GMR Infrastructure has put the development of its Rs 7,000-crore power project at Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, on the backburner, thanks to coal shortages.

The company acquired this 1,370-Mw project from SKJ Powergen in 2009. It was to be commissioned in 2014. “Private power producers are so much bruised on Thursday, they do not dare to set up anything new. No one can put up any capacity in this kind of situation,” said A Subba Rao, chief financial officer of GMR.

Among the other safety measures announced by Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi in his budget on Wednesday are increasing the number of trains to be escorted by RPF/GRP personnel to 3,500 and integration of the RPF helpline with the All-India Passenger Helpline.

As part of the Railways' green initiative, 2,500 coaches will be equipped with bio-toilets, 200 remote stations will be powered by solar energy, solar-lighting systems will be installed at 1,000 manned level crossing gates, and two bio-diesel plants will be commissioned at Raipur and Tondiarpet.

Urges Montek to consider changes for effective implementation of projects in LWE-affected areas

Bhopal : A bench of National Green Tribunal is going to be set up at Bhopal for disposing of cases pertaining to environment and forest conservation laws.

“There is never enough rice to go around for the whole family,” says tribal woman Leela

The forest department will experiment with chilli crackers to scare away elephant herds from forest villages.