The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Chandigarh can acquire land for IT park High Court dismisses petitions of farmers, landowners Tribune News Service Chandigarh, March 18 The Chandigarh Administration can go-ahead with plans to expand the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park. The Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed a bunch of 61 petitions by farmers, landowners and others in Chandigarh’s vicinity against land acquisition by the administration for Phase III of the park. At least 272 acres are being acquired by the administration. The orders dismissing the petitions were pronounced in open court this morning by a Division Bench of Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice RK Garg. A copy of the detailed judgment was not yet available. Residents had been agitating against land acquisition. Local Member Parliament Pawan Kumar Bansal had already extended full support to the residents on the issue. Bansal had asked the administration to put on hold the process to acquire land in Shastri Nagar in Mani Majra. Recently, the administration turned down the request by land owners of Kishangarh village to exempt their land from acquisition. “Acquiring land which uproots hundreds cannot serve any public purpose. Allotment of land to private builders for deriving commercial benefit can't be termed as public purpose,” Bansal is reported to have said. The case saw the UT administration and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) take different stands. The former has been defending the acquisition of 272 acre under Phase III, while the MHA, in its special audit report, termed it completely unjustified. The MHA insisted that since a huge chunk of plot is lying vacant in Phase I and II, more acquisition is uncalled for. “The acquistion of land should reflect the actual need for taking up the process and not just acquiring land for the sake of acquiring. The audit has noticed that UT had started the procedure for allotting land to certain companies even before receiving a request for it,” stated the audit report prepared by chief controller of accounts (CCA). The report even stated that the keenness of UT authorities to acquire land from farmers and allocate it to businesses without going through the prescribed procedures had put a question mark on their intentions. “In the park, there is no uniformity of rates, procedures or policy in allotting land to various beneficiaries. The administration, while handling government assets, needs to exercise some care in disposing it. The safeguard of assets was one of its responsibilities and UT has miserably failed in this,” the audit report said.
	Rs 1,51,000 crore lying unclaimed in PF accounts Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 18 The Provident Fund (PF), considered a lifelong saving for countless salaried class employees, has Rs 1,51,000 crore in operative accounts. The amount has not been claimed by employees for various reasons. The accounts have been rendered inoperative as no fresh deposits have been made for years. The sum is just lower than the country’s Defence budget for 2011-2012 that stands at Rs 1,64,415 crore. Information about such huge sums of money being parked in inoperative PF accounts was given in Rajya Sabha earlier this week, when BJP MP from Punjab Avinash Rai Khanna raised the matter. The Labour Ministry has said that one of the reasons for money lying parked could be that PF accounts earn the maximum interest rates. It is also considered one of the safest investment which, in case of a financial dispute, cannot be attached even by a decree of court. The interest accruing on the money is free from income tax and that is also a reason for employees to stick to the PF, the labour ministry argued. One of the chief reason, the ministry says is the employees when shifting from one organisation to another do not shift their PF accounts. The biggest sum is in Mahrashtra at Rs 36,341 crore. Punjab has Rs 7,296 crore; Haryana — Rs 6,359 crore; Himachal — Rs 1,011 crore and Delhi — Rs 10,736 crore. The amount of unclaimed deposits lie with the respective banks and is utilized for general business like making any other investments. However, the government said it has conceived a proposal, which involves amendment of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Deposit accounts which have not been operated upon for ten years or any amount remaining unclaimed with any bank for more than ten years will be credited, to a fund called “depositor education and awareness fund”.
