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Big Stroke on Black Money | PM Narendra Modi says Rs.500 And Rs.1000 notes being discontinued

Narendra Shah
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Big Stroke on Black Money | PM Narendra Modi says Rs.500 And Rs.1000 notes being discontinued

New Delhi: In the fight against corruption, black money, money laundering, terrorism and financing of terrorists as well as counterfeit notes, the Government of India (GOI) has decided that the five hundred (500) and one thousand (1000) rupee notes will no longer be legal tender from 9 Nov. 2016.

1. With a view to curbing financing of terrorism through the proceeds of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) and use of such funds for subversive activities such as espionage, smuggling of arms, drugs and other contrabands into India, and for eliminating Black Money which casts a long shadow of parallel economy on our real economy, it has been decided to cancel the legal tender character of the High Denomination bank notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 denominations issued by RBI till now. This will take effect from the expiry of the 8th November, 2016.

2. Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) in circulation in these denominations are comparatively larger as compared to those in other denominations. For a common person, the fake notes look similar to genuine notes. Use of FICN facilitates financing of terrorism and drug trafficking. Use of high denomination notes for storage of unaccounted wealth has been evident from cash recoveries made by law enforcement agencies from time to time. High denomination notes are known to facilitate generation of black money. In this connection, it may be noted that while the total number of bank notes in circulation rose by 40% between 2011 and 2016, the increase in number of notes of Rs.500/- denomination was 76% and for Rs.1,000/- denomination was 109% during this period. New Series bank notes of Rs.500/- and Rs.2,000/- denominations will be introduced for circulation from 10th November, 2016. Infusion of Rs.2,000/- bank notes will be monitored and regulated by RBI. Introduction of new series of banknotes which will be distinctly different from the current ones in terms of look, design, size and colour has been planned.

3. The World Bank in July, 2010 estimated the size of the shadow economy for India at 20.7% of the GDP in 1999 and rising to 23.2% in 2007. There are similar estimates made by other Indian and international agencies. A parallel shadow economy corrodes and eats into the vitals of the country’s economy. It generates inflation which adversely affects the poor and the middle classes more than others. It deprives Government of its legitimate revenues which could have been otherwise used for welfare and development activities.

4. In the last two years, the Government has taken a number of steps to curb the menace of black money in the economy including setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT); enacting a law regarding undisclosed foreign income and assets; amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between India and Mauritius and India and Cyprus; reaching an understanding with Switzerland for getting information on Bank accounts held by Indians with HSBC; encouraging the use of non-cash and digital payments; amending the Benami Transactions Act; and implementing the Income Declaration Scheme 2016.

5. In order to implement the above decisions of the Government and keeping in view the need to minimise inconvenience to the public, the following operational guidelines have been issued:-

(i) Old High Denomination Bank Notes may be deposited by individuals/persons into their bank accounts and/or exchanged in bank branches or Issue Offices of RBI till the close of business hours on 30th December, 2016.

(ii) Old High Denomination Bank Notes of aggregate value of Rs.4,000/- only or below held by a person can be exchanged by him/her at any bank branch or Issue Office of Reserve Bank of India for any denomination of bank notes having legal tender character, provided a Requisition Slip as per format to be specified by RBI is presented with proof of identity and along with the Old High Denomination Bank Notes. Similar facilities will also be made available in Post Offices.

(iii) The limit of Rs.4,000/- for exchanging Old High Denomination Bank Notes at bank branches or at issue offices of Reserve Bank of India will be reviewed after 15 days and appropriate notification issued, as may be necessary.

(iv) There will not be any limit on the quantity or value of Old High Denomination Bank Notes to be credited to the account of the tenderer maintained with the bank, where the Old High Denomination Bank Notes are tendered. However, in accounts where compliance with extant Know Your Customer (KYC) norms is not complete, a maximum value of Rs.50,000/- of Old High Denomination Bank Notes can be deposited.

(v) The equivalent value of the Old High Denomination Bank Notes tendered can be credited to an account maintained by the tenderer at any bank in accordance with standard banking procedure and on production of valid proof of Identity.

(vi) The equivalent value of the Old High Denomination Bank Notes tendered can be credited to a third party account, provided specific authorisation therefor accorded by the said account holder is presented to the bank, following standard banking procedure and on production of valid proof of Identity of the person actually tendering.

(vii) Cash withdrawal from a bank account, over the counter will be restricted to Rs.10,000/- subject to an overall limit of Rs. 20,000/- in a week for the first fortnight, i.e., until the end of business hours on November 24, 2016.

