Subhash Chandra’s company to get $225-cr bailout to complete e-way.

Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Chandra’s financially beleaguered Essel Infraproject, the concessionaire for its 83 kilometre Kundli-Manesar extend of this Kundli Manesar Palwal (KMP) Expressway, will get a 225-crore bailout by an Haryana government public sector project.

The decision to pay $225 crore loan to Essel has been taken last month from the board of directors of Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), citing’public interest’. The HSIIDC is the executing agency for the job on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The transfer to give loan from the debt-ridden company is odd and beyond the reach of the concession arrangement.

The 136-kilometre long expressway was thrown open to the general public from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2018. Subhash Chandra is an independent MP in Haryana, who won due to the support of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The finance department has suggested that due diligence have been exercised and approval of the committee on infrastructure of the cupboard be obtained prior to the loan amount has been released to Essel.

The HSIIDC has issued a preliminary notice of conclusion to Essel for material violation of several provisions of the concession arrangement. Material breach signifies failure of performance under the contract. ‘The notice has been issued to Essel due to its default in completion of punch list functions (a list of jobs to be done at the end of the project), laxity in maintenance and operation activities,’ said an HSIIDC official. The punch list comprised road safety works such as completion of work on supply of unlined roadside drains, liner of roadside drains, construction of rest areas, conclusion of fencing functions, stone masonry works in cross drainage structures, rock pitchingand plantation of route trees along the border of the right away, landscaping works.

Essel Infraproject and Subhash Chandra did not respond to mails sent in this respect.

Additional main secretary (industries and trade ) Devender Singh, on being asked, explained the decision to accept the loan was obtained by the company to amicably resolve the issue and make sure the project does not get derailed.

‘When the issue reaches the stage of conclusion of agreement along with substitution, it might entangle the undertaking and result in arbitration. Even if the event of default within the concessionaire is established, we will need to take over the weight of 80% of the concessionaire’s debt. We’re already embroiled in arbitration with the prior concessionaire,’ Singh said.

The finance department in its own advice stated that HSIIDC has presented a grim prospect of conclusion of this contract that could result in substantial burden of finishing obligations on exchequer aside from rendering the expressway dysfunctional. Hence, they’ve introduced with a fait accompli (something which has been done and cannot be changed), the department stated.

The finance division has requested the HSIIDC to establish reasons as to why this type of scenario arose if the concessionaire had already taken commensurate loans from banks/ lenders but was unable to finish the works.

‘It should also be assured that there is no duplication of works/payments shown by the concessionaire, as well as the works done on e-way match the capital said to have been properly used,’ the finance division’s information said.

The finance department in its own information also stated that retrieval ought to be produced in the first from payable levels for example annuity.

‘The loan will take compounded interest at the speed which the HSIIDC is borrowing loan plus 3% spread and a job needs to be taken from concessionaire, bankers and financial lenders,’ the information said.

NAAC reality check for Bihar institutions: Glorious beyond can’t determine present status

The country universities and colleges were driven to go in for accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and also a lot of money was spent on prep, however, the outcome has exposed the brutal reality on matrix.

Of the six accredited state universities according to August 2019, not one has ‘A’ or perhaps’B’ +’ grade.

Patna University (PU) is the highest rated state faculty with Bgrade, while four others got B tier and one C. Only Central University of South Bihar (CUSB) and Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), which can be exclusively for regulation, have obtained’A’ ranking.

Of the 128 schools accredited, 27 have got’C’ level, which is the last group on a seven-grade NAAC scale, under which institutions do not qualify for accreditation. Just eight colleges have ‘A’ level, while 78 schools have ‘B’,’ 14’B’ and a single’B+’ There was no college in the A++ or A+ class.

A number of these schools were licensed ahead of the more vigorous certification system came into force in 2018 and may witness shift when their time comes for revalidation per year or two after.

What’s worrying is that the premiere PU seems to be fighting its highly prestigious colleges. ‘Past glory cannot be a yardstick for current assessment. If the institution reverted past glory, then it’s more worrying why it has been allowed to slide consistently through the years. Glorious past can be an inspiration, not a alibi,’ stated an NAAC official in course of trip to one of the PU colleges.

The Academic Staff College of PU was categorised non-performer, ranked 62nd of 66 associations assessed. It got just 36 marks — four short of this need even for the below performer category.

Two big associations of PU BN College and Vanijya Mahavidyalay happen to be debarred for a year as a result of alleged discrepancies in the self-status report (SSR) and disappointing or absence of answers to the explanations hunted on their promises by NAAC. They are now able to apply afresh just after a year.

Approximately a dozen schools of recently set up Pataliputra University, such as three at chief minister Nitish Kumar’s indigenous Nalanda region, were also unable to secure the minimal 30 percentage points of 70 on the foundation of SSR for qualitative matrix, the most crucial step for assessment, to qualify for its next phase of appraisal by the peer team.

They too can currently apply afresh only after fourteen months. But under the existing conditions, a senior Pataliputra University confessed that another result shouldn’t be expected for many of them. ‘Many of the 12 colleges fared badly due to severe shortage of teachers and the resultant effect on research and opening of new courses. The schools applied for NAAC because there was pressure, although the ground realities are understood to all,’ he added.

The two of Bihar’s premiere associations — Science College, Patna and Patna College– have NAAC peer group visits scheduled in October and November and also the government have been keeping their fingers crossed.

The CGPA is calculated based on the scores obtained by the 3 resources, viz. The system generated supply (SGS) of all the quantitative metrics that comprise about 70% of the total, the scores in the qualitative, critical evaluation from the peer team through on-site trip as well as also the scores obtained within the student satisfaction questionnaire. These are collated through an automatic procedure based on benchmarks for evaluation to a seven-point scale, beginning with A++, A+ and B, B+, Band B and C.