The petroleum ministry has allowed companies like Reliance Industries and Cairn India to start producing oil and gas from discoveries even before field investment plans are approved. To enable early monetisation of discoveries, oil minister M Veerappa Moily on October 21 approved the guidelines for production and development of oil and gas discoveries made within an already producing field.
Centre to appoint realty experts in 15 states to boost housing
The Centre will soon appoint real estate experts and consultants in 15 major states for helping them to prepare affordable housing policy and streamline the rules for approving realty projects. ?We are coming out with a policy where we will be engaging large number of real estate experts and consultants to each individual states and asked them to study various rules and regulations related to building plan approvals,? housing and urban poverty alleviation secretary Arun Kumar Misra said at an Assocham conference.
Govt to build godowns under MGNREGA to roll out food law
To ensure success of its new food law, the government has recently allowed construction of intermediary godowns under the employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGA) and has allocated R450 crore for creating 15 lakh tonne of storage capacity across the country by March-end. The decision has been taken in view of slow progress in the construction of intermediary godowns by state governments when the Centre is in a hurry to roll out the ambitious food law in all states ahead of the general elections.
Housing demand picks up in NCR; sales up 18% in January-June
Housing sales have risen by 18% in the Delhi-NCR region during the first half of this year at 35,000 units, showing signs of improvement in the property market. ?This increase in sales can be ascribed to the high number of project launches in the affordable category,? property consultant Knight Frank India said. The absorption in Greater Noida rose almost four times compared to the same period in 2012, suggesting a strong demand for affordable options, it said.
Essar Oil reports R71-crore quarterly loss on margin fall
The country?s second largest private refiner Essar Oil blamed the massive fall in the benchmark margins for its R71 crore net loss in the September quarter. The company had posted a net profit of R105 crore in the same period a year ago. Higher diesel exports due to tepid domestic demand crimped its margins, it said.
Adani Power reports net loss of R1,072 crore in September quarter
Adani Power reported a sharp widening of net loss at R1,071.91 crore for the second quarter, mainly on rupee depreciation and higher cost of coal imports. It had posted net loss of R260.91 crore in Q2 last year.
Puducherry govt plans to convert 10,000 huts into concrete houses
The Puducherry government plans to convert all 10,000 huts in different parts to concrete houses in a phased manner, welfare minister P Rajavelu said. He said the government would cover 4,000 huts in the first phase and each owner would be given R4 lakh as housing subsidy. Scheduled caste beneficiaries would benefit under the scheme, he said.
Railways to boost speed ofpremier trains to 160-200 kmph
Travel time for premier trains between major stations could come down with the Railways mulling the possibility of increasing the speeds of its Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto services up to 160km to 200km per hour?from 130 to 150km per hour?over the next three years, Arunendra Kumar, chairman
railway board, said.
