Transport
`Kanchenjunga is smiling'
The toy train of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR). The Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, on Sunday dedicated the 119 year-old DHR, a Unesco world heritage site, to the world at a function at the Mall in Darjeeling.
Calcutta airport lacks infrastructure
ALTHOUGH the country's first air cargo complex was set up at Calcutta airport as early as 1974, the facilities there, even more than a quarter century later, leave much to be desired, complain the air cargo agents operating at the complex.
Special SER parcel trains soon
WHAT is the connection between the South Eastern Railway (SER) and the ubiquitous betel leaf (paan), grown in abundance in the Midnapore, Hooghly and Howrah districts of West Bengal, and the Balasore and Puri districts of O
rissa? Huge quantities of betel leaf are transported by road and rail to destinations in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and North Orissa.
$516-million World Bank loan for NHs -- MoF to on-lend the fund in the grant:loan ratio of 80:20
THE Finance Ministry will on-lend to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) the $516-million World Bank loan, partly in grant and partly in loan. Eighty per cent of the fund will be given as grant, attracting no interest while the remaining 20 pe
r cent will carry 14.5 per cent interest, the same rate at which the Union Government currently provides loans to the public sector and autonomous bodies.
Lured by greener pastures
A LARGE number of IIM graduates leave the country every year seeking lucrative jobs overseas, but Indian corporates seldom complain about the shortage of management professionals. Thousands of software engineers from India migrate to the US, but domestic
IT companies do not bother about it. Many of those passing out of our medical colleges grab the first opportunity to go abroad but Indian hospitals are not worried about the brain drain.
Paradip port's coal-handling unit -- Will there be steady traffic flow?
IF EVERYTHING proceeds on schedule, the huge mechanised coal-handling facility, being created at Paradip port with assistance from the Asian Development Bank, should be ready by May-June next year.
CoPT's bunkering plan -- Good response by companies
THE COCHIN Port Trust (CoPT)'s plan to set up a bunkering terminal at Kochi harbour has evoked good response from seven firms. These are Aby Engineers and Consultants of Chennai; Shahi Shipping and The Great Eastern Shipping Company, both of Mumbai; Jais
u Shipping of Kandla; Sach Exports of Kochi; and Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. The firms will make presentations before the port authorities in the first week of December.
