100 years of civil aviation in India

                                                                      
The India Aviation 2012 was marked by the release of a coffee table book “100 years of civil aviation in India”, a collector's form and picture driven book conceived by Civil Aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi bringing forth the salient features, seamlessly integrating the past with the present. Each chapter of the book like “Take Off”, a reminder that aviation was not new to India, and “Wings to the Nation”, describing the airlines that dotted Indian skies to “Hubs of Excellence”, reflecting the works done by public and private operators, is designed differently to keep readers engrossed. The treatment of the voluminous history is sure to make readers feel as if they are going through a story book.       
To commemorate  the occasion, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has constituted a high level committee to be chaired by the Minister for Civil Aviation Shri Praful Patel to deliberate on the scale and the modalities of the celebrations.   The committee includes former Civil Aviation Ministers Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mr. Sharad Yadav, Mr. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mr. Shahnawaz Hussain and Mr. Anant Kumar;  eminent Indians who have contributed to Indian Civil Aviation like  Mr. Rakesh Sharma, first Indian Cosmonaut, Mr. Vijaypath Singhania,   Air Marshal Arjan Singh, Ms. Saudamini Deshmukh, the first lady pilot in the commander’s seat in India, Shri Satish Sharma, MP  and  Chairman of Aeroclub of India, Captain G. Gopinath, Shri  Dipinder Hooda,  MP, Shri Naveen Jindal, MP, Secretaries of the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Defence and Tourism, Chairpersons of  all Indian airlines, Chairpersons of all Indian airports, CMD Pawan Hans, Chairman ISRO, representatives of Tour and Travel Operators,  eminent pilots, representatives of IGRUA, NFTI,  NAL, HAL, BCAS, DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation. 
The display of industry-leading aircraft of the Bombardier was a highlight of the third edition of the summit. The Learjet 60XR, Challenger 300 and Global 5000 business jets as well as the Q400 NextGen Turboprop, all in operation in the country, wowed the audience, comprising business visitors and the media.
The aircraft manufacturer forecast that 4,000 aircraft in the 20-149 seat category would be delivered to Asia Pacific region (including China) over the next 20 years and this is one main reason why the aircraft manufacturer chose to be here for the event.

Guntur:Tapping potential of rainwater

Every drop of rain counts. For people in Guntur, bracing up for a season of sweltering summer, rainwater harvesting might just be the solution to recharge groundwater. And Rathaiah Yella, member of task force on RainWater Harvesting (RWH), GMC has been going about the task of setting up of RWH structures in households/commercial shops with a missionary zeal.

The rainwater filter costing Rs.4,000 is sold by John Daniel in Bangalore and the total cost of the system is Rs.7,500. “Rainwater harvesting using rain water filter has improved the quality of borewells since the salts in borewater are diluted by rainwater. It also ensures that the borewell does not dry up in summer,'' Mr. Rathaiah told The Hindu on Wednesday. Four such RWH structures have been installed in Guntur, including one at a commercial complex at Arundelpet 10th lane. A member of GMC task force on rainwater harvesting, Mr. Rathaiah is overseeing digging of percolation tanks in over 200 new structures in the city.

 Mr. Rathaiah has installed an innovative RWH structure at his house in Bharathpet 5th lane that does not require digging of a percolation pit. The process is simple and cheap. Using a set of 75 mm PVC pipes, Mr. Rathiah connected all the rainwater holes from the roof top. The pipes are connected to a rainwater filter, Raintap-marketed by a Bangalore based firm, and the pipe carrying the filtered water is connected to the borewell through a hole made in the casing pipe of borewell.

The rainwater filter has a first flush device to pump out dirty water and after allowing the flush for 10 minutes, one could turn the lever on to allow the water to be pumped to the borewell. The method is presently used in Bengaluru and Mumbai corporations, which have made it mandatory to install RWH structures in buildings with more than 223 square metres and new buildings with 111 square metres.

Twin cities to get 4 commissionerates soon: DGP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                   
                                       

Hyderabad, March 13:

The twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad will soon get four police commissionerates under Greater Hyderabad Commissionerate, Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy said today.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the four new Commissionerates-- Hyderabad Commissionerate, Hyderabad South, Secunderabad Commissionerate and Cyberabad Commissionerate-- will have equal number of Commissioners of Police and it would be headed by Chief Commissioner of Police (CCP).
Mr Reddy said the new commissionerates will be established after merging the existing Hyderabad and Cyberabad Commissionerates.

