In a major policy decision, the Uttarakhand government today decided to invite private players to renovate the state’s ageing hydel projects.

In the first step, three to five projects will be handed over to the private sector. There are 12 projects in the state that are more than 35 years old and four are lying closed. The total capacity of these projects is 500 Mw.

The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister BC Khanduri. The move comes close on the heels of the government’s decision last month to suspend the construction of two major hydel projects — 480-Mw Pala Maneri and 400-Mw Bharion Ghati — in the wake of the fast by G D Agrawal, an environmentalist spearheading the “save Bhagirathi” campaign.

Chief Secretary S K Das here said all the 23 hydel projects would be handed over to private companies on private-public partnership (PPP) mode on a lease of 30 years. The government would shortly invite Expression of Interests (EoIs) in this regard.

All these projects were being run by the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (UJVNL). Sources from UJVNL said the top officials of the company were not privy to the decision taken by the state government.

UJVNL Chairman Yogendra Prasad admitted he had no idea about the new decision taken by the government. “I can only tell you after studying the decision,” Prasad said.

This indicates that UJVNL will be asked to focus on new projects instead of the old ones.

The government took the decision because it was not able to generate enough financial resources for the renovation and modernisation of these projects.

News Source: http://www.business-standard.com

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Violating ban on entry of more than 150 persons per day to Gomukh, hundreds of Kanwarias on Tuesday crossed police barricades to reach the area to get ‘Gangajal’, raising fresh concern from environmentalists.

The violation followed Uttarakhand police issuing a fresh warning saying it will not tolerate any kind of misconduct and will strictly enforce law and order situation in the state during the on-going Kanwar fair.

“We are strictly enforcing law and order in the strict. We will not tolerate violation of law and any kind of mischief,” Ashok Kumar, Inspector general of Garhwal range said.

News Source: http://www.hindu.com

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The state government is all set to invite consultants for the 250-km Hindon Expressway project that will connect Ghaziabad to Dehradun and Haridwar.

The state chief secretary will hold a meeting next Monday to finalise the tender process. The eight-lane expressway — the first inter-state venture with no intervention by the Centre — is to be built jointly by the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The officials of both states had met on June 30 to devise a joint strategy for the speedy construction of the expressway. Under the plan, it was decided that the Uttarakhand government would bear the cost of building the Saharanpur-Dehradun stretch of the expressway. The project has already got the nod from the environment ministry and it is likely to be constructed on a build, operate and transfer basis.

Though the aerial inspection for the expressway has been completed, the construction work is expected to begin only by the year-end.

This expressway will start from the border of the NCR at Noida/Ghaziabad. It will run along the banks of the river Hindon and on its way it will touch cities like Meerut, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar and Kulesra (Saharanpur), which is at the UP-Uttarakhand border. From there, the expressway will be extended to Dehradun and Haridwar.

Once completed, Greater Noida will be have three state-of-the-art expressways named after three rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Hindon passing through the state.

At present, the traffic congestion is high on the Delhi-Dehradun highway, in spite of the road being widened. Since the work to widen the road is progressing at a snail’s pace, the Uttarakhand government showed interest in the state government’s proposal, said an official.

News Source: http://www.expressindia.com

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The Uttarakhand Government today decided to give one-rank promotion to all those players in the state police, who won medals in national and international tournaments, to promote sports ahead of Beijing Olympics.

The Government has identified 42 different sports categories for giving promotions in the field of sports, Principal Secretary N S Napalchayal told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting.

“These sports categories include hockey, cricket, volleyball, shooting and others. The government will also provide different sops including cash incentives to promote sports in the hill state,” Napalchayal said.

News Source: http://www.saharasamay.com

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Dry pine needles, which are mainly responsible for igniting forest fires in Uttarakhand and elsewhere in the north and have been of no productive use, will be put into some use now.

S R Verma, a chemical engineer from the hill resort of Almora, has developed and standardised the process to extract lignin chemicals from dry pine needles.

Based on an innovative technique, Verma is also planning to set up a factory at the industrial town of Mohan in Almora district to produce lignin, a chemical widely used in various industries in the country. According to a rough estimate, India imports 14,000 tonnes of lignin from Japan and some European nations.

There is a vast scope of lignin chemicals in the form of salts of lignosulphonates. There are more than 50 compounds of lignin of commercial value being used by industries. Lignin is also used in lead acid battery, oil well drilling, textile dying, water treatment, foundry chemicals and in many more areas,

Besides lignin, the factory would also produce pine wool for water cooler pads, which gives higher cooling effect at low cost. The water cooler pads are also used in packaging, air filters, doormats, false roofing and floor covering.

An investment of Rs 1.25 crore is proposed in the plant. For this purpose, Verma is looking for 2 acres of land at Mohan where he already has a big industrial plot.

Verma would also meet Chief Minister B C Khanduri to discuss his new project. “I want government support in my project,” he said.

“My aim is to set up a model unit, which will help in the establishment of many such units elsewhere in the country where pine needles are found in plenty,” said Verma.

Verma has also got permission from the Uttarakhand forest department for procuring 1,000 tonnes of pine needles every year at the rate of Rs 20 per tonne for a period of five years.

The project has also been approved by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in the central government.

“Such projects should be promoted in the hills, which have the potential of generating employment opportunities from the waste material,” said Sudhir Nautiyal, additional director (Industries).

News Source: http://www.business-standard.com

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