Transport corporation staff observe fast At Cuddalore

A section of transport corporation employees observing fast in Cuddalore on Tuesday. 

CUDDALORE: 

          A section of transport corporation employees observed fast in front of the transport corporation office here on Tuesday.

        The employees, owing allegiance to Anna Thozhirsanga Peravai, Centre of Trade Unions and Marumalarchi Labour Front, participated in it. G. Bhaskaran, district president of the CITU, said the employees were of the view that the recent wage agreement had not done justice to them. The salary structure of the transport corporation employees was below their counterparts in other government departments. For instance, the drivers with 21 years' experience in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and those in Aavin drew Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 8,000 more than their counterparts with similar experience in the transport corporation.

          Mr. Bhaskaran further said that though the government had claimed to have given a hike ranging from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 7,500 to the transport corporation employees, it was hardly Rs. 2,200 for one lakh of 1.5 lakh employees. The trade unions were also urging the government to reinstate seven employees, who were suspended following the recent strike and to withdraw “false cases foisted on” 18 employees. It also urged the corporation to reinstate the reserve drivers and reserve conductors, who were unceremoniously dropped. Mr Bhaskaran said that the transport corporation was not revealing the exact number of reserve drivers and reserve conductors thus affected.

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Banks extend Rs.2,500-cr. loan to NTPL

NLC Director (Finance) K. Sekar (centre), who is also NTPL Director (Finance), receiving loan documents from Balasubramanian (third from left), Chief Manager, Bank of Baroda, at the Neyveli House in Chennai recently. 

 

CUDDALORE:

           The newly floated NLC—Tamilnadu Power Ltd (NTPL) has entered into a rupee term loan agreement for Rs.2,500 crore with Bank of Baroda consortium, consisting of nine banks.

        The joint venture company is promoted by Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The documents in this regard were exchanged between NLC Director (Finance) K. Sekar, who is also the NTPL Director (Finance), and Balasubramanian, Chief Manager, Bank of Baroda, at the Neyveli House in Chennai on November 24.

            A statement released from the NLC stated that the NTPL is executing a 1,000-MW (2 x 500 MW) coal-based thermal power station at Tuticorin. The Centre had sanctioned the project in May 2008 with a debt-equity ratio of 70:30. The project was sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs.4,909.54 crore at April 2007 price level, including interest during construction of Rs.597.33 crore and a foreign exchange component of Rs.716.06 crore (equivalent to $ 169.845 millions).

        Coal linkage is tied up with the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd., a subsidiary of the Coal India Ltd. Coal would be transported from Orissa by rail-cum-sea route through the Paradip port. Land for the project is taken from the Tuticorin Port Trust on a long term lease.

Production schedule

            The first unit is expected to be commissioned in March 2012 and the second unit in August 2012. The estimated levelised power tariff is Rs.2.75/ kwhr and the first year tariff would be Rs.2.84/kwhr. The power generated from the project would cater to the demand of the Southern States.

       Power purchase agreements have been signed with the TNEB and other State Electricity Boards (SEBs). The loan agreement with the consortium of banks would meet the major portion of total normative debt requirement of Rs.3,437 crore. 

The share of the banks is as follows: 

Bank of Baroda – Rs.500 crore, 

Bank of India – Rs.450 crore, 

Allahabad Bank, 

Syndicate Bank, 

Dena Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank – Rs.250 crore each, 

Indian Bank, Corporation Bank and Bank of Maharashtra – Rs.150 crore each, 

and, Oriental Bank of Commerce – Rs.100 crore.

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Gale uproots electric posts

— Photo: C Venkatachalapathy

At least five electric posts installed on the Caper Hills were felled by strong wind that blew across Cuddalore on Sunday.

CUDDALORE: 

               At least four electric posts were pulled down by the gale that blew across Cuddalore in the wake of the “Jal” cyclonic storm on Sunday. It snapped high tension wire and cut power supply to Old Town, Vandipalayam and Capper Hills areas. Ever since, the employees of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board were busy restoring the power supply in these places. 

                 The EB sources said that so far 70 per cent of the power connections in the affected areas were restored and the remaining 30 per cent would be restored by Tuesday.

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