Ap Blowout Costs Ongc Rs 7 Crore

The Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) incurred a loss of Rs 7.02 crore on account of the fire that broke out in its oilfield at Devarpally in east Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh last month.

In addition to this, rig and equipment belonging to Hitech Drilling Company were also damaged, minister for petroleum and natural gas T R Baalu informed the Rajya Sabha..

Fast track projects: Only two of the eight fast track power projects proposed in the wake of liberalisation have commenced generation so far, the Rajya Sabha was told.

Power loss: The government is making efforts to reduce power transmission and distribution loss in the country from the present average level of about 21 per cent and bring it around the international average of 10 per cent, the Rajya Sabha was told.

Lok Sabha

Child labour: The government is very serious on eliminaton of child labour in all forms from the country, labour minister M Arunachalam claimed in the Lok Sabha.

Telecom pact: India will not jeopardise its interests in any manner while executing the multi-billion dollar telecom pact signed by 68 countries, law minister Ramakant D Khalap informed the Lok Sabha.

Tourism: A new national policy is being formulated for the development and promotion of tourism, minister for tourism and parliamentary affairs Srikant Jena informed the Lok Sabha.

DoT action: Department of telecommunications has initiated action against 13 companies accused of cartelisation in the tender floated last year for supply of optical fibre cables. The cartelisation resulted in all of them quoting high prices, the Lok Sabha was informed.

Gauge Conversion: Railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan yesterday said adequate funds would be made available to make metre guage and narrow guage lines better serviceable.

SAIL: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) plans to set up a 40,000 tonnes capacity galvanising unit in Assam, steel minister Birendra Prasad Baishya said.