	Small scale units closing down in Punjab Sarbjit Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 18 Small and medium industrial units are shutting down operations in Punjab. The number of small-scale units in the state was 2,00,603 in the state in 2000-01. The fixed capital of these units was Rs 4,109.14 crore and the number of workers was 8,97,642. The production of these units was worth Rs 1,83,24 crore. The number of the small-scale units came down to 1,91,639 in 2006-07 and the fixed capital of these units was 5,502.94 crore. The number of employees working was 9,38,684. The production of these units was worth Rs 33,273 crore. The number of these units further came down to 1,67,722 in 2007-08. However, production had gone up to Rs 36,437 crore because of inflation. The number of workers had also gone up to 9,54,769. However, the number of these units, according to the latest data for 2008-09 the number of units fell to 1,62,559 in 2008-09. And there was also fall in the number of workers, it came down to 9,44,241. However, the production had gone up to Rs 4,18,96 crore. A unit set up with a minimal investment of Rs 25 lakh, but not more than Rs 1.99 crore is categorised as a small-scale unit. A unit set up with an investment of Rs 2 crore or more is a medium-scale unit. In 2003, the Vajpayee government at the Centre , which was supported by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the Centre, announced a tax holiday to promote industry in the hill states. That package engineered the migration of the industries from the state to neighbouring hill states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and J and K. Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur had stated that the Central policy to provide tax holiday to industrial units in hill states had effectively caused a large number of manufacturing units to migrate from the state. She added that 274 industrial units had either shifted base or have set up expansion units in hill states at an investment of Rs 3,675 crore. Figures with Economic and Statistical Organisation of the state state that the number of units which had shut down operations in the state, is in the thousands. In 2000-01, the figure of medium scale units was 629 and the number of workers employed in these units was 2,29.626. It remained the half at around 340 in 2006-07. The number went up to 355 in 2007-08 and to 373 in 2008-09.
	RIL gas output at KG-D6 may fall 12% Mumbai/New Delhi, March 18 Reliance Industries (RIL) thinks gas output next year at key fields in its main producing block may drop 12 per cent from current levels, a source said and shares slid on worries profit growth may suffer. Reliance has written to the upstream regulator indicating gas output from the D1 and D3 fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin KG-D6 block may fall to 38 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) during 2012/13 from 42-43 mscmd now, the source, with knowledge of the letter, said on Friday. “It is an extremely complicated reservoir, much more complicated than was thought to be in the beginning. This is the reason why the company joined hands with BP,” the source said. Last month, Reliance agreed to sell a stake in 23 oil and gas blocks in the basin to BP in a $7.2 billion deal, in part to benefit from BP's technical expertise in deepwater exploration. The letter, written last week, said output from MA1, another field in the D6 block, will remain steady around 8-9 mscmd. Reliance said in a statement the figures were "purely provisional and indicative," adding projections on gas output could vary. Earlier this month, the regulator said Reliance was pumping 53 mscmd from the D6 block -- already less than the 60mscmd it produced last year, and far off peak capacity of 80 mscmd. Officials at the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons did not respond to calls. "Our current estimates assume KG-D6 gas production at 60 mscmd both in FY12 and FY13. Every 10 percent change in gross output impacts our FY13 earnings per share by 1.4 percent," RBS analyst Avadhoot Sabnis said in a research note on Friday. India's director-general of hydrocarbons said earlier in March that Reliance Industries' gas output could go up to 67 mscmd by April, as per its field development plan, if it drills four more wells by next month. Shares in Reliance, which is the heaviest-weighted stock on Sensex, fell the most in nearly 11 months and shed 3.7 percent to Rs 993.15 at the close. — Reuters
	Pesky Calls Deadline for telecom operators may be extended Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 18 Still to get an exclusive series number to be allotted to the telemarketers, the Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is likely to extend the March 21 deadline for the pesky call makers. Speaking to reporters here TRAI Chairman J.S. Sarma said, “We have not received the landline number series yet from the Department of Telecom (DoT). Unless that is given, it will be difficult for telemarketers to operate from mobile network. We have not decided the next date but actual date will be soon.” This would mean that the mobile phone users will still have to wait for some more time before freedom from pesky call makers. DoT has issued mobile numbers starting with ‘140’ to help subscribers identify telemarketing calls. Similarly, a series is to be allocated for landline numbers which had been sought by TRAI. Currently, if any call from landline comes, then it can be identified based on STD code — the initial digits —and then levels (digits following STD codes) which differ from exchange to exchange within a city. In case identifiable series of '140' is used, it will impact the numbering system used for allocating new connections.
