Somewhere in Maharashtra....

Navi Mumbai Airport update

The government is considering creating a new township spread over 500 acres (200 hectares) that would be owned by project affected persons (PAPs) of Navi Mumbai International Airport.
The township would be a compensation to the PAPs for surrendering their land for the international airport. Every PAPs will be given back 22.5% of their total holding as developed land. This land will be provided with infrastructure such as roads, drains, open spaces, etc. and will be worth Rs 18-20 crore per hectare, said officials. This is in addition to a job, vocational training, stipend and other incentives. There are 1,200 families that own 651 hectares, which the government needs for the international airport. The PAPs have been demanding 35% of their land-holding back as compensation.
The City Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the nodal agency for executing the airport project, on Monday made a presentation to CM Prithviraj Chavan on the compensation package.
Sources said Cidco owns 200 hectares near airport on which it proposes to set up the township. “Today, most of the land owned by the villagers is in the coastal regulatory zone and in effect has no market value as it can’t be developed. What we are offering them is land that is properly developed and in close vicinity to the airport which will bring them huge monetary benefits,’’ said an official.
Sources said a meeting will be held with the PAP representatives to discuss the township proposal. “If they accept it, it will be put up before the cabinet for its approval. The day we sign the agreement with the PAPs, that very day we shall give them their allotment letters,’’ said officials.
The demarcation of plots would take two to three months and the creation of infrastructure would take another 18 to 24 months, said officials. The airport operations are expected to commence in 2015 as per Cidco projections.

Green Revolution 2.0

A string of previously laggard states are poised to overtake Punjab and Haryana, India’s traditional grain bowl, as the new powerhouses of food production, driven largely by — surprise — state support.
While privatisation is often thought desirable for key sectors of the economy, second-generation “green revolutions” across several states demonstrate that government initiatives can still turn things around.
India had raised the annual funding for a "green revolution in eastern India" from Rs.400 crore to Rs.1,000 crore for 2012-13. The results are showing.
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar have posted over 10 million tonnes of food output for the first time, with Madhya Pradesh picking a top central award recently.
Each of these states were awarded Rs.2 crore for highest overall foodgrain output, while they were also given Rs.1 crore in the individual crop category.
With the gradual weakening of the 60s green revolution, which had transformed India into a nation that could feed itself, planners knew it was time to turn the foot-dragging eastern part into the next food bowl.
Rising consumption and flattening yields in the country's breadbasket (Punjab and Haryana) has necessitated a renewed “green revolution”, especially in newer states. Northeast, with its fertile soil and abundant rainfall, could be the country's next agricultural powerhouse, trends show.
Nagaland and Manipur achieved farm output of nearly 1 million tonne this year.
Under individual crop category for rice, Bihar outperformed even big states. In wheat, pulses and coarse cereals, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have nearly matched Haryana’s production.
Roughly two years of work has paid off for Bihar, which has doubled its rice output from 3 million tonnes to about 6 million tonnes, while Jharkhand has trebled production from 1.1 million tonnes to 3.3 million tonnes.
Overall, the eastern states have produced 7 million more tonnes of rice, an official said.

MSEDCL's infrastructure upgrade plan approved

The state cabinet has approved a Rs 5,200-crore infrastructure upgrade plan submitted by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL), which supplies power to more than two crore consumers in the state.
The MSEDCL had proposed the upgrade plan to bring down transmission and distribution losses and eliminate unplanned power cuts due to overloading of electricity and consumer connection on the wires.
The cabinet approved a fund of Rs 1,300-crore from its kitty for the project, which will be completed in four years. The state also permitted MSEDCL to raise the remaining Rs 5,200 crore through bank loans. Sources said the consumer might have to pay an additional 15 paise per unit after the project is completed.
MSEDCL sources said 412 new substations, 37,000 new transformers and advanced meters will also be installed.
“The project will offer reliable (snag-free) and efficient power supply and around 1% reduction in the transmission and distribution losses from the present 14%. The programme will also bring the ratio between the length of wires for high-tension and low -tension at equal level, thus ensuring a smooth flow of electricity,” said an expert in the state power ministry.
On completion of the plan, MSEDCL claimed it would be able to supply power to 32 lakh new connections in the state, including 23 lakh residential and 3 lakh commercial connections.
Meanwhile, industries minister Narayan Rane questioned the high transmission and distribution losses. On his insistence, the cabinet asked MSEDCL to make a presentation of the roadmap to eliminate these. Ajoy Mehta, MD of MSEDCL, agreed to make such a presentation.

