Current Affairs 1st April 2017

Current Affairs 1st  April 2017 - Important Points

• Power bill subsidy to consumers to be paid by  - Bihar Government
• Namami Brahmaputra Festival inaugurated by - Pranab Mukherjee
• 800 MW Supercritical Thermal Power Plant in Karnataka commissioned by - BHEL

Current Affairs 1st  April 2017 - Details

Power bill subsidy to consumers to be paid by  - Bihar Government

The Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar made an announcement on 31st March 2017 that the state government would be providing a subsidy on power bill to the consumers instead of power companies from the 2017-18 fiscal year onwards.

The announcement was made in the state assembly in the presence of Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Energy minister. It comes six days after Bihar Electricity Regulatory Commission (BERC) introduced an unprecedented hike of 55 per cent in power tariff that sparked protests all across the state.

Key Highlights

• The basic aim is to help the consumers understand at which electricity rate and subsidy amount
• being given to them by the state government for their consumption.
• The subsidy amount would be mentioned clearly in order to ensure that the consumer understands it properly.
• The state also announced major rationalisation of power tariff to different consumer categories:

- For below poverty line category with a limit of 50 units, the BERC had announced Rs 6.08 per unit rate. After government’s subsidy rate of Rs 3.58 per unit the final rate would come down to Rs 2.50 PER unit.

- For domestic consumer in rural areas, the Commission had proposed a rate of Rs 6.45 per unit, which after the state-provided subsidy of Rs 3.10 per unit would come down to Rs 3.35 a unit.

 - For the Urban domestic consumer, the BERC rate was Rs 6.48 per unit and after subsidy of Rs 1.48 a unit, the final charge would be around Rs 5 per unit.

Namami Brahmaputra Festival inaugurated by - Pranab Mukherjee

The President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Namami Brahmaputra festival in Guwahati, Assam on 31st March 2017. The event took off in the form of a beautiful opening ceremony at the riverfront of Bharalumukh, Guwahati.

Key Highlights 

• The Namami Brahmaputra festival is celebrated by the Government of Assam to strengthen the bonds among various communities of the State.
• The festival will be celebrated in 21 districts located along the Brahmaputra of the State in its entire stretch from Sadiya to Dhubri.
• Assam’s potential in trade, tourism and cultural opportunities will be showcased to the outside world during the festival,.
• The 5-day long festival includes a soulful veneration of river Brahmaputra along with other attractions like indigenous sports, exhibition of organic tea, local food,display of handloom and handicrafts, cultural evenings, film festival, business meetings and symposium among others.
• The conclusion of the event will be equally spectacular with a grand closing ceremony on 4th April 2017.
• Brahmaputra presents incredible business opportunities.
• The National Waterways NW 2 and NW16, are the drivers of economic development and prosperity.
• These waterways will not only make Assam the center of India-ASEAN collaboration, but also attract major investments from around the world.

800 MW Supercritical Thermal Power Plant in Karnataka commissioned by - BHEL

The Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned a 800 MW supercritical thermal power plant in Raichur District of Karnataka on 30th March 2017. The plant which was commissioned on 15th March 2017 is also the BHEL’s first 800 MW Supercritical Thermal Power Plant.

More information

• The power station is owned and operated by the Raichur Power Corporation Limited (RPCL), which is jointly owned by the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. (KPCL) and the BHEL.
• BHEL completed design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of this state-of-the-art supercritical project on turnkey basis.
• It has supplied all the critical equipment like boiler, turbine, generators, electrical, key packages of balance of plant, and also carried out the associated civil works.
• The major equipment for the project has been manufactured by BHEL at its Bengaluru, Trichy, Hyderabad, Jhansi, Thirumayam,Bhopal, Ranipet and Haridwar plants.
• The construction of the plant was undertaken by the company’s Power Sector – Southern Region.
• BHEL is also presently executing KPCL’s first gas-based combined cycle power project of 370 MW capacity which involves a fuel-efficient advanced-class gas turbine at Yelahanka, Bengaluru.
• The company is the market leader in both the subcritical and the supercritical segments in the country.
• The company has secured orders for 48 supercritical Steam Generators (SG) and 41 supercritical Steam Turbine Generators (STG) which is the highest in the country by any power equipment manufacturer. Of these, 12 SG and STG have already achieved capacity addition.
• BHEL’s contribution is nearly 60% of the total  power generated in the country bears testimony to the superlative performance of BHEL’s equipment.