Railway Minister orders fresh probe into Godhra carnage
New Delhi: The Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, has ordered a fresh probe into the Godhra incident, in which 59 people were burnt alive when a fire devastated a coach of Sabarmati Express in Gujarat. The minister said a high-level departmental inquiry committee would probe the circumstances leading to the devastating fire and submit its report within three months.

Prasad quoted a report by the Forensic Science Laboratory of Gujarat that had concluded that the fire was caused when some person threw about 60 litres of a highly inflammable liquid from inside the ill-fated S6 coach. He charged that the forensic report had been deliberately swept under the carpet by the NDA regime at the Centre and the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government of Gujarat. The NDA boycotted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha on the issue of "tainted Ministers".
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Senior Citizens savings scheme from 1st August
New Delhi: The Government has said that the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme is expected to come into effect on August 1 this year. The scheme would have a maximum deposit ceiling of Rs 15 lakh and a tenor of five years with facility for premature withdrawal subject to certain conditions. An official release said that the scheme would be available for persons above 60 years and the interest at 9.0 per cent per annum would be payable quarterly on a non-cumulative basis. The interest income will be subject to tax as per the provisions of Income Tax Act. The deposit would be non-transferable. Nomination facility would however be available.
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Power Grid and NHPC sign up with REC for rural electrification
New Delhi: Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) have entered into an agreement with the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) for taking up projects to electrify villages and households in the country. The projects will be funded by a Central Government scheme known as the Accelerated Rural Electrification Programme (AREP). REC will be the nodal funding and disbursing agency for Government grants and loans under this scheme, according to an official release. Currently, PGCIL is implementing several distribution network improvement schemes in Bihar, Goa, Meghalaya and Mizoram. It is also involved in rural electrification of 2400 villages in Vaishali and Muzaffarpur districts of Bihar on a turnkey basis at an estimated cost of over Rs 1,000 crore.
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