by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
Mumbai : After Railway Minister Piyush Goyal cracked the whip, the Western Railway (WR) launched a safety audit of all 445 bridges on the Mumbai suburban section, deploying modern techniques to scan some of the oldest structures, an official said here on Saturday.
The first to be inspected and audited was the 98-year old Mahalaxmi road overbridge (ROB) and later the Bandra ROB, with the new time-saving technique through the “tower wagon car”.
“The tower wagon has been designed to save inspection time to two hours against the normal four hours by conventional methods and even perform urgent repairs,” said WR spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar.
Conventionally, a long ladder was transported from Lower Parel station to the required station, shifted manually to the bridge site and only one person at a time could climb it, while clutching a load of equipment. The ladder needed to be shifted continuously for examining each girders, pillars or spans.
However, the new tower wagon allows the entire inspection team to climb to the targeted site armed with tools and machinery, and even carry out spot emergency repairs, making it a quick, safe and quality process, said Bhakar.
On the WR’s Churchgate-Virar sector, there are 29 ROBs, 110 Foot overbridges (FOBs) and four pipeline bridges, and the rest are on the Central Railway (CR), across Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts, catering to over eight million daily suburban commuters.
Top WR officials including General Manager A. K. Gupta, Divisional Railway Manager Sanjay Mishra, Principal Chief Engineer R. K. Meena and Chief Safety Officer Manoj Sharma were present when the inspections were carried out in the early hours on Saturday.
Spelling relief, the Mahalaxmi ROB was found to be “structurally sound and in safe condition” at all its 15 girders and five spans after it was inspected in minute details by two tower wagons.
The 56-year old Bandra ROB with 13 girders and three spans was also found structurally safe and sound, the WR said.
Bouyed by the results, the WR will now carry out the safety audits of all the remaining bridges with tower wagons over the next three-four months, as resolved at a high-level meeting on July 5.
Following stringent observations by the Bombay High Court, a public uproar after the July 3 crash of a portion of the Andheri FOB which killed one woman, the beleagured WR, CR, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation along with IIT-Bombay experts launched the full-scale bridges’ audits.
It was decided to order repairs or reconstruct the stressed bridges on priority without procedural delays, with precedence given to the oldest structures, while ensuring complete coordination among various agencies.
The three organisations will also conduct regular monthly meetings of top officials, clear issues about designs, drawings, approvals, land issues, etc, to speed up the required works.
They would also explore the feasibility of creating a special corpus fund for the purpose of an appropriate amount, to ensure financial resources are readily available, especially for undertaking works of urgent nature or in emergencies.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Summit, Corporate, Corporate finance, Events, Social Round-up
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurates India Infrastructure Expo 2018 at the NCPA, Mumbai
Mumbai : Finance Minister Piyush Goyal inagurated the India Infrastructure Expo 2018 today, organised by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) on the sidelines of the third Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at NCPA, Mumbai from 25-26 June 2018.
Expressing delight at hosting the Third Annual meeting of the AIIB, Shri Goyal said, “The Asian Infrastructure Investment bank has really matured in a short period of time and is rapidly progressing to become one of the most important infrastructure financiers across the world. A very strong management team with robust management practices, some of which have never been seen in the global stage have been put in place. India is the 2nd largest shareholder of the AIIB and is the largest recipient of concessionaire finance for various infrastructure projects with nearly 25% of the total funds committed to projects in India, both in the government sector and the private sector”, he said.
He further said “Earlier today, I had an opening meeting with the President of AIIB, and he was expressing satisfaction that India has shown a lot of enthusiasm, and put up very good proposals before AIIB. It truly is a very happy occasion for India, and particularly for Mumbai to host this very important engagement. There are 86 countries which are members of AIIB who are participating. Over 3,000 delegates have already come on board, and I am told the number is growing by the minute”.
The Exposition offers companies from the public and private sector to showcase their latest solutions, technologies and offerings in the realm of infrastructure project development and delivery. Participating companies will also highlight their capabilities and key projects delivered over time for information of all delegates. Several State Governments and Central Ministries will also be showcasing investment opportunities for financial investors from across the world.
The Exposition is having state of the art digital display and offers participants ample avenues to network and have business meetings with potential partners and investors.
The highlight of the Exposition is the oil & gas pavilion which has participation of leading public-sector companies who are showcasing the upcoming projects in their respective areas of operation.
Some of the key flagship programs that are showcased at this Exposition include Smart Cities, Sagarmala, Bharatmala, Ganga Rejuvenation Plan and the River Linking project. Details on the modernisation plans of the Railways sector in India will also be of interest to the delegates.
Government of Chhattisgarh & Government of Gujarat are the partner States to the Exposition while Government of Maharashtra is the host State to the Exposition.
Over 50 organisations are participating in the Exposition including leading entities such as IL&FS, Essel Infrastructure, GAIL, JSPL, Wapcos, HPCL, BPCL, NHAI, MMRDA, MIDC, CIDCO, IREDA, ONGC, Indian Oil, EIL and IIFCL.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mumbai : The Shiv Sena pounced on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, seeking to know “what action the (current) Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has taken against the RBI governor and chiefs of banks” which have been defrauded by big industrialists who have fled the country.
