Power to Chhattisgarh’s polluting industries cut

August 4th, 2009 BHOPAL - A Karnataka-based company will set up a bio-gas plant in Madhya Pradesh to produce power from 'bhusa' (wheat chaff) and corn stems. ASN Industries will set up the 7.5 MW bio-gas plant at Katni district at an investment of Rs.30 crore, government officials said.

July 28th, 2009 MUMBAI - Reliance Natural Resources chairman Anil Ambani on Tuesday blamed the Petroleum Ministry of maintaining a biased approach in the legal dispute with brother Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries over the issue of the price of natural gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin. Anil, while addressing shareholders of the company, stated that the Government would not lose a single rupee even if the gas from the fields off the Andhra Pradesh coast were to be supplied to his company at the originally contracted price of 2.34 dollars per unit.

July 25th, 2009 RAIPUR - The Chhattisgarh government has issued notices to 45 small steel and sponge iron units for violating pollution norms, a minister said Saturday. "The state government has served notices to 45 steel units and sponge iron units based on Urla-Siltara industrial growth centre on the outskirts of Raipur for overlooking pollution control measures and also not using electro-static precipitator (ESP) machines," Housing and Environment minister Rajesh Munat told reporters.

July 20th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Monday said the state's per capita debt rose to Rs.5,995 last fiscal from Rs.4,596.67 in 2003-04. He told the state assembly that the per capita debt burden was Rs.4,881.51 in 2004-05 and went up to to Rs.5,370.61 in 2006-07.

June 25th, 2009 Calif. board weighs pollution tax on industriesSACRAMENTO, Calif. — California regulators are considering a proposal to impose the nation's first statewide carbon fee on utilities, oil refineries and other polluting industries.

June 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - State-run power company NTPC Ltd is willing to buy gas from the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) at $4.2 per million British thermal units, but with exceptions, a top official said here Tuesday. R.S. Sharma, chairman and managing director of NTPC, formerly National Power Thermal Corp, told reporters here that the company might sign an agreement with RIL to purchase gas at the market price, but not for the plants under dispute in court.

June 23rd, 2009 RAIPUR - Decks have been cleared for the 4,000-MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Chhattisgarh as the central government has finally approved the project, ending months-long controversy. The government, which had earlier selected Chhattisgarh as one of the five states for setting up UMPPs, reportedly rejected the project last August as the state government stuck to its demand for 50 percent of power at "invariable cost" from the project.

June 19th, 2009 RAIPUR - Maoist guerrillas shot dead two district force (DF) personnel in Chhattisgarhs Rajnandgaon district in a remote forest area Sunday morning, police said. Heavily armed Maoists attacked five police personnel in Madanwara, in Manpur locality, killing two DF cops, deputy inspector general of police Pawan Deo told IANS.

May 20th, 2009 GHAZIABAD - Amid sweltering heat, this city on the outskirts of the capital is reeling under a severe power crisis. A 17 to 19-hour daily power cut has hit, besides the common man, industries which have been ordered to remain shut during night hours.

May 4th, 2009 Australian leader delays pollution tax planCANBERRA, Australia — Australia's government has postponed its proposal to tax polluting industries until 2011 — a delay of one year — because of the economic slowdown and concerns it would hurt business, the prime minister said Monday. In a bid for support from the opposition Greens party, however, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would seek more dramatic emissions cuts when his proposal is presented to the Senate for a vote in June.

April 25th, 2009 MUMBAI - Sterlite Industries (India) Limited, India's leading diversified mining and metal company with interests and operations in aluminium, copper, zinc and lead and commercial power, will announce its results for the fourth quarter and full year ended March 31 on April 28. The results will also be available on the company's website, www.sterlite-industries.com.

April 18th, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu, which is facing severe power shortage, can buy around 750 MW of electricity from Andhra Pradesh once the gas-based power plants in that state resume production with the gas from Reliance Industries' Krishna Godavari basin, a top industry official said here Saturday. 'Andhra Pradesh is expected to have 2,000 MW additional power generation because of the KG basin gas.

April 5th, 2009 PANAJI - The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said growing political instability and a 15 percent drop in the tourism sector have led to nearly 100,000 people in the state losing their jobs. Alongside, according to chamber president Nitin Kunkolienkar, 'rising civic unrest' was proving to be a deterrent for setting up new industries in this picturesque Goa.

March 17th, 2009 RAIPUR - Chhattisgarh's existing Rs.3 per kg rice scheme for 3.7 million families was to be converted into a Rs.2 per kg scheme from April 1 but the plans have been put on hold with the model code of conduct in place for Lok Sabha polls, officials said Tuesday. The Rs.3 per kg rice scheme was launched on April 1, 2007 and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government last month announced that it will reduce the price to mark two years of successful implementation of the programme.

January 15th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Bombay High Court is expected to decide next week whether Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries can assume sale of natural gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin, off the Andhra Pradesh coast. The court had imposed a stay on the sale of natural gas from the fields after two cases were filed against Reliance Industries over the sale price and qualtity of fuel - one by the Anil Ambani Group and the other by state-run power utility National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).