(viii) There will be no restriction on the use of any non-cash method of operating the account which will include cheques, demand drafts, credit/debit cards, mobile wallets and electronic fund transfer mechanisms.

(ix) Withdrawal from ATMs would be restricted to Rs.2,000 per day per card up to November 18, 2016.

The limit will be raised to Rs.4,000 per day per card from November 19, 2016 onwards.

(x) For those who are unable to exchange their Old High Denomination Bank Notes or deposit the same in their bank accounts on or before December 30, 2016, an opportunity will be given to them to do so at specified offices of the RBI on later dates along with necessary documentation as may be specified by the Reserve Bank of India.

(xi) Instruction is also being issued for closure of banks and Government Treasuries, on 9th November, 2016.

(xii) In addition, all ATMs, Cash Deposit Machines, Cash Recyclers and any other machine used for receipt and payment of cash will remain shut on 9th and 10th November, 2016.

(xiii) The bank branches and Government Treasuries will function from 10th November, 2016.

(xiv) To avoid inconvenience to the public for the first 72 Hours, Old High Denomination Bank Notes will continue to be accepted at Government Hospitals and pharmacies in these hospitals/Railway ticketing counters/ticket counters of Government/Public Sector Undertaking buses and airline ticketing counters at airports; for purchases at consumer co-operative societies, at milk booths, at crematoria/burial grounds, at petrol/diesel/gas stations of Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies and for arriving and departing passengers at international airports and for foreign tourists to exchange foreign currency at airports up to a specified amount.

Source//RBI

Delhi Metro | DMRC stops construction sites for 5 days

Narendra Shah
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Delhi Metro | DMRC stops construction sites for 5 days

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to suspend large part of its construction work for five days keeping in the view the alarmingly high level of air pollution in the Capital.

DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said that the corporation has stopped carrying out excavation and backfilling (refilling a hole) work, dry dismantling of concrete and brick, and dry stone cutting, which is likely to cause dust pollution.

He said that all diesel generator sets will be stopped, except those required for safety and security and additional water sprinkling is being carried out at all construction sites.

‘‘Any other activity causing dust will be suspended for five days,” Mr. Dayal said.

“These steps have been taken in compliance of the instructions given by the Delhi government regarding construction sites,” Mr. Dayal said.

“As part of its work culture, the DMRC accords very high priority to the issue of preservation of the environment.”

The muck and soil generated from excavation at construction sites is being disposed off at designated areas using dumpers with tarpaulin cover on top, the spokesman said. The DMRC is also ensuring that wheels of trucks exiting construction sites are thoroughly washed before they enter public roads.

“Vehicles at the sites are restricted to a maximum speed of 10-15 kmph.

This results in less dust emission and improved safety,” Mr. Dayal said.

The spokesman said that all DMRC construction is carried out in accordance with its environmental policy.

Source//DMRC Press Release.

Kolkata East-West Metro | KMRC gets defence clearance for construction of Esplanade station

Narendra Shah
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Kolkata East-West Metro | KMRC gets defence clearance for construction of Esplanade station

Kolkata: Esplanade Station of East-West metro corridor, which will be junction of three metro alignments, got go ahead signal from Army. This is a crucial breakthrough for the alignment as army is the custodian of the entire Maidan area, known as city’s lung. No construction is allowed anymore in Maidan area, except some mass-transit projects like metro which benefits a large number of people.

The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) has waited more than a year for the requisite permissions since the deadline for the second phase of the project was revised to mid-2019. At Esplanade, East-west will be most crucial platform 30 meter below the ground which will merge here with existing Dum Dum-Tollygunge stretch of the north-south Metro under 16-17m underground.

It has been nearly a year since Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation applied to Bengal area of the Army for land at Curzon Park in Esplanade for the underground construction. Bengal which has a major tram depot on the land readily agreed to part with the required land for the metro construction.

Railway Board had written to the defence ministry thrice in the past few months, requesting possession of land. The state government too dashed off a reminder last month but for long there was no response from the ministry. The army says it has forwarded the proposal for land at Curzon Park to the defence ministry with positive recommendation and has no further role to play in the process.

The clearance is a crucial breather for the metro that has already ran a huge time overrun resulting into one and half times cost overrun. The 14.67 km rapid transit link was originally supposed to be completed in 2013-14. But since then the deadline has been revised several times, with government proposing alternative alignment. Instead of taking the Central (Bowbazar) and Mahakaran (on Brabourne Road), the state proposed Esplanade and Mahakaran (on the east bank of Lal Dighi). Finally ministry of railway agreed to this change of alignment. The revised length of the corridor is now 16.55 km.

