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Sakhalin
oil deal to MOSCOW, Jan 31: The ONGC-Videsh Ltd and Russia’s state-owned Rosneft Oil Company are expected to sign the ambitious Sakhalin-1 oil deal on Friday, diplomatic sources here said......more Kandla Port shut KANDLA, Jan 31: Last week’s devastating earthquake in Gujarat has played havoc with the country’s busiest port at Kandla with operations being completely shut down till February two....more Coast Guard surveillance NEW DELHI, Jan 31: There has been no oil spill in the Gulf of Kutch area due to the January 26 earthquake, Coast Guard Director General John C De Silva said today.....more India resents hydrographic NEW DELHI, Jan 31: India has taken strong note of the recent tendency of some countries to make hydrographic surveys in the Indian waters. Coast Guard Director General Vice Admiral John C De Silva told reporters here today that ships of two countries were recently found to be taking.....more |
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Members of
two NGOs BHUBANESWAR, Jan 31: Members of two Non-Governmental Organisations and.....more Jaggery trade affected KOLHAPUR, Jan 31: Kolhapur’s famous jaggery trade has been severely affected resulting in losses worth crores of rupees in the last four days after ......more
British Dy High Comm CHANDIGARH, Jan 31: The British Deputy High Commissioner, Tom Macan, who is here with a high-level .....more Partial resumption of NEW DELHI, Jan 30: Four days after a devastating earthquake played havoc with country’s busiest port at Kandla.........more |
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Sakhalin oil deal to be signed on Friday MOSCOW, Jan 31: The ONGC-Videsh Ltd and Russia’s state-owned Rosneft Oil Company are expected to sign the ambitious Sakhalin-1 oil deal on Friday, diplomatic sources here said. Under the one-billion dollar deal, ONGC-Videsh Ltd is to acquire 20 per cent equity in the offshore Sakhalin-1 oil block in Russia’s far-east under production sharing arrangement. The sources said the deal would be India’s largest investment in Russia. (PTI) |
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Kandla Port shut down till Feb 2 KANDLA, Jan 31: Last week’s devastating earthquake in Gujarat has played havoc with the country’s busiest port at Kandla with operations being completely shut down till February two. While Secretary, Shipping, M P Pinto, visit to the port earlier this week to access the extent of damage, S Gopalan, Development Advisor (Ports) with Union Ministry of Shipping, is camping in the town. "We have suspended all operations from the port as the earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the richter scale, has severely damaged port facilities. Berthing at the port is a major constraint," Kandla Port Trust Chairman A K Joti said. It may take couple of weeks to resume normal operations and vessels to load and discharge are being diverted to neighbouring Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai and Mumbai Port, he said. While Home Minister L K Advani and Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar are also in town today to take stock of the situation, rehabilitation work would commence once Gopalan submits his report. Gopalan said he would submit his report on contingency plan for restoration and rehabilitation of operations soon. Joti said the earthquake severely disrupted jetty and warehousing operations at Kandla Port which handles 17 per cent of total cargo handled by 11 major ports in the country. Three of the eight container berths and two of the five liquid cargo jetties have been heavily damaged, he added. Kandla Port, which experienced 175 tremors in the last four days, has developed huge cracks at the main entrance and heavy vehicles are not being allowed at the jetty, Joti said. "There was some dislocation of pipeline used to offload crude oil from ships but no leakage of oil from pipeline," port officials said adding discharge of crude oil from ships anchored in the port had been stopped. Two of the oil jetties had been damaged and needed to be reset before shipping activity could start, they said. Five godowns and six warehouses have also been damaged while the control tower has leaned 10-15 per cent, officials said adding "operations in the current position are highly unsafe and we are not taking any chances." There were damage to rail heads leading to Kandla Port, affecting the movement of rakes. Kandla Port which handles crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals and agricultural commodities like cooking oils and soybean meal used in animal feed, handles 23-24 million tonnes of general cargo and 20-22 million tonnes of liquid cargo. Experts have reached Kandla to assess the situation and begin work on restoration of operations, Joti said. "The new jetties number six to 10 are safe although operations have been closed as safety measure. While the new jetties are to be made operational in 2-3 days, the decision on the old jetties would be taken after experts from Chennai and Mumbai certify," he said. Though some cracks are not visible, the authorities are not going to take a chance as berthing of the shpping causes tremendous pressure on the jetties, he added. (PTI) |
