Natural and anthropogenic causes are some of the major threats that the lake is facing. This includes the proliferation of human settlements, expansion of roads and industries, threat from construction of broad-gauge RAILWAY line on the periphery of the beel that often possess a threat to thereby affecting the movement of the pachyderms. Another major threat is posed by the dumping ground in the nearby area close to the water body. The situation worsens during the monsoon as garbage gets carried away into the water body, affecting residents and migratory birds and fish.
02.02.22
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma lays foundation of Rs 79 crore Zoo Road flyover
In a continuous effort to reduce traffic congestion in densely populated Guwahati, chief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarmaon Tuesday laid the foundation of a 580-metre new flyover at Zoo Road Tiniali at a cost of around Rs 79 crore.
The CM has directed the public works department to complete the construction of the flyover at the earliest so that it can be inaugurated beforeBohag in April next year. The targeted duration for construction of the flyover is 18 months.
Odisha expects gains from investment in infrastructure growth
PM Gati Shakti-guided big public bid to create world-class Infrastructure and Logistics, which finance ministerNirmala Sitharamanmentioned in the Union Budget 2022-23 on Tuesday, is likely to benefitOdishafor its strategic locations.
Launched in October 2021, PM Gati Shakti national master plan is an initiative of the Narendra Modi government to ensure coordinated planning and execution of infrastructure projects like roads, railways, Airports, Ports, mass transport, waterways and logistics. The plan, which includes infrastructure developed by state governments, aims to reduce the logistics costs of projects.
As Odisha has several mining-based industrial houses, it offers long-term potential for cargo handling by leveraging its 480km coastline. While the state, at present, has three all-weather ports at Paradip, Dhamra and Gopalpur, three more ports at Astaranga,Subarnarekha Mouthand a riverine port near Mahakalapada are expected to be ready in a few years. The State Government has also identified nine more potential port locations.
Odisha is also looking at a big share as the Union finance minister announced expansion of national highways by 25,000 km in 2022-23 with an investment of Rs 20,000 crore. The states strategic location connecting east with west would also ensure faster expansion of the highways.
Advantage Tamil Nadu in budgets push for drones
he Union budget on Tuesday set the stage for Indiasdrone to take off. This augurs well for Tamil Nadu, which holds the first mover advantage with the recent launch of its own drone manufacturing entity the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Corporation.
The finance minister, as part of her budget speech, said the government will promote use of KisanDrones for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides, and other purposes to support the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture sector.
Sitharaman also launched the Drone Shakti initiative under which startups will be supported to work on varied applications under the Drone-AsA-Service (DrAAS) theme. In select ITIs, in all states, the required courses for skilling will be started, she said. The budget also classified geospatial systems and drones as sunrise opportunities that provide EMPLOYMENT opportunities for youth.
Education sector: Most proposals implemented
Though the Union budget 2022-23 gives impetus to digital Education, most of the new announcements made with regard to this, including the digital university, have already been implemented in Kerala by the .
Imparting supplementary TEACHING and providing high quality digital content through TV in the times of online Learning during the pandemic was carried out by the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology of Education (KITE).
However, experts said that budget proposal aimed at universalizing quality education through digital medium will further help the state to take forward the ongoing projects. Welcoming the decision to increase the number of TV channels under the PMs E-Vidya programmes from 12 to 200, KITE chief executive officerK Anvar Sadathsaid that it could promote one class-one TV channel policy of the central government.
Bengaluru gets big role in Centres health project
Two premier institutes of Bengaluru will play a key role in the rollout of the national tele-mental Health programme announced in theUnion Budget.
Though there were no big-ticket projects announced forKarnatakaset to go into assembly Elections next year, CM BasavarajBommaisaid the combined measures will help spur job Growth and achieve Sustainable Development.
With Covid-19 triggering an exponential rise of mental health issues among the vulnerable Population, the budget announced the tele-mental health programme that will operate under a Network of 23 mental health centres of excellence with Bengalurus Nimhans as a nodal centre and the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bengaluru, providing technology support.
With a 35% increase in Capital Expenditure, CM Bommai said the state is expected to get an additional capital outlay of Rs 3,500 crore from the Centre in 2022-23. This is a forward-looking, post-Covid budget. This will help us boost the economic growth and invite private investments, he added.
The Centres move to allocate Rs 1 lakh crore to assist the states in catalysing overall Investment in the economy for 2022-23 has had mixed reviews since many felt it will not benefit the state because of the conditions tied to availing the 50-year interest-free loan.
Budget lacks mega projects: Telangana Inc
Incwill reap the benefits of the series of announcements made by theUnionfinance minister on boosting digitisation, spending on DEFENCE sector, incentives for MSMEs and the overall thrust on the sunrise opportunities in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), geospatial systems, drones, semiconductor, space economy, genomics and clean mobility systems, among others, said Industry leaders.
However,TelanganaInc leaders rued the fact that no key project of national importance was sanctioned for the state.
The government initiative directing to clear 75% of procurement bills within 10 days and settlement of delayed payments through conciliation and end-to-end e-billing system for procurement is a welcome step. Introduction of PLI scheme in the solar sector will strengthen domestic manufacturing of solar modules.
Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launches citizen service portal to bring governance closer to people
Chief ministerYS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched AP Seva Portal 2.0 (citizen service portal) at his Tadepalli camp office to deliver better digital Services to people.
The updated portal has over 30 services of revenue and land administration, 25 services of municipal administration, six civil supply services, three services of rural development and 53 energy department services.
The chief minister further said that village/ward secretariat services along with a volunteer system was brought to take Governance to the village level, where almost four lakh people are part of the delivery mechanism and offering over 540 services directly to the people. Since January 6, 2020, as many as 3.46 crore government services have been provided to the public through village/ward secretariats.
He said with the latest technology, AP Seva Portal was brought, where the applicant can know the details of their application and would also receive phone alerts related to the service sought.
New billing system will hit consumers: GCCI to power dept
While urging the Goa electricity department to do more to reduce power transmission and distribution losses, Goa chamber of commerce and (GCCI) has said that adopting the KVAh billingsystemas against Kwhbillingfor low tension (LT) powerconsumerswill adversely affect Goas economy which is just picking up.
GCCI has also warned that low tension electricity consumers may see their power bills increase by 10-12% if the power department goes ahead with the plan to shift to KVAh billing. In 2021-2022 the department adopted KVAh based billing instead of Kwh billing for high-tension (HT) power consumers.
In a kilowatt hour (kWh) billing system the consumer is charged for the actual power consumed by the electrical equipment, however the kilo volt ampere hour (kVArh) based model also calculates the electricity stored up in electrical appliances even when they are not being used to generate heat, Light or movement.
GCCI has also warned that low tension electricity consumers may see their power bills increase by 10-12% if the power department goes ahead with the plan to shift to KVAh billing.
Maharashtra issues maximum BH-series number plates
Maharashtrahas recorded maximum registrations — around 34% — of the total BH (Bharat)-series number plates registered around the country, latest statistics showed.
While Maharashtra issued 1,017 BH-number plates since it launched in October end last year,Odishaissued 444, Delhi 382, Rajasthan 326 and Uttar Pradesh 229. The total number of number plates issued in the country were 2,960, the statistics showed.
Until now, according to the Motor Vehicle Act 1988, a vehicle registered in a state when kept in another state for a period of more than 12 months is subject to the assignment of new registration. The registration process which was tedious in nature, has now been done away with after the launch of BH-series.