Power plants should auction fly ash through transparent bidding

Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, 56.53 per cent of foodgrains have been lifted in the country under Phase IV. Andaman and Nicobar is topmost in the country to have lifted highest percentage of foodgrains. The union territory has lifted 93 percent of the allocated foodgrains under PMGKAY -IV from July to 15th September this year.Following close is Odisha which has lifted 92 percent, Tripura and Meghalaya on the third spot lifting 73 percent each. Telangana, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh lifted 71 percent foodgrains each in the time period. The Phase IV period will conclude in November this year. Government has so far allocated nearly 600 LMT of foodgrains under PMGKAY Scheme in all its four phases.

-Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh held a meeting on Wednesday to review the status of fly ash transportation to the end users and the fly ash utilisation.It was directed that power plants shall invariably auction the fly ash through a transparent bidding process and an advisory has also been issued by the Ministry for this purpose.This will reduce the tariff of electricity and burden on the consumers. The advisory said the power plants shall provide the Fly Ash to end users through a transparent bidding process only. If after bidding or auction, some quantity of Fly Ash still remains un-utilized, only then as one of the options, it could be considered to be given free of cost on first come first served basis if the user agency is willing to bear transportation cost.If ash remains unutilised even after these steps, thermal power plant, TPPs shall bear the cost of transportation of Fly Ash to be provided free to eligible projects.The end users shall be obligated to source the fly ash from the nearest TPPs to reduce the cost of fly ash transportation.

-The Anti Terror Squad in Uttar Pradesh has arrested Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, a resident of Muzaffarnagar, in connection with country’s largest religious conversion syndicate. A press release from the ATS says that Kaleem runs Jamia Imam Waliullah trust that funds several madrassas through huge foreign funding. This arrest was done in connection with the conversion racket busted by ATS on 20th June this year. Investigation shows that Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui’s trust received Rs 3 crores in foreign funding including Rs 1.5 crores from Bahrain. Six teams of ATS have been formed to investigate this case.

-Union Minister for Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani visited Badgam district on Wednesday High density orchard at Malpora Magam and interacted with the farmers there.On the occasion, Smriti Irani said that Kashmir has potential to become 2nd largest producer of high-quality apple in the world and there is a need of diversification in fruit production for introduction at global level.The Minister appreciated the efforts and desire of the new progressive farmers in transforming their old low yield orchard to new type of high yield density plantation. She was apprised by the local farmers that they have witnessed a revolutionary increase in their apple produce, that too of high quality with good market prospects.

-Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has appealed people to generously contribute to the Armed Forces Flag Day Fund, which is used in rehabilitation and welfare of dependents of brave soldiers who were killed in action or disabled. He said, the Flag Day gives the countrymen an opportunity to fulfil this obligation. Out of the income earned on the  Armed Forces Flag Day Fund corpus, 7.5 per cent is ploughed back into the corpus and balance is used to fund the welfare and rehabilitation schemes for Ex-Servicemen and dependents. In the last financial year, more than 133 crore rupees were spent on more than 38,000 beneficiaries under this fund. A sum of 33.35 crore was collected during the last financial year. The Fund is administered by Kendriya Sainik Board Secretariat under the aegis of its Management Committee, headed by the Defence Minister and Executive Committee headed by Secretary, Ex-Servicemen Welfare. Armed Forces Flag Day is observed on 7th December every year throughout the country to honour the fallen heroes and men in uniform who bravely fought for our motherland.