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Coast Guard surveillance rules out oil spill NEW DELHI, Jan 31: There has been no oil spill in the Gulf of Kutch area due to the January 26 earthquake, Coast Guard Director General John C De Silva said today. Talking to reporters here today Admiral De Silva said Coast Guard Ships Daman, Vijaya and C-63 had carried out surveillance in the Gulf of Kutch and found no oil spill in the area. However, a chemical spill was reported at Kandla, he said adding that the Coast Guard immediately responded to the situation and neutrailsed the spill by use of sand and foam. Kandla authorities had reported the spill of acryonitrile (ACN) and heavy normal paraffin in storage premises of M/S J R Enterprises at Old Kandla. Admiral De Silva said while the chemical spill had been effectively neutralised the Coast Guard team was still at stand by. (UNI) |
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India resents hydrographic surveys in Indian waters NEW DELHI, Jan 31: India has taken strong note of the recent tendency of some countries to make hydrographic surveys in the Indian waters. Coast Guard Director General Vice Admiral John C De Silva told reporters here today that ships of two countries were recently found to be taking hydrographic data in Indian seas upto 100 to 200 nautical miles from the sea coast. Without naming the nations, Admiral De Silva said one hydrographic data collection ship belonging to one country was sighted one month ago while the other was found to be active about two months ago. Both of these vessels had been warned to keep away from Indian seas, he said. The matter was being taken up at the higher level of the Governments of the countries concerned, Admiral De Silva said. These countries were, in fact, making use of some loopholes in the laws which allow collection of scientific data in the sea waters. Meanwhile in its anti-poaching operations, the Coast Guard apprehended 75 boats belonging to different countries from the Indian waters during the past one year. Of these 16 are Pakistani, 15 Sri Lankan, 22 Mayanmarese, ten Indonesian, nine Thai and three Taiwanese. On December 7, the Coast Guard Ship Viragha apprehended five Pakistani fishing vessels with 48 crewmen. The vessels were apprehended in the peripheral waters of India close to the international boundary line. After ascertaining that they were only engaged in fishing, the Coast Guard released the vessels as a goodwill gesture in view of the holy month of Ramzan. Admiral De Silva said in order to guard the south Tamil Nadu coast against infiltration of militants, the Operation Tasha was continuing. One Coast Guard ship is on patrol in the palk bay at all given times. Besides, one interceptor boat/interceptor craft from Mandapam were also patrolling in the area. Similarly, operation swan undertaken by the Coast Guard in coordination with the Navy was continuing along the coasts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The patrolling of these sensitive areas off the west coast has been successful in containing the illegal activities to a large extent, the Admiral said. (UNI) |
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Members of two NGOs to sit on dharna in front of NALCO BHUBANESWAR, Jan 31: Members of two Non-Governmental Organisations and a prominent trade union have decided to sit on a dharna in front of the National Aluminium Company (NALCO) head office here on Friday in protest against the ‘failure’ of the public sector company to redress the problems caused by the collapse of its ash pond dyke. The dyke of the NALCO ash pond breached on December 31 destroying thousands of acres of cropland besides, polluting the Nandira, Brahmani and Kharasotra rivers. Brahmani Anchal Surakhya Parishad president and environmentalist Bibhudhendra Pratap Das said members of the Orissa Krushak Mahasangha, Brahmani Anchal Surakhya Parishad, All India Trade Union Congress and representatives of the affected area would jointly stage a peaceful dharna in protest against the company’s ‘failure’ to concede their demands. Among other things they demanded construction of a concrete wall outside the earth embankment of the ash pond to prevent recurrence of such incidents, using the waste ash of the captive power plant for filling up vacant coal pits and cleaning up all deposited ash from the Brahmani, Kharsotra and Nandira rivers. The organisations have also demanded a CBI inquiry into the disaster and immediate compensation to the affected people. In a letter to the NALCO Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Mr Das said since thousands of people and cattle were suffering from various diseases due to the presence of toxic chemicals, NALCO should take preventive measures as per the advice of the state pollution control board and provide free treatment to the victims. Copies of the letter were also sent to the Chairman, State Pollution Control Board and the district administration of Khurda and Anugul. Mr Das said they decided to sit on dharna as even after the lapse of four weeks NALCO had not attended to the problem. The breach in the pond had not been closed as a result of which the water in three rivers continued to be polluted up to the sea putting the villagers staying on both sides of the rivers into a lot of difficulty. (UNI) |
