GAIL in overdrive to promote natural gas use in Rajasthan Power Ministry strengthens measures for speedy clearances of projects IRDA slaps Rs 3 cr fine on Bajaj Allianz
Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and Rajasthan government's industrial investment wing Rajasthan Industrial Investment Corporation (RIICO) on Wednesday signed a joint action plan to promote use of natural gas as an industrial fuel in Rajasthan.
RIICO Managing Director Siddharth Mahajan and GAIL Marketing Director Prabhat Singh signed the Joint Action Plan at Udyog Bhawan here.
Additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Chairman, RIICO Sunil Arora said this will help it in attracting more investments. “Natural gas is the preferred choice as a fuel for the future as it is a clean fuel and thus environmentfriendly”, Arora said.
“It will prove to be an asset for our upcoming ceramic and glass zone at Ghilot in Alwar district 180 km from Delhi where availability of piped natural gas will help to keep the units of this area competitive as nearly 20-35 percent of the cost of running a plant is spent on fuel”, Arora added.
Arora said that natural gas is also used in pre-heating for manufacturing in textiles, secondary steel, and other products and will immensely benefit almost all sectors of the industry.
Siddharth Mahajan said that industrial areas other than Ghilot will also be targeted for introducing the fuel. “Under the JAP, the demand potential and requirement of infrastructure for distribution will be evaluated in all existing as well as upcoming industrial areas of RIICO”.
To speed up implementation of projects, the Power Ministry has made various initiatives including a mechanism to hold frequent meetings with chief ministers from different states.
The government has also set up an Empowered Group of Ministers to ensure speedy implementation of power projects in the North Eastern region and the grouping is likely to meet soon.
An official release quoting Union Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the Ministry has made efforts to create an institutional mechanism for faster implementation of projects.
Chairing the meeting of the Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament for the Power Ministry here today, Scindia said a mechanism has been evolved to hold frequent meetings with state chief ministers for the speedy implementation of power projects, according to the release.
Scindia said that 94 power projects are pending for want of clearances and once cleared about 37,000 MW of electricity could be generated from these plant, it added.
For example, the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Water Resources have recently drawn up a framework for speedy technical clearances to power projects by increased coordination between Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and Central Water Commission (CWC).
The improved coordination has helped to obtain several clearances as well as improved process of implementation tremendously.
In order to ensure good quality of coal for the power sector, a third-party inspection of coal samples is been made mandatory for all future fuel supply agreements (FSAs). The ministry has also evolved a mechanism to hold frequent meetings with state chief ministers for the speedy implementation of power projects.
On Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana, Scindia said Rs 30,000 crore has been sanctioned recently by the cabinet.
India is in the process of procuring power from neighbouring countries like Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. These countries along with the Northeast can go a long way to augment power supply in the country. Insurance regulator IRDA imposed a hefty penalty of Rs 3.10 crore on Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance for violation of various norms, including those related to early-death claims and group insurance, reports PTI. "...as directed under the respective charges, the penalty of Rs. 3.10 crore shall be remitted by the life insurer (Bajaj Allianz Life) by debiting shareholders' account...," the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority said in an order. The fine has to be paid within 15 days, it said. The regulator imposed a fine of Rs 78 lakh for rejecting certain early-death claims as unconcluded contracts. These relate to cases where insured persons died after the date of commencement of risk but before receiving the policy document. It noted that this was a violation of File and Use Guidelines. The life insurer repudiated 78 cases during 2010-11 on grounds of unconcluded contracts. "While noting the submissions that the life insurer has decided to re-open all the repudiated cases on grounds of un-concluded contracts and also discontinued the said practice, it is considered that the actions of the insurer are not fair and against the interests of the policyholders..." it said. Bajaj Allianz also violated norms by entering into referral arrangements with entities that were not licensed to act as corporate agents or insurance intermediaries for the sale of group insurance products, the regulator said.