The revised deadline for the second phase of the project between Sealdah and Howrah is August 2019, which we will now strive hard to meet with land being made available to us, said a KMRC official. The layout for Esplanade station is 8,000sq m in size and has five levels, unlike the usual three floors. Apart from the roof, there will be three concourses and a basement. The architecture of the platform will be in tune with heritage overview of the city centre. Work has started on the Howrah Maidan side to dig a tunnel that will go under the Hooghly to reach Kolkata shortly.

Significance of the clearance

The clearance is a breather for inordinately delayed project. Without the NOC, KMRC could not take possession of the land for cut-and-cover construction Metro stations because of the depth takes a quite a long time to complete

Length of the East-West alignment revised from 14.67 km to 16.55 km with 5.74km elevated stretch of tracks built on viaduct and 10.81km underground.
Original projected cost was Rs 4,874.58 crore, sanctioned in 2008-09. But delays as well as the fluctuating rupee have raised the to Rs 8,996.96 crore

Delhi Metro | DMRC to open Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar (Pink Line) in three phases by Sept 2017

Narendra Shah
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Delhi Metro | DMRC to open Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar (Pink Line) in three phases by Sept 2017

New Delhi: The longest corridor of Delhi Metro’s Phase 3 project, the Pink Line (Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar), will be opened in its entirety by September next year.

Launch of the 58.389 km-long line has been divided into three phases as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) still hasn’t been able to acquire land at Trilokpuri and Hasanpur village in IP Extension.

“The issues we are facing are only on one side of the line — East Delhi. More than Trilokpuri, land hurdle at Hasanpur village is affecting us as it just cuts the line’s connectivity to the new Vinod Nagar depot. So, while we have the stretch from Shiv Vihar to Karkardooma ready, we can’t run it because we do not have anywhere to park our trains at night,” said Mangu Singh, managing director, DMRC.

The Mukundpur to Lajpat Nagar (18 stations) stretch on the line will be opened in June, followed by Lajpat Nagar to Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 (five stations) in July. The last stretch of 14 stations from Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 to Shiv Vihar will be launched in September.

The Pink Line with 38 metro stations is the most significant corridor of the entire Delhi metro network as it has been laid like a ring touching all parts of Delhi. With eight interchange stations the line alone is going to take the maximum load of the 40 lakh per day metro ridership which is expected after opening of Phase 3.

“Since we realised this matter is not going to be resolved soon, we have tweaked the entire plan now. There is going to be a good gap between the opening of the first and the last stretch. So, we have made new arrangements for reversal of trains at Mayur Vihar Pocket-1 station. Now all trains on the Pink Line will operate only through the Mukundpur depot until the entire line along with Vinod Nagar depot is opened,” explained Singh.

The land acquisition hurdles at Punjabi Bagh and Mayapuri were resolved in July end this year. “We had planned accordingly and so physical work or installation of viaducts on the first two stretches will be over by December after which trial runs will begin,” he added.

Source//DMRC

Kolkata Metro | Railway to make policy to let its stations for corporate btanding

Narendra Shah
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Kolkata Metro | Railway to make policy to let its stations for corporate btanding

Kolkata: As part of its attempt to cut losses by increasing non-fare revenues, Kolkata Metro is working on a policy to let corporates brand all its 24 stations from Noapara in the north of the city to Kavi Subhash in the south.

“The new scheme is called ‘Own Your Station’. Private companies, on payment of a sizeable sum, will get advertisement rights in metro stations and do a variety of branding exercises. They can also brand the stations with the name of the corporate prefixed or suffixed to the existing name,” said M C Chauhan, General Manager of Kolkata Metro. Tenders would be floated soon, he revealed.

A few years ago, several prominent football clubs walked the same path to raise money. Thus, East Bengal (founded in 1920) was called Kingfisher East Bengal and Mohun Bagan (set up in 1889) was known as McDowell Mohun Bagan Athletic Club.

Kolkata Metro, the first underground mass rapid transit system in the country which started operations in 1984, is incurring massive losses. It is believed that for every Rs 100 earned, Kolkata Metro spends around Rs 265.

At Mamata Banerjee’s instance, during her stint as railway minister, several stations were renamed after eminent personalities of Bengal. Tollygunge station became Mahanayak Uttam Kumar. A few other stations, including Garia Bazar, Bansdroni and Birji were renamed Kavi Nazrul, Masterda Surya Sen and Shahid Khudiram respectively.

