Govt keen to sign accord with Russia for Unit III, IV of KNPP
New Delhi: Clearing the liability hurdle with Russia, the government is keen to sign the long-pending agreement for Unit III and IV of Kudankulam nuclear plant before its term ends in May and is planning to approach the Election Commission for clearance. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) recently gave financial clearance for the two units, sources said. They said the government is keen to sign the agreement at the earliest and is planning to approach EC for clearance as the Model Code of Conduct is in force ahead of Lok Sabha elections. “We already have the Cabinet’s approval which gives us a go-ahead to sign the agreement,” said a senior Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) official. The UPA government wants the agreement to be signed in its tenure as it would be considered as an achievement. More importantly, Unit I of KNPP was completed and commissioned in UPA’s tenure while the second unit should be operational this year. Officials said that the major impediments in signing the deal with the Russians were few clauses of the Civil Liability of Nuclear Damages Act (CLND), 2010, and differences over these have been settled now. The liability clause gives the operator (NPCIL) the right to recourse and seeks damage from the supplier, which in this case are the Russians. It also demanded that India should not bring Unit III and IV under the CLND Act’s ambit as the original agreement of nuclear cooperation between India and Russia was signed way before the law came into existence. This was one of the reasons why the deal could not be signed between India and Russia in October last year. (PTI)
National Mazdoor Conference demands release of 10% DA
Jammu: National Mazdoor Conference (NMC) on Sunday appealed to the state government to take immediate decision for the release of 10 per cent DA of state government employees and pensioners due from January. “There is a need for early release of 10 per cent DA due from January last. We appeal to the state government to take immediate decision in this regard,” NMC President Subash Shastri said while addressing a workers’ rally here on Sunday. He said DA was part of salary and routine financial matter and so there should be no hitch in release of pending instalment. The Centre and many state governments of had already released the instalment, he said. Demanding early release of pending wages of daily-rated workers in various departments of the state government, he said these wagers were facing serious financial hardships as their services had not been regularised for the last many years nor were they getting their wages regularly. Other demands like enhancement of the remuneration of daily wagers to Rs 10,000 per month, regularisation of services of the daily wagers who have completed seven years of work, increase in medical allowances and issue of regularisation orders to 180 daily wagers working in the Rural Development Department were also highlighted in the rally. (PTI)
Census 2011 yet to be published
New Delhi: The final figures of the Census 2011 are still to be published, Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner has said. The office stated this while responding to a RTI query requesting it details about the population of transgenders in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The department said it was unable to furnish fresh data about their population as the Census was not published yet. “The data provided in the reply is based on the Census 2001 as the Census 2011 is yet to be published,” it said. The mammoth exercise of the 15th Census began on 1 April 2010. In April 2013, Home Minster Shushil Kumar Shinde had released the statistics. (PTI)
Argentine national drowns in Ganga
Rishikesh (Uttarakhand,: The body of an Argentine national was recovered from Saighat along the banks of the Ganga here, police said on Sunday. Rolotti Hector (48) was swept away by the strong currents of the river in Kotamala area of Yamkeshwar block in Pauri district on Monday last while bathing. His body was recovered on Saturday, police said. The victim was part of a 25-member team of foreign tourists who had checked in at a hotel on the outskirts of Rishikesh last week, he said. Rolotti, who owned a chain of popular Argentinian restaurants in Cordoba and Buenos Aires in Argentina and Miami and New York in the US was in India on a spiritual trip along with his wife. His body has been handed over to his family, police added. (PTI)
Man dies in avalanche
Srinagar: A person on Sunday died after he came under an avalanche at Kangan area in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir, a police official here said. Abdul Rashid Bijran, a resident of Padpati Poshkar in Kangan area, came under the avalanche while he was on the way to collect firewoods from a nearby forest, he said. The body was recovered by local residents and later it was handed over to his relatives for the last rites, he said. (PTI)