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Sunday,
August 24, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Haryana
losing 3 cr daily due to power pilferage RBI cuts
repo rate to 4.5 pc Maruti
denies being an EPF defaulter Chamber
for separate Service Tax Act ONGC
Videsh to pick up stake in Sudan Nod to
changes in LSE Securities articles |
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Workers
have right to strike work: unions PunCom
wins Rs 40 crore RailTel order Withdraw
SEs’ powers, says industry
Interference
hits airlines growth
Nomination
facility
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Haryana losing 3 cr daily due to power pilferage Chandigarh, August 23 Officials admit that due to political patronage, the problem is rising. Further, the state has failed to introduce punitive measures to check the power pilferage. It has resulted in huge financial losses to the distribution company. Said Major General B.S. Rathee (retd.), Chairman, Haryana Power Corporations,‘‘we are making efforts to supply adequate power to consumers. But about 25 per cent of power is going waste due to old distribution system and about 20 per cent is being stolen everyday. It is resulting in heavy losses to the companies.’’ The official admitted though tamper-proof electronic meters have been introduced, smart consumers are even tampering with these meters. The distribution system is being strengthened, but without the support of panchayats and other organisations, the power pilferage cannot be controlled. The Haryana Power Transmission and Distribution Corporations will purchase 100 MW of additional power from Himachal Pradesh to supply more power to farmers during the ongoing paddy season. At present about 650 lakh units of electricity are being supplied in the state daily. It is necessary to supply more power to the consumers due to peak paddy season and increase in demand of power for tubewells. The power corporations will ensure regular power supply in the villages in night. The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam will send the bills to defaulting consumers. He made it clear that the introduction of any surcharge waiver scheme is not possible as the matter is sub judice. Many farmers have increased the load of electricity without informing the power corporations. As much as 10 MW of load is increased in Pehowa Operation Division during the season. The undeclared extension of load has damaged transformers at many places. In order to regularise the load of electricity, the power corporations will introduce another voluntary disclosure scheme shortly. The matter will be discussed at the meeting of Board of Directors.
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RBI cuts repo rate to 4.5 pc
Mumbai, August 23 The annual rate of inflation which was about 6.7 per cent as on April 5, has progressively come down to 3.95 per cent on August 9, 2003. The monsoon also has been good and its wide coverage has raised expectations of a good kharif crop, RBI spokesperson said here today. After August 25, as per the current practice, the cut-off rate for acceptance of bids for one-day and 14-day repo will continue to be decided by the RBI at each auction, the spokesperson said in a release. The central bank, had in the recent past, pointed out it was closely watching the movement of inflation and behaviour of monsoon before taking any decision on the repo rate. The RBI said it was felt that this 0.5 per cent reduction will also help in making the yield curve not as flat as is the case now. The spokesperson said while the overnight repo rate will be 4.5 per cent on Monday, after the present cut, the state development loan, 2015, for Rs 8,000 crore will be sold on tap at 6.2 per cent on that day. The bank had earlier reduced the repo rate under LAF by 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent on March 3, 2003. In the backdrop of good monsoon and declining inflation, RBI governor Bimal Jalan had yesterday hinted at revising upwards the gross domestic product growth rate for fiscal 2003-04 during the mid-term review in October.
— PTI
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Maruti denies being an EPF defaulter
New Delhi, August 23 The rebuttal from MUL’s Senior Corporate Communication Manager Arun Arora came within two days of Sahib Singh Verma releasing the list of organisations, that were defaulters of Rs 10 lakh and above. As per the list, MUL was in default of Rs 10.80 lakh as on July 31 this year, with Verma warning all the defaulting organisations of stern, legal and punitive measures. Referring to the news reports, which put out the list of 2151 companies by Labour Ministry, where Maruti’s name was included, Arora said, “the reference perhaps is being made to the order of April 15, 1999 passed by Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Faridabad, imposing damages of Rs 22,08,515. “The government perhaps has failed to take notice that the foresaid order had been duly challenged by EPF Appellate Tribunal, who, while partially allowing the appeal, reduced the quantum of damages from 37 per cent to 11 per cent per annum,” Arora said in a statement. He further clarified that the entire amount of over Rs 11 lakh, in accordance with the orders of Appellate Tribuanl was duly deposited with Regional Provident Fund Commissioner.
— PTI
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Chamber for separate Service Tax Act Chandigarh, August 23 It claimed that from July1, 2003 the total number of services had gone up to 58 and the scope of three existing services had been extended. In the year 2002-03 the service tax revenue collection had touched Rs 4,100 crore and number of assessees had jumped to 2,24,000. The tax collection target for the year 2003-04 was more than Rs 9,000 crore and may touch a figure of Rs.10,000 crore by the year 2005. In memorandum submitted to the government, it pointed out that the service sector which was linked with the industries should be brought under VAT proposal to avoid tax on tax. It would help the industries to serve their products at a reasonable price to the end customer. While supporting the widening of the service tax net, PHDCCI suggested that under the Act the services liable to tax should be more transparent to avoid litigation.
