3G and BWA Spectrums allocated to BSNL & MTNL: next Generation mobile services start rolling

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
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Dam rehabilitation and improvement project to cover 13 States

182 DAMS PROVIDED BASIC DAMS SAFETY MEASURES AND 55 DAMS TAKEN FOR REHABILITATION AND RECTIFICATION WORKS

New Delhi : August 7, 2008

There are 4050 existing large dams in the country and in addition 475 large dams are under construction. About 60 per cent of these dams are more than 20 years old. Appropriate measures for the maintenance of such instructors are critical for their safety.

Dam Safety Organization of Central Water Commission (CWC) acted as a nodal agency in the implementation of the World Bank assisted "Dam Safety Assurance and Rehabilitation Project (DSARP)" in which four states i.e. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa and Tamil Nadu participated. Basic Dams Safety measures were provided for 182 dams while 55 dams were taken up for Rehabilitation and Rectification works.

The success of this project led to the framing of fresh proposals naming as "Dam Safety Assurance, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Project (DSARDMP)" now renamed as "Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP)". This project aims to improve the safety and optimum sustainable performance of selected existing dams and associated appurtenances by setting up Dam Safety and Improvement Fund (DSIF) with the participation of World Bank, Central and State Governments and other Institutional Funding Agencies. The project aims to cover 13 states Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

The World Bank has prepared a draft working paper on Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Fund (DRIF). The 4th Meeting of the National Level Steering Committee (NLSC) discussed various issues related to the project including funding mechanism. Consultants have been engaged for conducting these studies for 10 existing projects in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Seismic design parameters for 14 projects were discussed in the 18th Meeting of National Committee on Seismic Design Parameters (NCSDP) held last year which approved the co-efficient and response spectra for 8 projects and accorded conditional approval to 2 projects. The draft guidelines for Site Specific Seismic Study for River Valley projects have been prepared with a view to standardize the procedure.

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Press Information Bureau
Government of India
****
3G and BWA Spectrums allocated to BSNL & MTNL: next Generation mobile services start rolling


New Delhi : August 7, 2008

Government has approved release of one block of 3G Spectrum each to BSNL and MTNL, the two Public Sector telephone service providers. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Thiru A. Raja has approved the release of one block to MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai/Metro service areas. He has also approved the release of another block to BSNL for other service areas. The approval follows soon after the Minister's announcement last week to allow the two Government owned telephone companies a first-mover advantage over private operators. The spectrum blocks released for the two companies have the size of 2x5 MHz in 2.1 GHz Band.

Thiru Raja has also approved release of a block of 20 MHz BWA Spectrum each to both the Public Sector Undertakings. The spectrum block released for the two companies will be in the 2.5 GHz band at 2645.0 MHz.

Besides this special consideration for BSNL and MTNL, 3G / BWA Spectrum would be allocated through an auction process to be conducted by a specialized agency. For the Spectrum blocks released to them, BSNL and MTNL will pay a price equal to the highest bid in the respective service areas.

Thiru Raja has approved the proposal to waive Annual Licence Fees in terms of AGR on BSNL's rural wire-lines.

Thiru Raja has also approved payment upto Rs.2000 crore per annum from USO Fund to compensate loss from operations from rural connections resulted by removal of ADC by TRAI.

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