INDIA AND UNITED KINGDOM SIGN MoU FOR COOPERATION IN POWER SECTOR

Report on Terrorist Funding in India implicates Pakistan Government

New Delhi; June 26 2002, keralamonitor.com The Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Home Ministry was informed that multi-agency approach and implementation of the Prevention Of Terrorism Act (POTA) has led to significant achievements in detection of funding channels to terrorists operating in Jammu & Kashmir. The Consultative Committee’s meeting was presided over by Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani and was attended by 18 Members including Shivraj V. Patil, Dr. Karan Singh, Dr. Jayanta Rongpi, Mirza Abdul Rashid and Narendra Mohan.

The Committee was told that Pakistan spends several crores annually to fund terrorist and secessionist activities in India and the funding channels used by Islamabad need to be intercepted. The Members were informed that Pakistan funded these terrorist organizations by remunerating the cadres, maintaining infrastructure, supply weaponry/logistics and providing maintenance to families of terrorist killed. Islamabad also provides finance to over-ground workers and sympathizers to create safe havens for terrorists and funds expatriate Kashmiri organizations to articulate its view-point in international fora. The Channel of funding is through trans-border smugglers, infiltrating mercenaries, through the Pak High Commission in New Delhi, through Hawala operators and also charitable organizations.

A brief factual Presentation before the Consultative Committee held in New Delhi today also revealed illustrated cases of Banking Channels. Mehrajuddin Hafiz who was arrested earlier revealed that since August 1995, he handled transactions of nearly Rs.18 lakhs through his account in SBI, Khaniyar. Most of these funds had been received from Saudi Arabia through one Riyadh-based Mohd. Latif. The money was channeled through Prof. Ramzan Sofi, a resident of Srinagar. Several such cases of Hawala transactions and funding through Couriers/Over-Ground Workers were also detected and busted by the security agencies. Security Forces also busted a fake currency racket and arrested 4 persons including Shamsada Begum, Sr. Manager, State Cooperative Bank, Ganderbal Branch, Srinagar during this month. Initially, Rs.5,53,500 was recovered but later her revelations led to recovery of 50 packets of fake currency notes of Rs.500 denomination. Cases were also detected where Terrorist Organizations advertised their account numbers in Banks to solicit donations from public. The Organisations included the JeM, JeL, Al Badr, LeT, MDI, HuM and TuM.

The Home Ministry’s assessment said that POTA has been an effective instrument in tackling the overground support base for the terrorist. Multi-agency approach yielded better results in tackling the menace and Speedy trial of cases will have deterrent effect. It said that Charitable institutions funded from abroad should be closely monitored and Banks and Credit institutions based in J&K should be regularly audited for suspicious transactions.

While appreciating the Government’s effort to curb terrorist activities in Jammu & Kashmir, . Mirza Abdul Rashid said that the vacuum created in the interior areas of the State of Jammu & Kashmir, particularly Rajouri and Poonch after the deployment of Army on the Border should be filled by Para-military forces. Otherwise the situation will be exploited by the terrorists by creating new cells and enhancing their influence and personal rapport with the local population. V. Shivraj Patil urged the Home Minister that the present funding for modernization of the Police Force is quite inadequate and it should be enhanced as the situation demands for providing the State Police Force with armed vehicles and sophisticated weapons to effectively deal with the terrorists.

Replying to a clarification sought by Members on the ground reality on the Border with Pakistan the Home Minister, L.K. Advani who chaired the Meeting said there has been some decrease in the infiltration but it has not totally stopped. He told the Members that Government has the information that over 3000 Al Qaida men have crossed over to Pakistan from their earlier bases.

The Consultative Committee also discussed the North-East problem. Participating in the discussion Holkhomang Haokip urged that this region should not be made a training ground for counter insurgency. He said the people are feeling totally insecure because of the insurgency activities of the underground outfits. Dr. Jayanta Rongpi said that the problem of North-East should not be taken up in piece-meal. The entire area has been neglected and it is high time that a comprehensive approach is needed for restoring confidence in the people of this area, he said.

The Home Minister said the Centre is doing everything possible for the development of these States which were seven sisters and have increased to eight with the addition of Sikkim.

Those who attended the Meeting today are S/ Ananda Mohan Biswas; Holkhomang Haokip; Bishnu Pada Ray; Rajbhar Babban; Ali Mohd. Naik; Shivraj V. Patil; Saiduzzaman; Sahib Singh Verma; Joyanta Rongpi; Avtar Singh Badhana; and Smt. Ranee Narah all from the Lok Sabha and S/ Devi Prasad Singh; Ram Gopal Yadav, S. Viduthalai Virumbi; Narendra Mohan, Debabrata Biswas; Dr. Karan Singh; and Mirza Abdul Rashid all from the Rajya Sabha. The Ministers of State Ch. Vidyasagar Rao and I.D. Swami also attended the Meeting.

INDIA AND UNITED KINGDOM SIGN MoU FOR COOPERATION IN POWER SECTOR

The Minister of Power, Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises Suresh Prabhu who is on a visit to the United Kingdom, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in the Power Sector with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Mrs. Patricia Hewitt in London yesterday.