Of Scams in Karnataka, Maharashtra & Goa....

Coming down heavily on the Karnataka government for allowing the export of 50.79 lakh tonnes of illegally mined iron ore through the Belekeri port in Goa, the Supreme Court has asked CBI to investigate the matter. The court said inquiries by the police did not inspire confidence.
Accepting amicus curiae Shyam Divan’s suggestions, the court ordered the CBI to conduct an “intense and comprehensive” probe into the brazen flouting of rules in the transportation of illegally mined iron ore and their surreptitious export. This, despite a part of the ore being seized by the forest department and the port authority.
The court said no other authority or court in the country will entertain any petition relating to the CBI probe into the export scam.


The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court has issued notices to the central and Maharashtra governments following a petition by NGO Jan Manch against alleged irregularities in irrigation projects in the Vidarbha region.
The writ petition alleged fraud, abuse of power and siphoning of money by officials in the name of tapping the irrigation potential of Vidarbha. The court was informed that despite three state government-appointed committee reports, pointing out inferior work and lack of supervision, no action was taken against those involved. The petitioner has demanded a CBI inquiry and recovery of money from the guilty officers. A division bench of Justices P V Hardas and M L Tahaliyani allowed three weeks to the respondents to file their replies.
“In the name of betterment of agriculture, few erring officers and the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) emptied the state exchequer by countless thousand of crores of rupees. The result is that even today the farmers’ fields are without a drop of water,” said the petition.
It said the VIDC escalated the cost of 38 irrigation projects by a whopping Rs 20,050 crore (from Rs 6,672 crore to Rs 26,722 crore) within a span of seven months in 2009. Thirty of the 38 projects were granted hurried approvals in just four days —August 14, 2009 (11 projects), June 24, 2009 (10), July 7, 2009 (five) and August 18, 2009 (four).
The petition specifically mentions the Gosikhurd national irrigation project in Bhandara district, which is funded by the Centre. The project cost was Rs 372 crore in March 1982, but was frequently revised till it reached Rs 7,777 crore in 2008. Despite spending 85% of this amount so far, the actual area of irrigation potential created is a mere 13.5% or 34,000 hectares of the target of 2.5 lakh hectares.
“The petitioner submits that taking into consideration these facts and figures declared by the VIDC, it is a sure-shot case of a project’s ill-planning, mismanagement and massive corruption,” said Jan Manch.
The government-appointed Vadnare committee found out that rates were arbitrarily increased in 90 major tenders pertaining to the Gosikhurd irrigation project. The panel added that in most cases, VIDC officials awarded tenders at 15% to 40% above the original estimate, illegally. It also found poor quality of concrete lining through the entire left bank main canal of Gosikhurd.
The petition said the official note to ratify the sanction of every tender awarded amounting to a total of Rs 11,126 crore by the VIDC did not bear the signature of the state water resources department secretary, who is the ex-officio managing director of the corporation. “If the tender approval proposal would have been sent to the secretary, it may not have been sanctioned as objections were raised by his office,” it said.
“There is a nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and contractors in siphoning thousands of crores of public money by turning a blind eye to suicide by farmers,” the NGO contended. The petitioners have asked the court for a probe by the CBI or any independent agency.


Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar said his government would file FIRs against former chief ministers Digambar Kamat, Pratapsingh Rane and other officials in connection with illegal mining in the state.
This comes a day after the Shah commission that probed the matter indicted Kamat and the state’s previous Congress governments for illegal mining. The commission’s report was tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Parrikar told reporters that his government will implement almost all the commission’s recommendations. He said FIRs will also be filed against officials, including mines director and mines secretary, among others.
He said the FIRs have to be filed within 15 days.

Of Drought in Maharashtra....

Maharashtra to legalize live-in relationships

In a bold step to “legalize” live-in relationships, the Maharashtra cabinet approved a proposal suggesting a woman involved in such a relationship for a “reasonable period” should get the status of a wife. The proposal is based on recommendations of the Justice Mallimath Committee which said if a man and a woman are living together as husband and wife for a reasonably long period, the man shall be deemed to have married the woman according to customary rights of either party. The committee had also mooted that the definition of the word ‘wife’ under Section 125 of the CrPc, be amended to include a woman, living with the man like his wife for a reasonably long period. The proposal was passed at a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. According to Section 125 of the CrPc, the woman would even be entitled to alimony, an official said. As CrPC is in the concurrent list of the Central Government, the cabinet proposal would be sent to the Centre for obtaining President’s assent, the official said.