Metro officials expect that the new plan will offer attractive branding opportunities for corporates to get top of the mind recall as the metro stations are always prominent in the city’s millions of commuting public.

No other mass rapid transit system in the offers such an opportunity, they claimed.

Incidentally, a few new metro lines are under construction in Kolkata all of which are suffering time and cost overrun. If the same branding exercise is extended to all of them, companies will get a huge opportunity to project their products and services.

The Kolkata Metro is the first in the country and records close to 7 lakh footfalls every day over its 27.2 km stretch.

Delhi Metro | DMRC fare revision committee upheld revision of metro fare

Narendra Shah
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Delhi Metro | DMRC fare revision committee upheld revision of metro fare

New Delhi: In a major respite to commuters, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today deferred its decision to hike fares.

The board could not decide on hiking the fare of Delhi Metro, based on the recommendation of the Fare Fixation Committee (FCC), since the Delhi Chief Secretary K K Sharma could not attend the meeting, a source said.

Mr Sharma, a member of the Board and also member of FCC, had signed the recommendations of the committee which was set up by Urban Development Ministry to recommend the hike in passenger fares for Delhi Metro.

Delhi government, which was represented by the finance secretary, has sought more time to study the report, the source said.

“In this scenario, DMRC chairperson Rajiv Gauba, who is also Urban Development Secretary, has no option but to defer the decision in the matter,” the source added.

In September, the committee had submitted its report which had reportedly recommended the lowest fares to be increased to Rs. 10 from Rs. 8 now, and the maximum fare to Rs. 50 from Rs. 30 at present.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had last time revised the fares in 2009.

The Government had in June this year set up at the three-member committee under former Delhi High Court Judge, Justice (retd) M L Mehta to look into the fare revision issue.

Earlier, the DMRC had proposed a five-slab fare system in the range of Rs. 10-50 to mitigate the “adverse” impact on its financial health.

Lucknow Metro | LMRC starts casting of concrete segments for its underground corridor

Narendra Shah
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Lucknow Metro | LMRC starts casting of concrete segments for its underground corridor

Lucknow: The Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) has started work of casting of concrete segment for underground section between Charbagh and Hazratganj at Casting Yard located at Sector 19, Vrindavan Yojna. These segment will be used for lining of underground tunnel planned to be constructed by Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM).

The moulds used for casting of segments have been specially imported from Korea. The average daily requirement of segments at construction stage will be 60 segments (i.e. 10 rings) as against production capacity of 72 segments (i.e. 12 rings). Sufficient reserve stock of segment will be maintained at two stacking yards located within the Casting Yard.

Casting Yard has state-of-the-art installation and facilities that include Automatic Reinforcement Cutting and Bending machine, RO Plant, Automatic Batching Plants, Fully Equipped Quality Control Lab, Health Unit with round the clock ambulance facility, Safety induction and training hall etc.

Speaking at the occasion, Shri Daljeet Singh, Director (Work & Infrastructure), explained that the commencement of casting of segment is a critical activity for construction of underground stretch between Charbagh and Hazratganj. He also informed that one Tunnel Boring Machine has been dispatched from Delhi, after detailed inspection and testing. This TBM will arrive in Lucknow by the end of this month. Inspection and testing of the second Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is also planned to be carried out at Delhi in this week.

Source//LMRC Press Release.

Kochi Metro | KMRL plans running of 1 train every 10 minutes

Narendra Shah
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Kochi Metro | KMRL plans running of 1 train every 10 minutes

Kochi: The Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) plans to operate one train in every 10 minutes between Aluva and Maharaja’s College once they begin commercial operations in April, 2017. The metro agency said that during the initial phase they plan to place on track seven sets of trains, each consisting of three cars.

“While six sets of trains keep running, one will be kept as stand by ,” said a KMRL official. So far Alstom, which supplies coaches for the metro, has delivered two sets of trains.

“The third set is expected to arrive this month,” added the source. It is expected that the seventh set of train would be in Kochi by February , 2017.

Each train is about 65 m long and have a capacity to carry up to 975 passengers. In the trial runs conducted between Muttom and Palarivattom the train started at a speed of 10 km hour and finally attained a 90 km hour. The train is expected to cover the 18 km distance from Aluva to Maharaja’s College in 30 minutes at an average speed of 34 km hour.

The metro agency has placed orders for 25 sets of trains with Alstom, and this makes a total of 75 coaches. The first set of train reached Kochi in early January 2016. Earlier it was stated that all coaches would be delivered by April, 2017.

KMRL spokesperson said that they were yet to finalise operation hours and ticket fa res for metro trains. There was a debate on whether the operation hours should be extended to 12 midnight or not.

