MoU will be signed to set up natural gas fertiliser manufacturing factory early next month

Oil and gas major ONGC will sign an agreement with the Tripura government to establish a fertiliser manufacturing unit near Kumarghat in Unakoti district.
The MoU would be signed to set up natural gas fertiliser manufacturing factory early next month, state's Industries and Commerce Minister Jitendra Chowdhury told reporters here.

Special fiscal and incentive packages for industrial growth in North East “have so far failed to trigger major investment flow in the region in the manner it was conceived,” said Paban Singh Ghatowar, minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). He said in the absence of secondary sector, the growth of North Eastern states during the 11th Plan period was driven just by the primary and tertiary sectors.

“Special fiscal packages under North East Industrial Policy (NEIP) and North East Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy (NEIIPPP) have so far failed to trigger major investment flow in the region in the manner it was conceived.

Agartala: After a lull, two turbines of Palatana’s first unit have been put on operation since Tuesday generating 140-145 MW power on daily basis.

Earlier also, the Palatana first unit had successfully generated power upto 140-145 MW. However, it was put on shut down after directive from the NERLDC.
However, the power generation is on experimental before going for commercial production of power, according to sources. On Thursday, the two turbines generated 130 MW in the morning while it shot up to 140/145 in the night.

Agartala: Plans are afoot to turn Tripura’s capital into a green city by fitting, within two years, thousands of vehicles running on petrol or diesel with CNG kits and providing city households with piped natural gas connections, a senior official said Wednesday.

“While issuing vehicle permits, priority is given to those running on CNG (compressed natural gas). This is not only cheaper but also very environment-friendly. Our target is to make the capital Agartala a green city,” Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) Chairman Pabitra Kar told IANS.

Forest cover in the country has decreased by 367 sq km with the green area decreasing in 14 states, says a forest report released here on Wednesday.

According to the India State of Forest Report-2011, forest cover has decreased in 14 states including Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Assam, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Tripura.

However, the forest cover has increased in Bihar, Goa, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Andaman & Nicobar.

The forest cover in the country has decreased by 367 sq kms with the green area decreasing in 14 states, as per a forest report released here today.

With the forest cover of 77,700 square kilometre area Madhya Pradesh retain its coveted title of number of state of the country in terms of forest cover, according to Indian State of Forest Report

Agartala: Tripura government will set up two elephant reserves for preservation of the species whose numbers have vastly depleted due to large-scale poaching and migration to neighbouring Bangladesh.

State Forest Minister Jitendra Chowdhury on Saturday said the two reserves would be part of elephant conservation projects and land for one at Gandhari in Amarpur sub-division of Gomati district has already been already identified.

With the first unit of 726 MW Palatana power project in Tripura expected to start commercial production soon, Assam hopes to draw its share of 120 MW of power despite hurdles in evacuating power from the project site.

The first unit, which is of 363 MW, has already started its trial run and is presently producing around 45-50 MW of power. However, due to non-completion of erection of high-voltage transmission line to evacuate from project site at Palatana in south Tripura and connect to North Eastern grid in Bongaigaon in Assam, production of power to its optimum capacity might get delayed.

Agartala: Left-ruled Tripura on Thursday strongly opposed the central government’s proposal to provide direct transfer of food subsidy in cash to people, currently accessible through the public distribution system (PDS).

To check the leakage and diversions, an alternate model of direct transfer of food subsidy in cash to the consumers has been proposed by the Congress-led central government. Suggestions of state governments and the union territories on the alternate models have been invited on the issue.