Tamil Nadu Electricity Board is likely to incur a loss of Rs 569.60 crore during the current financial year, according to the board's budget estimates. The budget, which was placed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, said the last year's loss was expected to be Rs 347.15 crore. The revenue was expected to be Rs 7,713.63 crore against an expenditure of Rs 8,343.84 crore. Taking a surplus of Rs 60.61 crore in the capital account, the net loss was expected to be Rs 569.60 crore, it said. Power purchase cost alone would account for Rs 3,002.68 crore and the cost of generation was expected to be Rs 2753.06 crore.

L&T seeks Rs 1cr compensation for revenue slippage

Larsen and Toubro has sought compensation of over Rs 1 crore for difficulties in collecting revenue (toll tax) from a bridge constructed by the company near Coimbatore at a cost of Rs 100 crore. "L&T has sought compensation of Rs 20 lakh a month for the revenue slippage and the total compensation soughtby it is over Rs 1 crore," surface transport ministry sources told PTI. The surface transport ministry had referred the issue to the Tamil Nadu government and had asked it to compensate since it had also signed the BoT agreement with L&T.

Oil, natural gas deposits found in Madhya Pradesh

There are indications of oil and natural gas deposits in some areas of Betul and Hoshangabad districts of Madhya Pradesh. Stating this, the district collector Ajay Tirkey told PTI that these deposits were expected to be found about 50 kms from here on the Bhopal-Nagur road. Tirkey said that for the last two months, ONGC had been carrying out research work in the area. Till now, it was not known whether the deposits could be exploited commercially or not, he added.

ABB bags Intergen award

ABB has received the `excellence in technology' award from the International Generating Company (Intergen -- jointly promoted by Bechtel Enterprises and Shell Generating) of the UK for bringing to market ABB's GT24/GT26advanced gas turbines. According to a press release issued by the company, the GT24/GT26's sequential combustion technology leads the industry with a high energy efficiency of 58.5 per cent in combined cycle mode in both full and part load operations. ABB has recently secured several orders globally for its advanced technology gas turbines.

Punjab seeks more funds for urban infrastructure

Punjab on Tuesday demanded higher allocation of funds for improvement in urban infrastructure and comprehensive economic development even as it said that growing migration was creating slums in the state. "Investment in urban infrastructure should be given topmost priority not only to provide civic services, but also to promote economic growth," state minister for local government, labour and employment Balramji Das Tandon told the 26th meeting of the central council of local government and urban development, which met in New Delhi. He said that the council should make a formal recommendation for higher allocationof funds to the Centre and the 11th Finance Commission.