For more than a year, the government has been holding record foodgrain stocks. The law related to providing food security is pending in Parliament.

State likely to retain land ceiling Act

With the auction route for land allocation unlikely to help realtors, facing acute land shortage for new development, the West Bengal government is set to bring out a new policy for land acquisition, meant specifically for land owned by private individuals or groups. However, much to the disappointment of developers, the government was unlikely to dissolve the urban land ceiling Act, one of the key demands of realtors, said sources.

A centre of excellence specialising in reading space weather conditions to help air traffic on polar routes would come up here by the middle of this year, the first of its kind in the country.

Elephants in areas with high rail traffic will be tagged electronically under a pilot project to protect them from trains, Minister for Environment & Forests Jayanti Natarajan has said.

A tag would help forest officials keep track of an elephant’s movements and give them time to alert railway officials. A speeding driver usually has little time to react after he realises an elephant is on the tracks ahead.

The city experienced its coldest day in 16 years on Wednesday as the mercury dipped to 9 degree Celsius, five degrees below normal.

“The minimum temperature will hover around 9 degree C for the next 48 hours. It is not likely to fall any further,” said Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre G.C. Debnath. The previous lowest temperature was 9.9 degree Celsius on December 11, 1992.

The West Bengal government today gave approval to 12 companies for setting up industries in the state, an official said today.

"Such an approval has been given in compliance with the state government's new land allocation policy, under which land will be allocated to these investors from the state land bank covering various industrial parks," Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee said. The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Infrastructure, Industry and employment in West Bengal that met here today gave the approval. The companies name were not revealed.

In a move that could speed up the ambitious direct cash transfer programme, rural development minister Jaiarm Ramesh has suggested other entities such as state governments and banks should be roped in to enroll residents in the Aadhaar system.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ramesh said the direct benefits transfers (DBT) scheme would be successful if multiple registrars are allowed to enroll beneficiaries in the Aadhaar system.

As Gujarat readies itself to hold an event to showcase its business-friendly environment, there is some good news for the state. A report released today shows it replaced Tamil Nadu in terms of freest state in 2011.

The report, co-published by the Cato Institute, Academic Foundation, Indicus Analytics and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, says on a scale of 0 to 1 points, Gujarat scored 0.64 points, followed by Tamil Nadu at 0.56. Tamil Nadu was the freest state in 2009.

The Indian Oil Corporation’s R910-crore LPG pipeline project has hit a 20-acre sticky patch in Haldia. The land is crucial since the oil major has planned a pumping station on it which would enable gas flow through a 300-km-long pipeline from Haldia to Durgapur and right up to Kalyani.

An IOC official said the entire length of the pipeline from Paradip in Orissa to Haldia and then to Kalyani in West Bengal is 710 km. There is no problem of land for the entire stretch but only 20 acres has become detrimental to the project.

The Union petroleum ministry has issued directives to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to not consider any investment in Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) since the oil major has no room to leverage its finances with government subsidy required to post profits.

IOC posted a R22,451 crore net loss in the first quarter of FY 13, though in the second quarter it came round the corner posting a R9,611-crore net profit. A petroleum ministry official told FE that IOC’s 9.6% holding in HPL already has a negative impact on its balance sheet since HPL shares are R(-)5 per share at present.