LUCKNOW: Even as the city remained under the grip of biting cold on Sunday, the minimum temperature dropped to 1.3 degrees Celsius in Agra, which was the lowest in record in the plains of the country. Significantly, on Saturday, Agra had recorded 0.4 degree Celsius minimum temperature, but Churu was the coldest with below zero degree minimum temperature. However, the weatherman predicted relief from the cold wave conditions as night temperatures may rise by a couple of degrees in the next 1-2 days.

Alleging that giving power distribution of Agra city to private hands was causing huge losses to the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL), the All-India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Friday demanded Chief Minister Mayawati to dismiss the agreement with private franchisee company Torrent Power immediately.

AIPEF general secretary Shailendra Dubey in a letter to the Chief Minister said, the private company was violating terms of the agreement which has resulted into additional loss of Rs 53 crore to the power corporation.

LUCKNOW: An ailing Yamuna may heave a sigh of relief if claims of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam are anything to go by. The corporation has claimed that the 144 million litres per day (mld) capacity water treatment plant in Agra will start functioning in less than a year.
Chairman, UPJN, Navneet Sehgal said that the existing plant has the capacity to treat only 0.1 mld of water. This will increase significantly, when the treatment comes into operation by October 2012, Sehgal said.

New Delhi: Facing the spectre of another costly bailout of power distribution companies, some of which have started defaulting on payments to suppliers, the Centre has decided to take preemptive action.
It has set up a committee under the chairmanship of Planning Commission member (energy) BK Chaturvedi to suggest ways to improve the financial health of state-owned discoms.

Alarmed over the threat to the historic Taj Mahal because of the drying of the Yamuna, a group of concerned citizens have asked for a White Paper on the river and its current state.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, they have said that a White Paper on the Yamuna will not only prove helpful in saving the river and the eco-system and heritage that it sustains but also help in framing policies in the future for river conservation.

LUCKNOW: The Sunday earthquake, which jolted almost the entire north India, has once again raised questions on the safety aspect of the city's multi-storied buildings.

Lucknow Stung by farmers’ agitations and repeated adverse court rulings on land acquisition, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to restructure its development projects by replacing land with viability gap funding (VGF) as the new bidding parameter. That would mean the revenue model for these projects shifts from being land-based to cash-based.

Noida-Agra in 90 minutes
By December this year, all it would take you to reach Agra from Noida will be just 90 minutes, because the Yamuna Expressway is going to be completed two years earlier than the scheduled date of November 2013.

From December, vehicles are expected to zoom on 100-metre wide, six-lane Yamuna Expressway, at a speed of 120 km/hour on the 165-km-long expressway.

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