Cement, Energy and Environment

h) CO; i) Volatile organic compounds (VOC); j) HCI; k) Pressure. Regular monitoring Periodical monitoring should be conducted for the following substances on a regular basis: a) Metals and their compounds ; b) Total organic carbon; c) HF; d) NH3; e) PCDD/PCDF; Chlorobenzenes , HCB and PCBs including coplanar congeners and chloronapthalenes. Courtesy: Indian Cement Review, Sep. 201 0, Pp14 -25. DELHI TO SET UP PLANTS TO GENERATE ENERGY FROM GARBAGE Delhi will set up two plants to generate energy from solid waste, Chief Minister Ms Sheila Dikshit said. Ms Dikshit said a plant will be set up in Okhla and another at Ghazipur. The plants would "help in proper disposal of most of the solid waste", Ms Dikshit said at a function organized by TERI and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. She said the government has made it mandatory to install solar water heaters in big establishments , hotels, restaurants, office buildings, and hospitals and on all buildings coming up in an area over 500m 2 . Courtesy: TERISCOPE, July - August 2010 India Country Profile MINERS MAY HAVE TO SHARE REVENUES WITH DISPLACED The government is likely to make it mandatory for mining companies to hand over a part of their revenues and make annual payments to land losers, bringing compensation rules in this sector in line with a policy followed by the Haryana government which has won the backing of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. But in a sop to companies, which have been unenthusiastic about earlier plans for profit– sharing, the ministry of mines is also actively considering scrapping rules under which state government-owned mining companies are favoured when mines are allocated. The revenue sharing model combined with annual payments is likely to find its way into a proposed legislation setti ng the rules for investment in minerals, according to a government official involved in the drafting process. The legislation, known as the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Bill is being written under the supervision of a group of senior ministers. The bill, which has been in the works for a while, has become extremely high-profile in the wake of the government's decision to deny permission to mine bauxite to Anil Agarwal's Vedanta in Orissa's Niyamgiri. While that decision was prompted by the project's alleged impact on the environment, wider concerns about the impact of mining on local populations have come into the limelight. An earlier version of the bill had suggested that miners should share profits and issue equity to those displaced by m1n1ng. But some ministers involved in the drafting process feel that companies may be economical with the truth as far as data on profit are concerned. "Issuing shares and profit sharing are not foolproof and may result in a denial of benefits to project -affected persons. Sharing a certain percentage (that can be finalized later) of sales realization will prevent misreporting of profit figures," said a mines ministry official. Under rules that are currently in place , the state government collects royalty, which is a fixed percentage of sales. Both profit and revenue sharing could be on offer with the beneficiaries receiving the higher of the two. "Affected people could get the higher of the 26 per cent profit or the revenue share . The percentage (of revenue share) could be worked out later," the official said. The government's proposal has also received the backing of the Congress party that has thrown its weight behind the drive to maximize benefits for project-affected families , especially in the mineral-rich but backward areas of the country. Many such areas are inhabited by the scheduled tribes (ST), which have the highest percentage of people living below the poverty line. An influential Congress leader said compensation by issuing free shares alone was unrealistic because of the socio– economic profile of tribal communities. Courtesy: The Economic Times, New Delhi, 13.09.2010. 82 ---- -