S.M.Krishna consents full-fledged passport offices

S.M.Krishna consents full-fledged passport offices

Udayavani

Mangalore, July 14: The External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna has approved to grant full-fledged passport offices in Mangalore and Hubli.

In this regard the minister S.M.Krishna has written a letter to Chief Minister. Notification regarding the commencement of the office will be out in the month if August.

Chief Secretary of AICC Oscar Fernandise had requested the External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna to allow passport offices in Mangalore, told the convener of Railway Development Action Committee P.V.Mohan to Udayavani.

It is proposed to open service centers in Gulbarga and Belgaum and in this regard only last level doings are pending.

K.H.Muniyappa, Union Minister of State for Railways and E.Ahamed, Union Minister (Deputy Minister) of State have conducted a meeting with External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna and dicided over the matter of extending Mangalore-Bangalore railway to Kannur. Minister S.M.Krishna has give the confidence of starting day train Mangalore-Bangalore, told Mohan.

Twin-cities included in JNNURM programme

Twin-cities included in JNNURM programme

Times of India

HUBLI: It's a dream come true for the residents of Hubli-Dharwad as the twin-cities found a place in the UPA government's flagship programme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Union (JNNURM).

The twin-cities had just missed by a whisker to Mysore on the previous occasion. Though it had all requirements to make it to the reforms-linked investment scheme, the Royal City was preferred over Hubli-Dharwad due to its heritage and tourism tag.

Protests and demonstrations had made headlines after the list of cities selected under JNNURM was announced with no mention of the twin-cities. Even there was no dearth for mud-slinging.

MP Prahlad Joshi had held then former chief minister N Dharam Singh responsible for that, saying that he had sent names of more than the required number of cities for inclusion under JNNURM.

Felt let down by the Centre, H D Kumaraswamy government had even made several representations to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and urban development minister Jaipal Reddy. Sonia, during a visit to Bangalore, had also promised to include Hubli-Dharwad in JNNURM if the state government sent a proposal.

The campaign, demanding the inclusion of Hubli-Dharwad under JNNURM, received a shot in the arm when some non-resident Indians joined the crusade. Natives of Hubli-Dharwad residing overseas had launched a chain of protests by observing a day-long fast to express their solidarity.

Nagesh Tavarageri, a resident of Cerritos (USA), had initiated an e-movement through a group website through which they sent hundreds of online representations to the President, PM and urban development minister.

District in-charge minister Murugsh Nirani said this will take the twin-cities to newer heights in infrastructure development and in attracting investment. MLC A M Hindasageri and mayor Veeranna Savadi said the twin-cities can now hope for better urban facilities.

What is JNNURM?

It's a central government's initiative aimed at encouraging reforms and fast-track planned development of identified cities. Its objectives include integrated development of infrastructure services, ensuring adequate funds to fulfill deficiencies, planned development of cities, provision of services for the urban poor, redevelopment of old cities and secure effective linkages between assets creation and asset management.

Its components comprise urban renewal, water supply (including desalination and sewerage), solid waste management, storm water drains, urban transport, parking spaces on PPP basis, development of heritage areas, preservation if water bodies among others.

Yeddyurappa to lay foundation stone for five IT parks next month

Yeddyurappa to lay foundation stone for five IT parks next month

Special Correspondent - The Hindu

KEONICS to construct the parks in the next 20 months

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Authority to be set up soon to provide one stop solution to IT/BT firms

The cost of IT parks will be between Rs. 20 crore and Rs. 25 crore: Naidu

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BANGALORE: To attract investment in Tier II cities, the State Government has decided to establish information technology (IT) parks in Shimoga, Gulbarga, Belgaum, Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad.

It has also decided to set up an IT park on 27 acres of land near Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa will the lay foundation stone for IT parks in Shimoga, Gulbarga, Belgaum, Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad in November and in Mysore and Bangalore in December.

Minister for Information Technology and Biotechnology Katta Subramanya Naidu told presspersons here on Tuesday that Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS) would construct the parks at a cost ranging from Rs. 20 crore to Rs. 25 crore in the next 20 months. The park at Devanahalli would be developed on public-private partnership by Jain Heights at an estimated cost of Rs. 80 crore.

The park in Hubli-Dharwad would come up on 50 acres of land. More space in IT parks would be given to small and medium enterprises. The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board would acquire land, he said.

To provide one-stop solution to companies, the Government would set up an IT/BT authority soon, he said.

Bill

A Bill would be introduced in the coming session of the State legislature for setting up the authority, he said.

Karnataka Udyog Mitra was handling investment and other proposals in the State now. “Bangalore IT.biz 2008” will be held on November 6 for three days at the Palace Ground in Bangalore. Sixty major companies had responded to the invitation, he said.

Referring to excise revenue, Mr. Naidu said that revenue collection had touched Rs. 2709.91 crore in the first six months of the current fiscal.

It was Rs. 2414 crore during the same period last year.

He said that licensing system for opening liquor shops (CL-2) and bar and restaurants (CL-9) would be changed. A committee was studying the licensing system in other States, he added.

Tata-Marcopolo bus to roll out in a month

Tata-Marcopolo bus to roll out in a month

Published on Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 08:40

The first product from the Tata Marcopolo Motors Ltd (TMML) bus plant at Dharwad will roll out in a month’s time.

“The trial production has already started. Final tests are going on. In less than a month’s time the first product will roll out,” Mr Prakash M. Telang, Tata Motors Executive Director – Commercial Vehicles, told Business Line. The first set of products will be buses in the light commercial vehicle segment.

The Dharwad plant, set up with an investment of Rs 325 crore, has an annual capacity of 30,000 vehicles. The plant is expected to produce about 2,000 buses in the current financial year.

“The plant is much larger than what we had planned earlier. It would be one of the largest plants of its kind in the world. We did this expansion because we believe the market is going to grow in India. Not only in India and but also in the entire Third World,” said Mr Telang.

Tata Marcopolo Motors is a joint venture between Tata Motors and Marcopolo, the Brazil-based company that is into body-building for buses and coaches, with Tata Motors holding 51 per cent stake and Marcopolo the balance.

Export from Dharwad

The company is looking for export from Dharwad facility because of its proximity to the port. “We are looking for two sets of export models. One is fully-built buses with chassis from Tatas and bus body building from Marcopolo. And in certain countries like South Africa, Morocco and Egypt we do CKD (completely knocked down units) operations. We will send CKD kits from here,” said Mr Telang.

DTC orders

The Tata Motors - Marcopolo joint venture to manufacture and assemble fully-built buses and coaches has delivered 650 CNG-run buses to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) from its Lucknow facility and has bagged an order for another 1,625 buses from the DTC. “We will deliver this order in 12-15 months time,” said Mr Ravi Pisharody, Vice-President, Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors.

The company is providing low-floor low entry buses for city transport in Delhi and expects orders from other cities, including Mumbai and Bangalore. “The low-floor low entry buses have become almost the norm in the intra-city transport. India is just getting ready for that,” said Mr Pisharody.

Body building

He said that Tata Motors put emphasis on bus body building. “The current practice in India is that market will buy chassis from big companies and do body building with third parties. Globally this is not very prevalent. All large companies supply high quality bodies. Basically, in our case, that is being done through Marcopolo,” said Mr Pisharody.

He said that the company-specified bus body building will improve the travel comfort and it is being well-received by the transporters. “Delhi Transport Corporation is the first to buy body-built buses and many more are coming up,” he said.

Tata Motors, the largest Indian bus makers and the second largest in the world after Mercedes-Benz, currently holds 50 per cent of the domestic market share.