Mamata announces Andolan Express

Kolkata:Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a new suburban train, Andolan Express, which will ply between West Bengal's Singur and Howrah station from Aug 1 this year.
'The Indian Railways will introduce a new train from Aug 1 which will ply between Hooghly district's Singur to Howrah station everyday,' Banerjee said while inaugurating the computerised reservation counter at New Alipur station here.
The introduction of the train appears to be Banerjee's way of paying tribute to the anti-land acquisition movement of Singur, 45 km form here, that forced the auto major Tata Motors to shift its Nano car factory to Sanand in Gujarat last year and also reversed the party's declining electoral fortunes.
The Singur movement, which started in mid-2006 following the project announcement by the state's ruling Left Front soon after it swept the assembly polls, helped the Trinamool to decimate the Left Front in last year's rural body polls and April-May parliament elections.
Banerjee staged a 26-day long hunger strike in Kolkata in 2006 protesting against the forcible land acquisition by the state government in Singur, and later travelled to the rural pocket and laid siege on the factory for 14 days last year.
After the Singur movement, followed by a similar agitation in Nandigram, the land acquisition agitation snowballed into a major issue in the state and brought handsome rewards to Mamata's ailing party

Metro mishap horror haunts again

The horror of the Jamrudpur Metro collapse came alive again on Saturday when fresh cracks were noticed on two piers with cantilevers on the under-construction Noida line. Trial runs on this Metro line, slated to open to the public by August-end, started only on Saturday. The piers were inspected by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director E Sreedharan, who has ordered a detailed inspection of one of the cracks. The other, he observed, is superficial.

The pier which collapsed leading to the Jamrudpur tragedy also had a cantilever, which is a horizontal projection jutting out of the pillar. Cantilever piers are used at curves on the Metro line. Both the Badarpur line, where the mishap took place, and the Noida stretch have the same contractor, Gammon India. The matter came to light when the consultant — M/s Shirish Patel and Associates — appointed to check other Metro structures, especially cantilevers, on all the under construction Phase II lines noticed the cracks and informed DMRC of this. The consultant was appointed soon after the Jamrudpur mishap. The cracks were spotted on Piers 10 and 14 located near the Indian Oil building near Sector 14, Noida. After a thorough inspection, it was concluded that the crack on Pier 14 was superficial and not a matter of concern. But a further investigation was ordered into the one on Pier 10.

Mint arrives in Chennai

Chennai: HT Media's business daily Mint, in an exclusive content partnership with The Wall Street Journal is now national. With the launch of the Chennai edition on 13 July, Mint now has a national footprint that includes New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Pune. With an introductory price of Rs 3.50, Mint will now provide discerning readers in Chennai the same Clarity that the rest of the country has so overwhelmingly embraced. Available 6 days a week, the daily brings with it an exhaustive suite of offerings - Markets Watch, Campaign and the weekend magazine, Lounge. The launch excitement will culminate on 12 August with a high-profile Clarity Through Debate event that will focus on the key issue of Financial Inclusion. With panelists that include policy makers and business leaders from both the public and private sectors, the event will underscore Mint's commitment to bringing Clarity in Business to issues that matter.Mint was created to address the growing reader demand for Clarity in Business. Says Rajiv Verma, CEO, HTML, "Mint's spectacular readership numbers have validated our belief that there is a market for unbiased, jargon-free reporting and analysis in the business news domain, across formats". In just over 2 years, Mint now has a readership of 200,000 every day. Mint is a strong and growing No. 2 player in the category.

Quote correct PAN or pay more tax

NewDelhi:All tax assessees, including non-residents, whose tax is deducted at source must quote the correct permanent account number (PAN) or else they would end up paying more tax. "The deductee shall mandatorily furnish his PAN to the deductor failing which the deductor shall deduct tax at source at higher rates," says the Finance Bill for 2009-10. The government also proposes to make amendments in the Income tax Act to charge those not quoting PAN at a higher tax rate from April 1 next year. The bill says the deductor will deduct tax at higher rates than that is in force or 20 per cent in case the TDS assessee does not furnish his PAN. In fact, people who have interest income or other income which is not taxable should also fill a form (15 G) and senior citizens (above 65 years of age) or pensioners (form 15H) and quote their PAN in the form, if they do not want to be taxed. Besides, a similar rule is applicable to non-residents who are liable to get tax deducted at source following any transaction in the country, according to the Finance Bill. " These provisions will also apply to non-residents where TDS is deductible on payments or credits made to them," the document said.

New base fare for Jet flyers

NewDelhi:India's largest private air-carrier, Jet Airways today announced a special 5-day base fares, excluding taxes and surcharge, on some key routes across the
country. These special fares, which are in the range of Rs 150-Rs 900 are applicable only on flights departing between 12.30 pm-4.30 pm and 8.30 pm and 7 am on sectors such as Delhi-Lucknow,Srinagar-Jammu, Guwahati-Imphal, Indore-Mumbai and Mumbai-Chennai, among others, a company release said here. According to the release tickets under the offer, effective from today, can be booked up to July 27 and the travel on these tickets would be valid till March 31, 2010. On routes such as Mumbai-Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai/Pune, Huderabad-Delhi, the special fares would be Rs 400, the release said, adding, on Sectors such as Guwahati-Delhi and Mumbai-Kolkata, the special base offer is Rs 900.

India to export 500 tonnes of pulses to Nepal

NewDelhi:The government today allowed exports of 500 tonnes of yellow peas (splits) to Nepal under a United Nations programme."The prohibition on export of pulses shall not be applicable for export of 500 tonnes of yellow split peas (matar dal) to Nepal for United Nations World Food Programme," Directorate General of Foreign Trade said .According to the notification pulses will be exported by Mahalaxmi Gramodoyog Sansthan, Kanpur, Bajran Dal Mill, Kanpur and Anandeshwar Agro Food Pvt Ltd.Export of pulses was banned in June 2006 to maintain domestic supplies and check price rise.India is estimated to have produced 14.18 million tonnes of pulses in 2008-09 compared with 14.76 million tonnes a year ago. The country needs around 18 million tonnes of pulses for its annual domestic consumption.