Over Rs 14 crore missing in name of Naxal war in Jharkhand

In Naxal-hit Jharkhand, the first stop for 20 Union Secretaries working on a counter-Naxal strategy and where President’s Rule was extended for six months last week, the withdrawal of over Rs 14 crore Secret Service funds by Director General of Police V D Ram and other officials has been questioned by the office of the Accountant General which has called for an investigation saying rules were not followed and “the possibility of fraud, embezzlement and misappropriation of government funds cannot be ruled out”.

In one instance, DGP Ram withdrew Rs 5.60 crore in cash from the Secretariat branch of the State Bank of India on March 16, 2006 — a fortnight before he gave the withdrawal and disbursal power to the Additional DGP.

With the AG raising objections, Chief Secretary A K Basu has written to Ram: “DAG has raised certain objections regarding non-observance of provisions of Special Branch Manual and Bihar Financial Rules regarding Secret Service Expenditure.

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Low on fuel and no sign of deal, nuclear power plants take a hit

With the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation agreement still far from being done, a shortage in fuel supplies has resulted in a majority of nuclear power plants in India showing a decline in their operating capacities compared to last year. This has led to a 10 per cent reduction in overall power generation.

According to information available on the website of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), the capacity factor of ten of the 17 units has gone down in 2007-08 (till February) compared to the previous year.

In some cases, like Unit-I in Kalpakkam, the fall in the operating capacity has been drastic, coming down to 36 per cent from 72 per cent last year. Unit-1 in Kakrapar has simi larly been operating at only 46 per cent of its capacity as compared to 67 per cent last year.

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