Hyderabad blast termed an act of international sabotage
New Delhi: The bomb blast at the Mecca Mosque in Hyderabad has been termed ad an act of "intentional sabotage" by "anti-social elements" by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

Reddy said two live bombs were recovered from the spot and defused. Reddy said the state had been getting intelligence inputs from the central intelligence agencies and local detectives. The situation was reviewed from time-to-time and necessary precautionary measures were being taken, he said.

Reddy said the state had been receiving inputs in the last two or two and half months that some elements were trying to disturb peace. He said the government had taken all steps but such things did happen.
He appealed to the people to maintain calm and said the government is making all efforts to bring the situation back to normal.
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Inflation eases to 5.4 pc
New Delhi: Annual inflation eased below 5.5 per cent after nearly four months of firefighting by the central government.

This represents the third consecutive weekly fall in inflation.

The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation declined to 5.44 per cent for the week ended May 5, down from 5.66 per cent the previous week.

This decline is mainly attributed to the base effect, rather than an actual easing of prices of the three commodity groups - primary articles, fuel and power, and manufactured products - that comprise the WPI.

Fears are rising that the central bank may tighten interest rates again because prices of major commodities have risen, implying that recent monetary and fiscal measures have not yielded immediate results.

Economists said prices of vegetable prices, fruits, cement prices, edible oil prices- the major contributors, were still at high levels.

An economist said he was expecting a 25 basis point hike in the repo rate in the next policy review.

The RBI had increased the cash reserve ratio by 25 basis points each on six occasions from December 23 last, with the latest hike coming into effect on April 28.

The index for primary articles increased by 0.4 per cent, with prices of eggs (8 per cent), fish-marine (5 per cent), masur (4 per cent) and fruits and vegetables (3 per cent) increasing.

Prices of condiments and spices, moong (2 per cent) and barley (1 per cent) declined. In the non-food articles category, prices of niger seed (5 per cent), sunflower (3 per cent), and raw cotton (2 per cent) declined.
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Buying power from renewable sources a must: HERC
Chandigarh: The state regulator Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has issued directions to power utilities in the state to buy at least three per cent of their total energy from renewable energy sources and to increase this to 10 per cent by 2009-10.

The orders are for 2007-08 to 2012-13.

The commission has also fixed the tariffs for electricity purchased from wind energy projects, mini-hydel, biomass and bagasse co-generation projects.

The commission has fixed the wheeling charges at the rate of two per cent of the energy fed to the grid. HERC has also allowed banking facilities with the condition that surplus energy at the end of the financial year would not be allowed to be carried forward to the next year.

As per the provisions of Electricity Act, 2003, National Electricity Policy and National Tariff Policy, state regulators must specify the percentage of power to be bought by distribution firms from non-conventional projects.
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