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ONGC Videsh to pick up stake in Sudan New Delhi, August 23 A senior government official said after the CCEA meeting that the CCEA has cleared OVL’s acquisition of 26.125 per cent stake in exploration block 5A and 24.5 per cent stake in block 5B from Austria’s OMV. OVL, the overseas business arm of the ONGC, at present owns a 25 per cent stake in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company in Sudan which it had acquired from Canadian energy company, Talisman Energy. Block 5A, which contains the undeveloped Thar Jath field with gross proven and probable oil reserves of 149.1 million barrels, has Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd of Malaysia as operator with 68.875 per cent stake. Austrian oil and chemical group OMV holds 26.125 per cent and Sudan’s national oil company Sudapet the remaining 5 per cent. In Block 5B, Petronas has 41 per cent, Sudapet 10 per cent, OMV 24.5 per cent and Swedish oil concern Lundin Petroleum AB 24.5 per cent.
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Nod to changes in LSE Securities articles Ludhiana, August 23 The directions were given to change the structure of boards of management of subsidiaries of recognised stock exchanges. According to the resolution, the members have approved the alterations in articles which provides that the total number of directors will be 13 — five directors will be nominated by a Ludhiana Stock Exchange as public representatives with the prior approval of SEBI. Five directors will be elected from amongst shareholders (sub brokers) subject to the retirement by rotation and will be entitled to re-election provided, however, that no such directors shall seek third term unless there is a gap of one year. The meeting provides that the present elected directors will continue to be on the board till they retire by rotation in normal course. Though there has been a lot of resentment among the members as only last year, articles for association of LSE securities were amended.
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Workers have right to strike work: unions Chandigarh, August 23 Referring to the recent observations of the Supreme Court in connection with the Tamil Nadu State Government employees declaring that the government servants have no fundamental right to go on strike, Mr Raju said the government should take initiative to refer the judgment to a larger Bench. Mr Raju said the officers have submitted a comprehensive charter of demands claiming an increase of 35 per cent in the wages, the IBA insists that the charter is on the higher side and it has to be reduced substantially. During the last round of discussions, the officers and unions have pegged their demand to 20 per cent, an all-time low figure. Even then, the IBA has not made any reasonable offer. It’s last offer was 6.44 per cent. With the 20 per cent rise the burden will be Rs 19,000 crore per annum. The unions of banks, insurance, the RBI and its associates have come together and have formed a coordination committee in the name of ‘‘All-India Coordination Committee of Unions in Financial Sector, an apex forum representing more than 30 unions from the financial sector to fight against the anti-union policies of the government, said Mr Raju. The federation has raised certain issues before the bank concerning welfare areas. The federation has demanded that the current expenditure towards welfare of the employees is Rs 35 crore against the profit of Rs 3000 crore of the SBI, which is inadequate and has to be
raised substantially. The State Bank officers are also awaiting revision of pension. The proposals are pending at the government level, said Mr Raju. The federation has also demanded the revival of recruitment through a recruitment agency formed by the banks.
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PunCom wins
Rs 40 crore
RailTel order Chandigarh, August 23 This project of RailTel is a part of its ambitious plans to establish a nationwide optical backbone for broadband services. Entering into the SDH (STM-1/4/16) is tactically a very promising move for PunCom. A Punjab Government undertaking, PunCom has made this bid in technical collaboration with Alcatel-Italy, a world leader in telecom. Besides PunCom, other companies like ITI, BEL, ECIL, TCIL, GTL, Reliance, HTL and Shyam Telecom had participated in this tender. The Rs 40.3 crore order will provide the necessary impetus to the growth of the company in view of its recent restructuring, says a company release.
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Withdraw SEs’ powers, says industry Ludhiana, August 23 In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, the Punjab Small Scale Industries Association has apprehended that the powers could always be misused by the SEs and these should only wrest with some higher authority. They said, “we have simply been left at the mercy of engineers”. According to the Pollution Control Act, the chairman of the board can take steps for preservation of the environment which may be even up to the closure of the industries violating the pollution norms. The chairman can even order stopping of electricity and water to the industry. While the industry is not opposed to these provisions, but it questions the logic of vesting one officer with all these powers. The memorandum has been submitted to the Chief Minister by Mr Ashok Singhal, general secretary, Punjab Small Scale Industries Association and Mr Gurmeet Singh, Vice-President of the Punjab Hand Tools and Electroplating Association.
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