The committee of police officers will examine the structure and functioning of Mumbai and Chennai police commissionerates to adopt better administrative principles in the proposed new commissionerates.

“The proposal requires no new infrastructure like buildings, vehicles or resources. The present policemen and officers will be disbursed equally among the four new ones,” the DGP said.

However, it is not yet decided whether to bring the traffic police under a single umbrella after the unification and continue that system.

The possibility of each commissionerate having a separate traffic police wing akin to other units like Task Force cannot be ruled out. But, the city traffic police would have a new dress code on the lines of their counterparts in Bangalore.

After analysing the report, steps would be taken to set up the Commissionerates by issuing notification, the DGP said, adding as per the overhaul,the police stations in Urban Areas in Hyderabad will remain the same and in rural areas, there will be some changes like shifting the police stations to another place.

Railway Budget 2012 highlights

                                                              
New Delhi:  As he presents his first rail budget, Dinesh Trivedi has his task cut out. His focus, he says, is three-pronged: "Safety, safety, safety."  Following very closely behind are consolidation, decongestion and modernisation.

The following are the highlights the employment opportunities and passenger friendly measures that the Rail Budget 2012 proposes:

• Exp train fare up by 5 paise per km, 10 paise per km for AC chair car, 10 paise per km for AC 3-tier, 15 p per km for AC 2-tier, 30 paise per km for AC First class.

• No steep increase in passenger fares; 2 paisa per km for suburban trains; 3 paisa per km for mail and express trains. 
• All Garib Rath trains to have one special AC coach for differently abled persons.
•  All out efforts to improve hygiene in trains and stations in next six months.

•  Special housekeeping body to be set up to maintain stations and trains.

• Improvement of passenger amenities at a cost of Rs.1,112 crore; regional cuisines to be introduced.

• World Bank funding of R.6,500 crore firmed up for dedicated freight corridors; land acquired for 3,300 km; first contracts to be handed out during 2012-13

• Standard of hygiene needs to be improved substantially; all out efforts will be made on this in the next six months; duty bound to provide high standard of services; special housekeeping body to be set up for stations and trains.

• Corrosion from night soil being discharged from toilets on tracks costs Rs.350 crore annually; green toilets to be installed in 2,500 coaches in the next one year.

• Independent tariff authority suggested; needs serious debate; experts panel established; decision after debate in parliament.

• GRP/RPF personnel deployed on 3,500 trains.

• Free travel by Rajdhani express for Arjuna awardees.

• Targeting freight carriage of 1,025 million tonnes to bring in Rs.89,339 crore; passenger earnings estimated at Rs.36,073 crore; gross receipts estimated at Rs.1.32 lakh crore.

• Excess of Rs.1,492 crore after meeting expenses/dividend payments not adequate for meeting costs of several projects.

• Dedicated railway design wing at National Institute of Design with a contribution of Rs.10 crore.

• New passenger services: 820 new items; 75 new express trains; 21 new passenger trains; 75 new services in Mumbai suburban system.

• Guru Parikrama trains to be run to Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.

• Passenger fare for sub-urban trains hiked by 2 paise per km, mail trains by 3 paise per km.

• Platform tickets to cost Rs. five.

• 50 per cent concession in fare in AC classes to anaemia and sickle cell disease patients.

• Body of experts to examine setting up of an independent Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority

• No steep increase in passenger fares: Railway Minister.

• Finance Ministry agrees to loan Rs. 3,000 crore to Railways at 8.55 per cent interest: Trivedi

•  Gross rail traffic targeted to increase by Rs. 28,635 crore to Rs. 1,32,552 crore in 2012-13.

•  Passenger earnings to increase to Rs. 36,200 crore. Gross traffic receipts Rs. 1,32,552 crore.

•  Railways to carry 55 million tons more freight at 1025 million tonnes in 2012-13.

•  Surplus with railways at Rs. 1,492 crore in current year as against targeted Rs. 5,258 crore.

• Expansion of suburban rail networks and addition of more services in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

•  Guru Parikarma special trains to cover Sikh pilgrimage centres of Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.

•  75 new express passenger trains to be introduced.

•  Railway Board to be restructured, two more members to be included.

•  Railways to recruit more than one lakh persons in 2012-13.

•  Railways to replace open discharge toilets with green toilets. 2,500 coaches will be equipped with bio-toilets next year.

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• Two thousand one hundred specially designed coaches manufactured to meet needs of the differently abled; aim to provide one such coach in each express train.

• Electrification to be undertaken over 6,500 km at an allocation of Rs.8,000 crore during 12th Plan.