“How many bank chairmen who gave fraudulent loans have been sent to jail? Even the BJP President Amit Shah is the Director of Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank… It collected Rs 745.59 crore of spiked (Rs 500 – Rs 1,000) notes within five days after demonetisation,” the Sena asked.
It said that a Gujarat cabinet minister Jayesh V. Radadia is a Chairman (of Rajkot DCB), which also secured the second highest amount in the country after ADCB – Rs 693.19 crore deposits of the old currency notes.
“How could so much money be deposited in just one (ADCB) bank? This is a serious issue and must be probed in depth,” the Sena said in sharp edits in the party mouthpieces ‘Saamana’ and ‘Dopahar Ka Saamana’.
Accusing Goyal of not viewing the issue with the seriousness it deserves, the BJP’s ally said that there was discrimination among the cooperative banks and different sets of rules were applied while dealing with various DCCBs in the country.
The Maharashtra DCCBs were debarred from exchanging/accepting the old notes, which was subsequently withdrawn, but it served to hit the banks’ economic position very badly, the Sena pointed out.
“For instance, the Nashik DCB’s deposits of Rs 341 crore was declared asuspicious’ and frozen in the bank. Other DCCBs also faced similar issues at that timea Demonetization triggered massive chaos in all sectors of the economy,” the Sena edit said.
“The country is today reeling under the impact of that demonetisation… The Reserve Bank of India Governor (Urjit Patel) is the biggest culprit for this mess and he should be prosecuted for it,” the Sena demanded.
Recalling the former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s observations on the issue, the Sena reiterated that “the country has paid a heavy price for demonetisation”, the unorganised sector is in complete disarray, unemployment has increased and many others lost their jobs.
The ruling ally reminded how the country was told that “terrorism would end in Jammu and Kashmir after demonetisation, but in reality, the very next day after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on November 8, 2016, bundles of fake Rs 2,000 currencies, newly introduced, were found in that state.”
The Sena said the country is experiencing an economic mess which is increasing, and even the government’s financial advisor Arvind Subramaniam has quit and left the country.
“Amidst all this, the government is displaying its power to the public sector Bank Of Maharashtra (whose top officials including the CMD and ED were arrested this week)a This is cheating since the big fish have already absconded. The BoM officials and the builder D.S. Kulkarni (an accused in the case) have been caught and will not go anywhere… Congratulations for your tough action,” the Sena added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Banking, Corporate, Corporate Governance, News
Piyush Goyal
Mumbai : Public sector banks (PSBs) will soon create a dedicated mechanism for managing stressed accounts, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday following a meeting with PSB chiefs on the issue of banks’ non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans.
The accumulated NPAs in the Indian banking system have crossed the staggering level of Rs 9 lakh crore. The proposed mechanism would seek a faster resolution of such cases.
“A panel under Punjab National Bank (PNB) non-executive chairman Sunil Mehta will give its report in two weeks over setting up of Asset Restructuring Company (ARC) or Asset Management Company (AMC) to resolve stressed assets,” Goyal told reporters here after the meeting.
“I have discussed improving credit flow to strengthen Indian economy while mitigating risk flow associated with that,” he said.
“The committee will deliberate whether it is worth considering setting up of an AMC to deal with assets having exposure to several banks. It will also consider if setting up of an ARC or AMC is good for the banking system.”
Noting that the State Bank of India has a “proven mechanism” to take faster decisions in a transparent manner, Goyal, who holds temporary charge of the finance portfolio in the absence of a convalescing Arun Jaitley, said all bank showed willingness to set up such a mechanism for faster resolution of stressed accounts.
“Some of the banks may also consider setting up oversight committees and bring in external expertise to help faster decision making,” he said.
Goyal said discussions during the meeting focused on credit flow and banks devising mechanisms to ensure credit flow to good borrowers should not be hampered owing to restrictions on credit activity due to NPAs.
“Risks need to be mitigated to support the economy,” he said.
The Minister said the meeting had discussed situation arising out of banks working in “silos” and PSBs “decided to come together in a cohesive manner to resolve the credit needs of MSMEs (micro, small, medium enterprises), exporters, small and medium borrowers so that the needs of the economy can be addressed.”
He also said that all vacant positions of PSB heads will be filled in the next 30 days.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
Smriti Irani has a word with MoS Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore at the Parliament. (File photo: PTI)
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday effected a reshuffle in his Cabinet by replacing Smriti Irani as Information and Broadcasting Minister with Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who was a Minister of State in the ministry.
In other changes, portfolios of Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley, who underwent kidney transplant on Monday, have been temporarily assigned to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
Goyal will hold the portfolios during the period of Jaitley’s indisposition.
S.S. Ahluwalia has been relieved of the charge of Minister of State, Drinking Water and Sanitation, and assigned the portfolio of Minister of State, Electronics and Information Technology.
Alphons Kannanthanam, Minister of State, has been relieved of the charge of Minister of State of Electronics and Information Technology.
Rathore will be Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
—IANS
