Shishir Prashant / New Delhi/ Dehradun 28 Apr 2008

The Uttarakhand government plans to tap alternative sources of energy, particularly the gas-based sector, to meet the growing power demand.

For this purpose, the government has already roped in Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) to jointly examine various project opportunities for natural gas and undertake extension of the National Gas Grid to Uttarakhand.

A possible pact with other private players like Reliance Industries is also being explored, official sources said.

After the declaration of state’s new hill industrial policy this year, power demand in the state, which is around 20 to 22 million units, is likely to increase by 17 to 20 percent annually as industries continue to set up new units in the state.

The State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL), which has developed several modern industrial estates, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GAIL to give a fillip to gas-based energy projects. And now, a feasibility report is being prepared on the gas-based projects.

An assessment exercise for natural gas and allied products is also being conducted in the state. It will also promote usage of gas like Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in the state.

GAIL’s existing HBJ (Hazira-Bijaipur-Jagdishpur) trunk pipeline networks in Uttar Pradesh and its nearest tapping point is at Bareilly from where clean fuel could be made available to Uttarakhand via two routes, sources said.

The first route will lay a pipeline network to Rudrapur, Ramnagar and Haldwani from Bareilly. The other route would be an extension of gas pipeline from Dadri, sources added.

News Source: http://www.business-standard.com

Alka Kshirsagar, 24 Apr 2008

Pune: The first two test units of the Nano have just rolled out from a new assembly line at Tata Motors’ Uttarakhand plant that is now nearly ready, suggesting that commercial production of the small car will actually begin at Pantnagar nearly a month before it begins at Singur.

These are the first units of the small car to be actually made on the assembly line as against R&D prototypes that were showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo earlier this January. According to a source, some 70 more such test vehicles will be produced to test the assembly line that is being installed at a cost of around Rs 300 crore and is now around 80 per cent complete.

Testing drill

The cars will be subjected to extensive testing before trial production will begin, to be followed by commercial production by September, he said, adding that at full ramped up capacity the plant can produce 60,000 cars a year.

Responding to a question on this, a Tata Motors spokesperson said, “As stated earlier, there will be satellite plants for the car, locations of which will be announced in due course.”

He also said, “Tata Motors has always said that it is setting up the first plant for the Tata Nano at Singur in West Bengal, and the Nano will be rolled out from Singur. As per our timeline at present, trial production at Singur will start in June-July, when equipment will get tested out, and commercial production will start around October.”

Pantnagar plant

Currently, the Pantnagar plant produces some 700-800 vehicles on the Ace platform per day, including the people carrier ‘Magic’. The CNG variant of the Ace is also due soon. The Ace is also produced at Pune, but in smaller numbers, and its production is slated to be moved out from here entirely over the next few months.

News Source: http://sify.com