Monthly Archives: January 2016
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Monuments in Kanpur get a face lift to boost tourism
The KEM Hall, Phool Bagh Gora Cemetry and the ghats of Bithoor are being restored by the ASI.
Compared to Lucknow and Varanasi, tourist footfall in Kanpur is considerably low. Taking cognizance of it, the Kanpur district administration has begun sprucing up the monuments in the city to attract tourists to Kanpur. The administration has involved the Archaeological Survey of India in restoring landmark monuments in the city such as the King Edward Memorial Hall and the Gora Cemetery. Restoration work has also been going on at some of the ghats in Bithoor for the past four months.
“We wanted to promote Kanpur as a tourist destination, and so we took this decision to restore these monuments and places like Bithoor, which have so much historical relevance,” says Avinash Singh, ADM, Kanpur. “More tourists coming to the city will not only put the city on the tourism map, but also give a boost to the hotel and handicraft business in the city. The city administration, KDA and ASI have collaborated and have begun the restoration of historical places like the KEM Hall, Phool Bagh and the ghats in Bithoor. We have completed the first phase of restoration at Patthar Ghat in Bithoor. In the next phase we also plan to restore other ghats. The Kanpur Development Authority is reconstructing the famous Japanese Garden where the department also plans to start a light and sound show soon,” he adds further.
KB Saini, supervisor of the Archaeological Survey Of India who is helping restore the KEM Hall says, “Work is on at full swing at the KEM Hall. Since the hall is under the Kanpur Development Authority, they asked us to restore the building which used to be a recreation centre for the British businessmen and officials before independence. The building was in a dilapidated condition when we started the work but now we have restored almost the entire building and the final work is on.”
Another place which is being spruced up in the city is Phool Bagh, which used to be a lush garden during the British. But after independence the garden suffered great neglect. But now once again the authorities are trying their best to restore the former glory of the garden. Manoj Mishra, executive engineer KDA informs, “We wanted to make our city more beautiful and both the KEM Hall and Phool Bagh are landmarks of the city.”
The Gora Cemetery in Civil Lines has its own history. The cemetery has graves of British officers which had till now, were in a bad condition. The cemetery is also being given a makeover. Giving more information about this is Manoj Kumar Verma, the senior conservation assistant of ASI. “We have specially called masons from Panna and Jalaun, who are experts in restoration work, to work on these graves. The cemetery has almost 800 graves and till now nearly 70% of these have been restored. We have used the same building material and styling that was originally used while making the graves,” says Verma.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / by Sumit Jha, TNN / January 11th, 2016
UP highest producer of ethanol, beats Maharashtra
Lucknow :
Uttar Pradesh is here to ‘drive’ the country, quite literally. India’s most populous state has pipped Maharashtra to become India’s largest producer of ethanol for blending with petrol.
According to a recent data of Union petroleum ministry, in 2015, UP produced 56 crore litres of ethanol against Maharashtra’s 52 crores litres. The two states together accounted for nearly 67% of country’s total ethanol production of around 161 crore litres a year. They are followed by Karanataka (25 cr litres), Andhra (8.5 cr litre), Gujarat (8 cr litres) and Tamil Nadu (7.6 cr litres).
The surge in ethanol production in the state was driven largely by UP’s sugar industry. Data shows distilleries in sugar mills, like the one in Saharanpur and Basti, contributed maximum by producing around 4 crore litres each. Likewise, the Muzaffarnagar sugar mill and Mawana sugar mill produced 3.6 crore litre and 2.8 crore litres, respectively.
UP has 61 distilleries, out of which 36 are attached to sugar mills. Not surprisingly, all 36 mills chipped in for ethanol production.
Of the total 56 crore litres of ethanol production, UP is expected to use 30 crore litre for its own consumption, leaving rest to be exported to Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Industry sources said an increase in ethanol production was largely a fallout of a sharp plunge in prices of raw sugar last year.
Industry sources said millers gradually started diverting cane juice for production of the ‘clean fuel’ that fetched them relatively higher profit. Petroleum companies, which lift ethanol from distilleries, paid them at the rate of Rs 48.5 per litre . This was sufficiently higher than prices of sugar which kept falling following a glut.
This got another boost earlier this year when Centre decided to waive off excise duty on ethanol for the financial year 2015-16. An excise duty of 14% is charged on per litre of ethanol.
The industry, however, has been complaining of procedural difficulties and delays in obtaining permits/no-objection certificate from the excise department. “This delays the movement of ethanol, which in turn results in depriving the state exchequer of its legitimate revenue,” said a miller.
When contacted, UP cane commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh said there has been a demand for more administrative convenience by the industry. “The state government is looking into it,” he said, while speaking to TOI. Singh said the ethanol was certainly a big sector that needs to be looked into.
Centre in August had decided to boost ethanol production by making 10% blending with petrol mandatory in its efforts to resolve the sugar imbroglio. UP government too is reported to have been mulling to adopt a concept wherein part of cane juice may be diverted for production of ethanol.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Pankaj Shah, TNN / January 06th, 2016