Odisha becomes power surplus state

Odisha has become a power surplus state as it has been making significant strides towards green energy generation, officials said on Tuesday. The average annual power demand of the state comes around 3,200 MW, while GRIDCO is all set to generate around 4,300 MW of electricity during 2020-21 fiscal, its managing director Trilochan Panda said.Odisha's total power generation had reached 3,489 MW during 2019-20 financial year, he said.Reviewing the progress in energy generation from different sources, Chief Secretary A K Tripathy directed officials to "ensure uninterrupted quality power supply to rural areas and the industrial sector".He also asked GRIDCO to "adopt more effective commercial strategies for the sale of power". The chief secretary also directed Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) to "explore the possibilities of producing more green energy from existing dams having no land acquisition and displacement issues".The state has made significant strides in the generation of green energy, he said.

-A poor performance by the Congress appeared to prove costly for the Grand Alliance (GA) in Bihar as the party was leading or winning in just 19 of the 70 seats it contested in the assembly elections.Considered a “weak link” in the GA and despite piggybacking on the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress could not match its performance of the 2015 assembly elections. It had then contested 41 seats and won 27.The Congress also lost the crucial bypolls in Madhya Pradesh, where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) grabed 19 out of the 28 seats and was set to retain power with a comfortable majority. The Congress got only 9 seats. It failed to win any seat in the bypolls in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha and Telangana. Congress leaders blame a delayed seat-sharing deal between alliance partners, poor selection of candidates, weak organisational structure, ineffective state leadership, unimpressive campaign and lack of coordination with alliance partners for the party’s poor show.

-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday praised Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav for giving a tough fight to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by incumbent chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Bihar elections. Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut also lauded Yadav’s performance in the polls and said that though he may not emerge as the winner, he is the ‘Man of the Match” in the Bihar election as the 31-year-old put up a “brave fight” against the ruling party. With BJP expected to be the single largest party in Bihar with its pre-poll ally JD(U) on the third spot, Raut said that BJP will not go back on its words to make Nitish Kumar the CM again.

-The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court’s order, staying the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s decision asking private hospitals in the city to reserve a substantial number of beds in intensive care unit (ICU) for Covid-19 patients.The AAP government had on September 12 told 33 private hospitals to reserve 80% ICU beds for Covid-19 patients. But the Delhi High Court on September 22 stayed the government’s order on a petition filed by the Association of Healthcare Providers. The apex bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and BR Gavai raised a preliminary objection against hearing the case. The bench said, “We know the problem faced by Delhi as cases (of Covid-19) are increasing. But the October 9 order passed by the Delhi High Court has merely adjourned the matter. How can a special leave petition (SLP) be entertained against such an order?”

-Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court or the Esplanade Court in Mumbai on Tuesday, granted bail to Shabana Saeed, wife of film producer Firoz Nadiadwala. On furnishing a bail bond of Rs 15,000, she will be released from jail. The court has ordered her to appear before the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on four Mondays to assist in the investigation. While the NCB opposed the bail application filed by Shabana, advocate Ayaz Khan appearing on her behalf argued that the amount of drug recovered was very small. "It is [a] small quantity of drug recovered from her. It was for personal consumption and not for any commercial use," said Khan.Khan also told the court that Shabana has three children below 10 years of age and she lives separately from her husband. So she needs to be home at the earliest to take care of them.