Uttarakhand news update as on September 2010

Top auto component-maker Setco plans to set-up a new manufacturing unit at Kandla, Gujarat, by end of this fiscal besides doubling capacity at its existing Uttarakhand and Baroda plants. The company will be raising Rs 100 crore in the next two years to fund these initiatives.

"We want to tap the rapidly growing demand for clutches in both the domestic and overseas markets. We will not only expand our existing capacity but also set up a new facility at Kandla," Setco executive director Shvetal Vakil said. He, however, did not divulge the route the company proposed to take for raising funds. "We are still evaluating the appropriate routes for raising this money." At present, Setco manufactures 6.5-lakh clutches annually at its Baroda and Uttarakhand plants. "We will double our capacity to 13-lakh clutches per annum in the next two-years," Vakil said. On its new plant at Kandla, he said land acquisition would be completed soon and an investment of over Rs 15-crore has been earmarked for the same.

Action against THDC likely

Uttarakhand government is contemplating action against Tehri Hydroelectric Development Corporation for increasing the water level of 2400MW Tehri hydroelectric project that "posed a threat" of submergence to property and lives of the people living around its reservoir. As the reply of THDC officials in response to the notices issued by Tehri District Magistrate in this regard has been found "not satisfactory", the state government might take action against THDC, official sources said. Tehri District Magistrate Radhika Jha had issued notices to THDC on August 27 for increasing the water level of reservoir beyond the permissible level of 821.05 meter that posed the threat of submergence to the population living around the reservoir. Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank had visited the affected area in Tehri and Uttarkashi district on Tuesday and held THDC officials responsible for the mess due to the incomplete rehabilitation work. Nishank also demanded Rs 450 crore from THDC and the centre as compensation to the damages done by the increasing water level of Asia's highest dam and to complete the rehabilitation of affected families.

'Scams' to be probed

Retired High Court Judge B.C. Kandpal will head the Inquiry Commission, set up by the BJP government in Uttarakhand, to probe 56 alleged scams during the previous N.D. Tiwari-led Congress dispensation. Justice Kandpal, who recently retired as a judge of the Uttarakhand High Court, had been appointed Chairman of the Commission, official sources said in Dehradun. He would succeed Justice Shambhu Nath Srivastava who had expressed his desire to be relieved of his responsibilty, they said.