The MoU provides for the establishment of a Joint Power Sector Working Group for promoting and facilitating reform in the power sector. It also envisages undertaking of various measures to facilitate development of power sector, exchange of experts and sharing of information, experiences and best practices. The concerned ministers of the two countries will be the Patrons of this group, which will meet every year alternatively in each country to review the progress of activities undertaken under the MoU. The first formal meeting of the working group will be held during the visit of Mrs. Hewitt to India being planned for January 2003.

In their discussions after the signing of the MoU Prabhu briefed Mrs. Hewitt on the comprehensive reforms in the power sector being undertaken by the Government of India on all fronts - policy, regulatory, legislative and administrative and in all spheres - generation, distribution, transmission, conservation and anti-theft measures. He also mentioned various steps being taken by the Ministry of Power to create awareness among the masses on the issue of power reforms and tariff. Mrs. Hewitt welcomed India’s efforts in this direction and offered that British experts, who were key to the success of privatisation in the U.K., could be made available for interaction with Indian authorities.

Prabhu also briefly touched upon the ongoing liberalisation and privatisation in India and suggested that British companies should make use of the changed business environment in the power sector and the attractive opportunities offered by India as a business destination.

Both the Minister of Power and the Secretary of State agreed that the MoU, which only formalised the long standing understanding and interaction between the Governments of India and the U.K., came at a right time to provide further boost to existing cooperation and growing ties between the two countries in trade and commerce.

In order to prevent arbitrary use of powers to evict genuine tenants from public premises under the control of Public Sector Undertaking and financial institutions, a notification has been issued seeking to limit the use of powers by the Estate Officers.

The resolution already notified by the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation in the Gazette, states that the provisions of Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act 1971 should be used "primarily to evict totally unauthorized occupants of the premises of public authorities or subletees, or employees who have ceased to be in their service and thus ineligible for occupation of the premises."

The guidelines stipulate that the "provisions of the P.P.(E) Act 1971 should not be resorted to either with a commercial motive or to secure vacant possession of the premises in order to accommodate their own employees, where the premises were in occupation of the original tenants to whom the premises were let either by the public authorities or the persons from whom the premises were acquired."

The resolution further states that the fact of unauthorized occupation shall be decided by following the due procedure of law. The notification specifies that the contractual agreement shall not be wound up by taking advantage of the provisions of P.P.(E) Act 1971. Moreover, the public authorities would have rights similar to private landlords under the Rent Control Act in dealing with genuine legal tenants to secure periodic revision of rent.

In order to give "no room for allegations" regarding selective eviction done for the purpose of securing an unwarranted increase in rent or that a change in tenancy was permitted so as to benefit particular individuals or institutions, the guidelines lay down that the release of premises or change of tenancy should be decided at the level of Board of Directors of public sector undertakings.

And finally the resolution says that "all the Public Undertakings should immediately review all pending cases before the Estate Officer or Courts with reference to these guidelines, and withdraw eviction proceedings against genuine tenants on grounds otherwise than as provided under these guidelines".

NTPC Roadshow in London

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) organised a road show on India’s Power sector on 24th June 2002 in London. The large representation at the road show from financial institutions, investors and other British and global businesses operating in the power and energy sectors, attested to the keen interest in the Indian Power sector among British and international Business. The show was addressed by the Minister of Power, Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises, Suresh Prabhu.

In his welcome remarks the High Commissioner of India to the UK Ranendra Sen stressed that despite the downtrend in the world economy, the consistent growth of the Indian Economy, particularly in corporate investment, stock markets and exports, had boosted business confidence in India and attested to the country’s attractiveness as a business destination. He also emphasised that contrary to the perception in some quarters, no British Businesses were planning to leave India and the country remained opened to businesses and travel as usual.

The Minister of Power referred to a silent revolution of reforms in the power sector going on in India. He gave an over view of the thrust of the Government of India’s strategy and policy to create more capacity in the face of growing demand for power. The Minister mentioned that steps were being taken for setting up an additional 41,000 MW capacity in the 10th Five-Year Plan and One Lakh MW in the next 10 years. In addition, conservation of energy and demand side management, and measures such as setting up of a National Grid, which is expected to affect the transfer of more than 30,000 MW of Power internally by 2012, and renovation and modernisation of some of the existing plants, are also expected to augment the power supply.

The Minister also mentioned that the Government of India was taking several steps for creating a liberalised framework for investment in the power sector. In this regard, he specially referred to the measures such as consideration of the Electricity Bill by the Indian Parliament, setting-up of Tariff Regulatory Commission at the Centre and in the states, charging even those for power who so far were given power free or at high subsidies, implementation of projects without time and cost overruns. The Minister emphasised that privatisation of distribution in some Indian states and the government’s resolve to carry further the privatisation of distribution and also transmission to create further opportunities for investment.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Power and NTPC made presentations regarding various aspects of power sector reforms and capacity augmentation. During the question-answer session, several participants appreciated the presentations and complimented the organisers on putting together an informative road show.