An ambitious plan to lower municipal electricity bills THE Centre will monitor electricity consumption pattern of municipalities from March. This is to reduce the 10 per cent power deficit and 16 per cent peak power deficit in the country.

PRIVATE players looking to set up nuclear power plants with full management control may have to wait as the government is yet to develop any mechanism for assessing the liability of operators in the event of an accident.

India is expanding uranium mining, a hazardous activity. Anil Kakodkar, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, recently inaugurated a uranium mine at Bagjata in East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Kakodkar, who is also secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, spoke to ALOK GUPTA about safety concerns and the country

nuclear energy Private players? Private players may soon be allowed entry into nuclear energy production. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said as much minutes before he went in to deliberate on the draft Integrated Energy Policy with the plan panel. The law will, however, have to be amended to allow the private sector to set up nuclear plants, he added.