	GSM operators add 14.5 mn subscribers New Delhi: GSM telecom operators in the country added 14.69 million subscribers in February. The country’s largest operator Bharti Airtel led the way with 3.2 million subscribers. The number of GSM cellular subscribers now stands at 555.06 million. Vodafone Essar with a 23.59% market share notched up 3.55 million new subscribers during the reported month. Idea cellular added 2.51 million users during the month to take its total user base to 86.80 million. Aircel added 1.66 million customers to take its subscriber base to 53.50 million. State-run MTNL added 1.50 million and 25,786 new users, respectively, taking the number of subscriber to 85.09 million and 5.17 million, respectively. — TNS Steel prices New Delhi: The Federation of Industries of India has said that the hefty rise in steel prices is leading to a drop in sales of engineering products including steel pipes. In a statement, it said that the steep rise of 25 to 30 per cent increase in steel prices has been done by all major steel producers. The price increase in January and February by the steel producers has resulted in a drop in demand for steel pipes and other products. It said that factories are facing closure and are running at low capacity. In addition, all the manufacturers are carrying heavy stocks as sales are not taking place. Federation of Industries of India has asked the Government to intervene to control the inflation in the steel prices as cold rollers, pipe industries, engineering industries are being affected. — TNS
	Cairn Energy writes to Petroleum Minister Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 18 Cairn Energy has complained to the Union Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy alleging that a local politician in Gujarat was creating hurdles in laying of an underground pipeline. The line will carry crude from oil fields in southern-Rajasthan to refineries on the Gujarat coast. The Tribune has access to letter that was handed over on March 14 to the Minister and also to the Petroleum Secretary. The Ministry has been asked to intervene and sort out the matter as the project has already been delayed by 6 months. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) is a partner in the project. The first phase of the pipeline is operational and pumps in 1,25,000 barrels of crude oil every day to various Indian refineries near Salaya in Gujarat. The Phase II of the project from Salaya to Bhogat in Jamnagar District is under construction. The compliant says: “We are facing obstructions created by a local politician, in the Jamnagar district. The project is now facing a delay of about 6 months.” All procedures of the ministry in laying the pipeline have been followed. The local community has been roped in. Sources said the politician in question is not from the BJP, which is the ruling party in Gujarat. “We would seek your intervention in this regard to save the execution of the project”, the letter adds.
	Tata Motors raises prices Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 18 Tata Motors today hiked prices of all its passenger vehicles by up to Rs 36,000 to offset rising input costs. Nano prices have not been increased. The raised prices are effective April 1. Indica will be costlier by Rs 7,000-9,000, Vista and Indigo CS will cost Rs 8,000-Rs 11,000 more. In the utility vehicles segment, the Sumo will be costlier Rs 13,000-Rs 15,000, Grande by Rs 16,000- Rs 19,000, Safari by Rs 18,000-Rs 29,000, Aria by Rs 30,000- Rs 36,000 and Venture by Rs 9,000-Rs 12,000. Last week, Tata Motors launched new diesel and petrol variants of Indica, priced between Rs 2.95 lakh and Rs 3.95 lakh. Most car makers in the country are expected to increase prices to offset input costs and announcements are expected by the month end.
	RCom draws Rs 3,000 cr from Chinese Bank Tribune News Service New Delhi, March 18 Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) today drew its first tranche of Rs 3,000 crore ($ 665 million) of the Rs 8,700 crore ($ 1.93 billion) facility signed with China Development Bank (CDB) earlier this month to refinance its debts. The amount will be used to refinance RCom’s short-term rupee borrowings, resulting in substantial savings in its interest cost. Facing a debt of $7-bn, RCom had signed a refinance facility with CDB. This led its share to rise 9 per cent in a single day which was the highest in the past few months. The underwriting facility from CDB also includes Rs 6,000 crore ($ 1.33 bn) for refinancing 3G Spectrum fee payment by RCom and Rs 2,700 crore ($600 mn) for equipment imports from Chinese vendors, namely Huawei and ZTE. This represents the largest-ever syndicated loan for refinancing Spectrum Fees by any telecom company. Shares in the country’s second largest mobile operator, controlled by Anil Ambani, had earlier dropped to a record low leaving the company valued at $4.3 billion. The aggregate financing of Rs 8,700 crore ($1.93 bn) has a maturity period of 10 years, which would contribute significantly to the company's debt maturity profile.