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Jaggery trade affected in Kolhapur KOLHAPUR, Jan 31: Kolhapur’s famous jaggery trade has been severely affected resulting in losses worth crores of rupees in the last four days after the January 26 devastating earthquake that ravaged Gujarat. Jaggery trading business here largely depends on the Ahmedabad and Bhuj gur markets in Gujarat. Even the majority of the gur traders residing here are from Gujarat. Since trading in these cities is totally closed since Friday last, the trade has nosedived substantially. As an immediate consequence, gur trading has halted in the Kolhapur gur market. This has forced jaggery producing units in the district to stop production altogether, informed a jaggery traders spokesman here today. About 75 per cent of the produce from about 500-600 ‘gurhal-ghars’ (jaggery making units) of the district send their produce to Gujarat markets, but now these units have stopped their production due to closure of business in Gujarat, the spokesman pointed out. Besides, daily jaggery transport services between Kolhapur and Ahmedabad have been badly hit with trucks being parked at the gur market premises here. Meanwhile, the Kolhapur Zila Agriculture Produce Market Committee here is hoping for a return to normalcy in gur trading within next couple of days. However, no one is sure about it as most of the traders left for Gujarat to enquire about their relatives welfare, while some who are still in Kolhapur are not in position to resume the business due to shock from the tragedy, the spokesman added.(UNI) |
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British Dy High Comm holds
talk to explore CHANDIGARH, Jan 31: The British Deputy High Commissioner, Tom Macan, who is here with a high-level delegation to explore and promote new trade links between Indian and British companies called on Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala at his residence here today and appreciated the industrial development taking place in the State, specially in the areas of Gurgaon and Faridabad. Appreciating the state Government’s impressive track record of attracting investment, Mr Macan said that some British companies like the ICI, Smithkline Beecham and British Airways had also set up their offices in Gurgaon, an official spokesman said. The British Deputy High Commissioner said that after every three months a British team had been visiting big cities in India to explore the possibilities of setting up more joint ventures between Indian and British companies. The areas of Information Technology, agro-based units and cold chain could be explored for setting up joint ventures in the region, he said. He was all praise for the single window system adopted by the state Government for quick clearance of projects and special customised packages of incentives for projects having fixed capital investment of Rs 30 crore and above. Mr Chautala said that Haryana’s proximity to the national capital of Delhi, offering international market and the facility of an international airport, besides pollution-free atmosphere, improved law and order situation and no labour unrest were the added advantages to the investors and progressive entrepreneurs to set up their units in the state. Mr Macan also made a courtesy call on Haryana Governor, Babu Parmanand here this morning and discussed a number of issues like business avenues, globalisation, social security, new economic trends, investment opportunities, poverty alleviation programmes, democratic trends , education and new emerging trends in United Kingdom and India. He appreciated the peaceful atmosphere of Haryana and also its economy. The British delegation during its stay here was also meeting the Governor and Chief Minister of Punjab. The delegation also interacted with the captains of industries in a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-sponsored convention here late last evening. It is also attending a PHDCCI-sponsored programme at a nearby hill city of Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh. During the British delegation’s interactions here with top level administrative officials of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and also representatives of industry in the CII-sponsored meeting here late last evening, several presentations were made on trade and investment opportunities in the region. The delegation members also held separate meetings with top officials of Industry department of both the states. The visiting team represents British Trade International, which operates in India as trade partners UK and Invest UK. Representatives of as many as 80 companies in the region held interactions with this 13-member team of sectoral experts from the British High Commission led by Mr Macan. Two British missions, focussing on IT and agri-business respectively will visit India later in the year as part of enterprise India Initiative , a matchmaking venture designed specifically to bring Indian and British small and medium industries (SMES) together, Mr Macan said while addressing the session. The concentration of SMES in the region offered interesting opportunities for the development of bilateral trade, he said, pointing out that ‘ out of 250 companies contacted, over 80 expressed interest in meeting us’ for this programme. As many as 300 companies had already evinced interest in the forthcoming missions, he said, a fact which underscored the scope for further developing bilateral trade between India and the UK, which was targetted at five billion pounds in 2000. Reiterating that the UK was a huge outward investor as well as a location for investment, Mr Macan pointed out that only one of the 13 offices on the team was looking at investment from India to UK. The others were all focussing on getting British companies to do business in India. While