NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the request of the Uttaranchal Government to rename the State as Uttarakhand. This was announced by Union Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Priyaranjan Dasmunsi.

In keeping with Constitutional provisions, a Bill for this purpose would be submitted to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for referring it to the State legislature for its views. Once the legislature expresses its views, action would be taken to introduce a Bill in Parliament for its final approval.

Bills on canal systems

The Cabinet approved the introduction of two Bills in Parliament for declaring some canal and river systems as national waterways.

The first one relates to the Kakinada-Pondicherry stretch of canals. This consists of the Kakinada, Eluru, Commamur, and Buckingham canals and Kaluvelly tank along with the Bhadrachalam-Rajahmundry stretch of the Godavari river and the Wazirabad-Vijayawada stretch of the Krishna in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Mr. Dasmunsi said that once the Bill was passed the Centre would take under its control the regulation and development of the stretches for shipping and navigation of mechanically propelled vessels.

The Cabinet alsoapproved the preparation of projects for development of infrastructure along the stretches at an estimated cost of Rs. 542 crore. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) will be the implementing agency.

Similar Bill

Chaired by the Prime Minister, the Cabinet also cleared the introduction of a similar Bill for declaring the Talcher-Dhamra stretch of the Brahmani-Kharsua-Dhamra river system along with the Geonkhali-Charbatia stretch of the east coast canal, the Charbatia-Dhamra stretch of the Matai river and the Mahanadi delta river system between Mangalpadi and Paradip in Orissa as a national waterway.

It approved the preparation of projects and schemes for development of infrastructure along the stretches at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,526 crore. Here too, the IWAI would be implementing agency.

The Cabinet also approved the setting up of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Railways Ministry for executing the dedicated freight corridors project as per the recommendations of a Group of Ministers. An empowered committee would be set up to monitor the project's implementation.

Headed by the Cabinet Secretary, the Committee would comprise the Chairman and the Financial Commissioner of the Railway Board, the Planning Commission Secretary, Secretaries of Finance, Law, and Environment and Forest Ministries, Secretaries of Departments of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, and the Managing Director of the SPV.

It would also be responsible for resolving inter-ministerial and State-level issues that could hamper the progress of the projects. If required, the Committee may invite the Chief Secretaries to its meetings.

Capital market access

The Cabinet also gave its nod to introduce a Bill to amend the State Bank of India Act to enable the bank to access capital market for raising funds and to ensure that it functioned more effectively.

Mr. Dasmunsi said an attempt would be made to introduce the Bill on Friday itself. Otherwise, it would be introduced in the next session. Once the Bill was adopted, the SBI, he said, would be able to attract a large number of small individual investors.

Economic Affairs Committee meets

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) also met and approved three important changes in the guidelines for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to reduce the time taken for processing proposals and to release funds.

The first change involves the inclusion of Secretaries in the Ministries of Finance, Environment and Forest, Social Justice and Empowerment, and Health and Family Welfare and Secretary in the Department of Education in the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee.

Secondly, the panel to appraise and sanction projects costing up to Rs. 500 crore was to be authorised with the approval of the Finance Minister and either the Minister for Urban Development or the Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation depending on the nature of the project.

Finally, it would be ensured that five per cent of Central grant was available for meeting the administrative and other expenses of the States as well as the Ministry of Urban Development with a provision that the Central share be capped at one per cent.

Flood control

The CCEA also approved a Rs. 225-crore scheme for taking up flood control and anti-erosion projects in the Brahmaputra and Barak valley in the north-east.

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