 “In all probability a final decision would be taken at KMRL’s next board meeting,” the official said. The metro agency said work on ticketing system is progressing fast. The designing of cards are now complete.
However, some officials with Kochi Metro expressed concern over the possible delay in delivery of trains for the first stage operation.They said that each train has to be tested.
“Though it is possible to test the coaches at the test track at Muttom yard, there is a need to conduct integrated trial runs using each set of train. Any delay in the trains reaching the city could disrupt the schedule,” said a Kochi Metro official.
Source//TOI

Lucknow Metro | LMRC to start trial run of first metro train on first day of December 2016.

Narendra Shah
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Lucknow Metro | LMRC to start trial run of first metro train on first day of December 2016.

Lucknow: Today Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) has announced the date of first trial run of its first train.

With the handing off keys of the first Metro train to Shri Yasar Shah, Hon’ble Cabinet Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh, by Shri Kumar Keshav, Managing Director, Lucknow  Metro, LMRC is now all set to start the commissioning of the trial runs of its first Metro train set on 1st December, 2016.

Lucknow Metro’s Transport Nagar Depot is already well prepared to receive the first Metro train set for testing and starting the trial runs inside the depot on 1st December, 2016. Yesterday, this train set was inspected by ShriYasar Shah, Hon’ble Cabinet Minister, Govt. of U.P.,in the presence of Shr iAlok Ranjan, Chief Advisor, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri Rahul Bhatnagar, Chief Secretary, Govt. of UP &  Shri Sadakant, Principal Secretary, Department of Housing, Govt of UP, at Sri City, near Chennai – the manufacturing unit of M/s ALSTOM Transport India Ltd.

On the occasion, Shri Kumar Keshav, Managing Director, said “I am extremely happy on  this achievement and I thank the LMRC Team for their dedicated and sincere efforts to make this happen.” “It was, nevertheless, an easy task to achieve the manufacturing of Rolling Stock (Metro Train) in such a stiff target. Yet, we all were determined to achieve this anyhow,” he added.

For the last six months, Shri Kumar Keshav along with ShriMahendra Kumar, Director  (Rolling Stock & Systems), LMRC, and other top officials have been visiting the manufacturing facility of M/s Alstom at their Sri City plant near Chennai to ensure that the manufacturing of Metro train is done as per the design and according to the pre-defined time schedule.

The Managing Director used to visit, inspect and review the manufacturing of the coaches on a regular basis at an interval of almost 20 days. He kept pressing the contractor for an early supply of the first Metro train.It is only because of his sustained efforts that Lucknow Metro’s Rolling Stock (Metro Train) is being dispatched within the contracted period of 65 weeks from the award of the ccontract which is one of shortest known period for supply of train world over.

The salient design safety featuresof the Metro trains are proven design, crashworthiness, adequate redundancy in the system, use of fire retardant material, fire smoke detection & protection, safe passenger evacuation in emergency and the anti-climbing features of buffers.The passenger safety features includes emergency communication facilities including talkback facility for passenger  for talking to train driver directly, CCTV images inside trains to be displayed to Train Driver as well as the Centralized Security Control Room.

On 2nd September, 2015,Lucknow Metro had awarded the contract for supply, testing &commissioning of 80 cars for 20 trains of four car each along with train control & signaling system for Lucknow Metro Phase-1A project to French company, a consortium of ALSTOM Transport India Ltd, Bangalore & ALSTOM Transport SA, France at a cost of Rs.1069.81 crores.

Source//LMRC Press release

Delhi Metro | DMRC plans to hike metro station’s parking charges

Narendra Shah
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Delhi Metro | DMRC plans to hike metro station’s parking charges

New Delhi: Fares of Delhi Metro’s parking lots will be hiked soon.

With non-Metro commuters reportedly occupying most of the parking space at stations, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is planning to provide parking incentives to its smart card users.

About 74 of the 96 parking lots at Metro stations remain completely packed. But, this high rate of occupancy is no good news for the DMRC as only about 15 of these facilities see a 100% usage by Metro commuters.

In a bid to ward off non-Metro commuters from using these spaces, the Delhi Metro is going to revise its parking fares which is nominal compared to other agencies. “We are now thinking of changing our policy to make it at par with local agencies like the municipal corporations. The fares will be increased soon,” DMRC managing director Mangu Singh said to media.

He said that the work on smart card entry to parking facilities has been expedited. “Metro smart card users will get a benefit for parking. The modalities are being worked out,” Singh said.

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