The corruption paranoia, blamed for the policy paralysis at the Centre, is threatening to take a toll on Bengal by clouding the timetable of the much-delayed Jindal steel plant at Salboni. Banks and financial institutions are unwilling to give loans to the project because of uncertainties surrounding the mining sector. The Jindal project may require loans totalling Rs 10,000 crore in the first phase to build a 3-million-tonne plant. The proposed Salboni...

An independent study says some 250 thermal power projects that have got clearances may be meant just to grab land and water resources. THERE have been a growing number of headlines that speak of an energy crisis and the energy deficit in India in the last few years. The disparities in the demand-supply scenario, the increasing prospects of disruptions in the global supply of fuel and the consequent results of higher...

Here in Delhi, you can buy a litre of petrol for a little less than Rs 69. A cylinder of cooking gas costsRs 405. But there's one state capital where petrol costs Rs 200 a litre and gas a staggeringRs 2,000 a cylinder. That city is Imphal, the capital of our easternmost state, Manipur. Since August 1, the state has been hostage to a withering siege: a blockage of two...

The power position in Bengal improved today but alarm bells are ringing over imported coal stocks that are running out fast. “The stock of imported coal will exhaust by the end of this month,” said Krishna Gupta, the managing director of the West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL), the largest electricity supplier in the state. The corporation had last year imported 1.2 million tonnes of coal from Indonesia. “We will come up...

Contributory factors: coal shortage, overdrawal by States, early winter and of course, Telangana agitation The country is facing a severe shortage of electricity. Coal shortage in power plants and heavy overdrawal by some States have aggravated the crisis, especially during the festive months. In addition, the setting in of winter has led to a decline in hydro power production. In the South, the Telangana agitation has badly hit power supplies in Andhra...