• Conversion from DC to AC power supply completed in Western Railway corridor of Mumbai suburban rail system; conversion of Central Railway corridor to be completed in 2012-13.

• Elevated corridor from Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai being firmed up.

• Government should consider dividend payback to railways.

• Thirty-one projects over 5,000 km being implemented with state governments sharing costs.

• Capacity augmentation to get Rs.4,410 crore during 2012-13.

• Eighty-five new line projects to be taken up during 2012-13.

• One hundred and fourteen new line surveys to be undertaken during 2012-13.

• New line projects to get Rs.6,870 crore in 2012-13.

• Gauge conversion to be undertaken over 800 km with an allocation of Rs.1,950 crore.

• Focus during next five years on five areas: tracks, bridges, signalling, rolling stock and stations.

• Signalling to be improved over 19,000 km.

• Investment of Rs.1.70 lakh crore on rolling stock in next five years.

• Attempt to increase train speeds to 160 kmph; journey time from New Delhi to Kolkata can be brought down to 14 hours from 17 hours.

• Improvements to railway stations can provide employment to 50,000 people.

• Outlay of Rs.60,100 crore during 2012-13, the highest ever.

• Railways will require Rs.14 lakh crore in the next 10 years for modernisation.

• Aim to bring down operating ratio from 90 percent to 84.9 percent in 2012-13 and to 72 percent by 2016-17.

• Time has come for formulating national policy for railways on the lines of that for defence and external affairs.

• Railways should grow at 10 percent annually for sustained GDP growth.

• Railways to invest Rs.7.35 lakh crore during 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17), a quantum jump from the Rs.1.92 lakh crore invested in previous plan period.

• Railways must attract 10 percent of the Rs.20 lakh crore government expects to spend on infrastructure during 12th Plan.

• Railways expect gross budgetary support of Rs.2.5 lakh crore during 12th Plan.

• Collective challenge to formulate viable funding mechanism for modernisation.

• Railways should contribute 2 percent of GDP from the present 1 percent.

• Stress on strengthening safety. Has to be be benchmarked with the best in the world.

• Target of reducing accidents from 0.55 to 0.17 has been met.

• Special purpose vehicle to be set up on safety protocols.

• Independent railway safety authority to be set up as statutory safety body.

• Investment of Rs.5.60 lakh crore required for modernisation.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/railway-budget-2012-highlights-185843&cp

Hyderabad:Passport verification delay costs government dear

HYDERABAD: The delay in verification process of passports has just not cost the applicants dearly but also the state government. According to a recent finding through an RTI application, the state government has lost about Rs 10 crore which it was entitled to from the central government in the last five years due to the delay in police verifications. According to him, the delay in the verification process is taxing for citizens and giving rise to corruption. However, special branch officials blame the lack of manpower and overburdened staff for the situation. A senior official attached to the Special Branch said, "The passport verification is only an additional duty for us among many others. On an average, the Cyberabad and Hyderabad zones receive a total of 40% of the total passport applications of the state. Each officer has at least 10 applications to verify at any given time and each verification takes at least one hour. At this rate we would only be doing passport verification throughout the day." He also said that there could be practical problems leading to the delay, including difficulty in finding the address of applicants, change of address, credentials and background verification from different departments.
The central government through the Regional Passport Office (RPO) pays Rs 100 per verification to the state government if it is done within 21 days but pays only Rs 25 if it gets delayed for more than that stipulated time. The verification is undertaken by the Special Branch of the AP police. Even after consistently losing close to Rs 2 crore every year the government seems to have done little to ensure better inflow into the state coffers.

The loss of funds is indicative of the bigger problem that passport-seekers go through. The RTI query has revealed that the passport applications verified within 21 days stood at just about 6.5% in 2007, a lowly 2% in 2008, only to hit an all time low of 0.7% in 2009. In 2010, only 2.5% of the total applications were verified within 21 days. However, 2011 figures were a little better with 25% of the verifications done within 21 days time. On an average, 2.5 - 3 lakh passport applications are received by the Hyderabad RPO.

RTI activist P Ramakrishna, who has been filing RTI applications on this issue for the last six months, said "I wanted to know the exact reasons for the delay in processing passport applications. I learnt that it was mainly due to police verifications but I was shocked to know that the state government was losing a considerable revenue due to the delay in the process. Hence, I decided to get the exact figures for the last five years." He adds, "Is it that difficult for the government to improve the situation by employing a few more people (for verifications) and earn at least a part of the revenue?"