estimating that 50 per cent of Indo British bilateral trade would cover it, he felt that there was tremendous scope for a miscellaneous mixture of SMES from across the board. Agri-business and food processing were particularly relevant areas here, he said. Seeking to dispel the view that visas to British were difficult to obtain, the Deputy High Commissioner pointed out that 158,000 visit visas were issued last year, and only 10 per cent of the applicants were unsuccessful. While visit and business visas were issued on the same day, visas for innovators and entrepreneurs seeking to set up businesses in the UK were also being dealt with speedily, he said. Punjab Industries and Commerce Secretary, Ramesh Inder Singh, while making a presentation on the advantages of Punjab as an investment destination, pointed out that the state provided the right mix of all requisites for industrial prosperity. He quoted the state’s power capacity and competitive tariffs, quality infrastructure, high per capita income in this regard. The agricultural surplus the state now faced offered excellent opportunities for value additions through food processing, he said, adding as with WTO, small industry faced new challenges this was a good opportunity for countries like the UK to develop synergies for mutual benefit. Haryana Industry Secretary, S C Chaudhary, while making a presentation said that the state’s close proximity to Delhi and its industrial estates like Manesar and Bawal offered excellent locational and cost advantages to foreign investors and collaborations. His presentation projected Haryana’s efforts in developing better trade linkages and infrastructure. The state already had 60 projects with the UK companies, he said, adding that the Government’s thrust areas would be agri-business and food processing, electronics, IT and telecommunications, automobiles, automotive components, handlooms, hosiery, textiles and garment manufacturing and export oriented units. He identified basic infrastructure, healthcare products, pre-fabricated buildings, tourism and service sectors like super speciality hospitals and modern diagnostic centers as the high potential areas. Mr David Slater, Second Secretary (Commercial), British High Commission, highlighting the advantages of investing in the UK, in his presentation, spoke of the move towards knowledge -driven economies rather than merely knowledge -based ones. The CII Chandigarh Council chairman, I S Paul, while welcoming the gathering of entrepreneurs and the media, spoke of the great common linkages that UK and this region shared. Such interactions, he felt, laid the seed for further business development. Meanwhile, a CII release here today pointed out that India-UK bilateral trade of goods had grown by 45 per cent since 1993, with over 1000 new Indo-British joint ventures approved. Bilateral trade during January-October 2000 was up 323 per cent over the corresponding period in 1999, including services, annual trade was four billion pounds. Major items of Indian exports to the UK include ready-made garments, textiles, engineering goods, leather and leather products, gold jewellery, plastic and linoleum products, tea and pharmaceuticals. Broadly, agricultural and allied products constitute about 85 per cent of the Indian export basket to the UK. Major imports from the UK, meanwhile, include unworked diamonds, engineering goods, specialised industrial, electrical and project goods, transport equipment, organic chemicals, paper products, ferrous and non-ferrous metals. In broad terms, the breakup consists of capital goods machinery and equipment (35 per cent), unworked diamonds (30 per cent), manufactured goods (20 per cent), and raw materials intermediaries (15 per cent). In terms of investments, UK is the largest investor from EU in India in terms of total FDI approved during 1991 to October 2000, the release added.(UNI) |
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Partial resumption of operations at Kandla Port NEW DELHI, Jan 30: Four days after a devastating earthquake played havoc with country’s busiest port at Kandla in Gujarat, operations have been partially resumed, but berthing problems persisted with normal functioning expected to be resumed by late next week. "Friday’s devastating earthquake which measured 7.9 on the richter scale, has caused havoc on the port. The port of Kandla is severely damaged and the supply was cut," senior Shipping Ministry officials said here. Normal operation could resume only by first week of february and there was likelihood that new vessels to load or discharge could be diverted to neighbouring Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai and Mumbai Port, they said. The earthquake severely disrupted jetty and warehousing operations at Kandla Port which handles 17 per cent of total cargo handled by 11 major ports in the country, sources said while refuting reports of oil slick from pipelines. "There was some dislocation of pipeline used to offload crude oil from ships, but no leakage of oil from pipeline," they said adding discharge of crude oil from ships anchored in the port had been stopped due to "dislocation" of a pipeline. Operations at three of the eight container berths and two of the five jetties had been resumed but warehousing operations are still affected, they said. Two of the oil jetties had been damaged and needed to be reset before shipping activity could start. (PTI) |
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