29.04.21

Punjab power discom surrendered power worth Rs 4k cr

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Pspcl surrendered unutilised power worth more than Rs 4,000 crore, the PSEB Engineers Association has claimed. The association has written a nine-page letter to the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD), stating: The per unit cost from these IPPs has been increasing almost on yearly basis. Moreover, these IPPs are finding loopholes in the PPAs and have been indulging in litigation resulting in higher power cost to the consumers of the state. The overall impact of all such litigations will be around Rs 20,000 crore over the next remaining 20 years of the agreements.

Keeping in view the interests of consumers of Punjab, long term exclusive PPAs with the IIPs should be immediately cancelled under clause 14.4.5 of the PPA and like other projects power should be procured only as per actual requirement of the corporation at market competitive rates from these IPPs, it adds.

Zero wastage of vaccines in Himachal Pradesh will help in allocation

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Himachal Pradeshhas been able to save Covid-19vaccinedoses by achieving zerowastage.
NHM mission director Nipun Jindal said 19,86,812doseshad been administered in the state till May 7 and stock received by the state was 21,19,710, while stock available at cold chain points after utilisation according to eVIN was 1,60,730. Hence, he said, vaccine wastage in the state was -1.4%, whereas it was as high as10% in other states.

He said vaccinators in Himachal Pradesh had been trained to load and administer the doses with attention to wastage. He said it was observed that in most of the vials there were extra doses.

He said according to data, Himachal Pradesh has the highest full immunisation coverage among all states in the country. He said Himachal Pradesh sustained its routine immunisation activities duringCovidpandemic as well and this had been possible because of team efforts and intensive microplanning, monitoring and supervision.

Micro-hydel projects spell doom for fishing, agriculture in Uttarakhand: Study

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The findings were part of a five-year field study conducted by the researchers of Kumaun University with the support of Colombo-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and co-ordinated by Arizona University. They explored the impact of six micro-power projects, ranging from 0.2MW to 12.6MW, on 11 villages in the region. While three of the Plants were built on the Saryu river, the others are on its tributaries.

According to the researchers, blasting and tunnelling for such projects have ravaged natural water sources that have fed the villages in the region for centuries. They said that this also contributed to loss of Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and EMPLOYMENT, forcing many to migrate from the area.

Uttar Pradesh government schools closed but 1.5 crore beneficiaries to get grains, funds

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With schools closed yet again due to thesecond wave of Covid-19, theUttar Pradesh governmenthas instructed all the basic shiksha adhikaris to provide funds and grains to the beneficiaries.

Themidday meal initiative, which aims at increasing the student enrolment and attendance in schools, will be used to help the poor – as it was done in the previous year. The parents of over 1.5 crore students studying in UP government schools will now be given grains and food allowance for the period the schools remain shut.

This is to bring to your notice that even though the schools have been closed due toCovid-19, thefunds and grains of the midday mealshave to be distributed among the beneficiaries.

The people of Jharkhand have started availing the facilities offered by Amrit Vahini website, App and the related chatboat. 31,059 people visited the website during the past four days with 8260 people visiting the app on Monday. Till Sunday evening, 356 persons booked hospital beds using it while 37,375 persons availed the services offered by the chatboat. Amrit Vahini app is becoming a helping tool for Covid patients as they are getting all information at a single platform.

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Chief Minister Hemant Soren on the launch of the app and chatboat said that many effective arrangements have been made to curb Coronavirus infection in the State. In this sequence, one more step has been taken through Amrit Vahini.

Though Amrit Vahini App or website one can get all information about the availability of hospital beds and even book one for himself or anybody else online. The bed booked by the person will be kept reserved for him for the next two hours. If the person, who has made the booking, fails to turn up, it will be transferred to another person.

Bihar may need 300 MT of oxygen per day soon: Govt

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Health department principal secretary Pratyaya Amrit said based on projections that there would around two lakh Covid positive cases in the state over the next 10 days, the Bihar government has requisitioned 300 metric tonnes of Oxygen per day from the Centre.

He said the health department would set up 100 to 150-bed temporary Covid care centres with oxygen facility in every district.

He said Bihar State Medical Corporation Limited (BMSICL) has been authorised to procure cryogenic oxygen tanks as well as 100 TrueNat machines.

Bihar is only state in the country to give one-month additional salary to doctors involved in Covid treatment.

Dutee Chand to get Chhattisgarh Veerni award

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Dutee Chand, the JakartaAsian Gamessilver-medalist in 100 and 200 metres will receiveChhattisgarh Veerni Award.

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the inaugural edition of the Awards ceremony will be held virtually on April 14.

The award, instituted by the Chhattisgarh , recognises contribution of Indian Women in different fields, including Sports.

In 2019, the Odisha sprinter became the first Indian woman to win gold medal at theWorld University Gamesheld in Italy.

Dutee, who holds the national record of 11.22 secs in 100m, is aiming to achieveTokyo Olympicsqualification time of 11.15 secs in the coming months.

Special incentives to firms for medical oxygen production in Madhya Pradesh

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Thestate governmenthas decided to provide special financial assistance to units to promote capacity addition of medical Oxygen in the state. In this connection,principal secretaryof Industrial Policy and Promotion Sanjay Kumar Shukla has notified the secretary, Department of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises, Managing Director ofMadhya Pradesh Industrial Development Corporationand all the collectors.

Shukla said that basic investment incentive assistance at the fixed rate of 50% on capital investment made on equipment, Plants and buildings (excluding land and residential areas) will be payable to eligible units in the state whose production capacity of oxygen production would be minimum 10 cubic meters per hour. The maximum limit of the said assistance will be Rs 75 crore.

The eligible units will be given a rebate of Re one per unit on the prevailing power tariff. This will be reimbursed to eligible units by MSME or MPIDC. The benefit of this facility will be available for a period of 3 years from the date of commercial production.

Gujarat govt to spend Rs 2,000 crore on jabs for 18-44 age group

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TheGujaratgovernment will have to spend over Rs 2,000 crore to immunize people between the age of 18 and 45 years.

While the government of India has been funding the vaccination drive of citizens above the age of 45, the will have to pay vaccine manufacturers for doses to inoculate persons between the ages of 18 and 45.

According to government sources, there are about 3.25 crore citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 in Gujarat. With each citizens requiring to be administered two vaccine doses, there is requirement of 6.50 crore doses of the vaccine for this age group.

The state government has placed orders of 2.50 crore doses with two Indian vaccine manufacturers. While an order of two crore doses has been placed with Pune-basedSerum Institute of India, an order of 50 lakh doses of the vaccine manufactured byBharat Biotech, Hyderabad, has also been placed.

Rajasthan plans to procure oxygen concentrators from China

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The , faced with the bleak prospects of augmenting Oxygen supply from local sources in the near future, is planning to importoxygen concentratorsand other essential anti-viral medicines.

Chief ministerAshok Gehlothad directed the officials to explore all Options, including foreign countries, to raise the life-saving medical oxygen and medicines. The chief minister is worried over the high mortality rate in the second wave. Since medical oxygen is the vital for saving lives, the state administration is looking for importing oxygen concentrators from China and other countries.

According to an estimate, demand for oxygen in the state has been estimated at 365 metric tons by April 30, 541 metric tons by May 9 and 900 metric tons by May 30 which the government thinks could not be met from local sources as transportation is a big challenge. This requires 65 cryogenic oxygen tankers which are in short supply now.