Mehbooba elected PDP legislature party leader

Panaji, Feb 10: Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Rev Filipe Neri Ferrao, has urged the central government to "immediately and unconditionally revoke the Citizenship Amendment Act" and stop quashing the "right to dissent".

He also appealed to the government not to implement the proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).

Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, a wing of the Goa Church, in a statement on Saturday said, "The Archbishop and the Catholic community of Goa would like to appeal to the government to listen to the voice of millions in India, to stop quashing the right to dissent and, above all, to immediately and unconditionally revoke the CAA and desist from implementing the NRC and the NPR."

The CAA, NRC and NPR are "divisive and discriminatory" and will certainly have a "negative and damaging effect" on a multi-cultural democracy like ours, the church said.

There is serious concern that NRC and NPR will result in "direct victimisation of the underprivileged classes, particularly Dalits, adivasis, migrant labourers, nomadic communities and the countless undocumented people who, after having been recognised as worthy citizens and voters for more than 70 years, will suddenly run the risk of becoming stateless and candidates for detention camps," it said.

There has been widespread discontent and open protests throughout the country and even abroad against the CAA, NRC and NPR, which are "forecasting a systematic erosion of values, principles and rights" that have been guaranteed to all citizens in the Constitution, the release said.

Eminent citizens, including top intellectuals and legal luminaries, have taken a studied and unequivocal stand against the CAA, NRC and NPR, it noted.

Goa also witnessed several protests, which transcended the confines of religious and caste affiliation and brought people from all walks of life together on one united platform, said the statement.

It said Christians in India have always been a peace loving community and deeply committed to the ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, enshrined in the
Constitution.

"We have always taken great pride that our beloved country is a secular, sovereign, socialist, pluralistic anddemocratic republic," the church said.

The very fact that CAA uses religion goes against the secular fabric of the country, it said.

"It goes against the spirit and heritage of our land which, since times immemorial, has been a welcoming home to all, founded on the belief that the whole world is one big family," the church said.

"We pray for our beloved country, that good sense, justice and peace prevail in the hearts and minds of all," it added.

New Delhi, May 9: Three promoters of Ram Dev International, recently booked by the CBI for allegedly cheating a consortium of six banks to the tune of Rs 411 crore, have already fled the country before the State Bank of India reached the agency with the complaint, officials said on Saturday.

The CBI had recently booked the company engaged in export of Basmati rice to the West Asian and European countries and its directors Naresh Kumar, Suresh Kumar and Sangita on the basis of complaint from the State Bank of India (SBI), which suffered the loss of more than Rs 173 crore, they said.

The company had three rice milling plants, besides eight sorting and grading units in Karnal district with offices in Saudi Arabia and Dubai for trading purposes, the SBI complaint said.

Besides SBI, other members of consortium are Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, IDBI, Central Bank of India and Corporation Bank, they said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not carry out any searches in the matter because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the officials said.

The agency will start the process of summoning the accused, incase they do not join the investigation, appropriate legal action will be initiated, they said.

According to the complaint filed by SBI, the account had become non-performing asset (NPA) on January 27, 2016.

The banks conducted a joint inspection of properties in August and October, nearly 7-9 months later only to find Haryana Police security guards deployed there, they said.

"On inquiry, it has been come to notice that borrowers are absconding and have left the country," the complaint filed on February 25, 2020, after over a year of account becoming NPA, the officials said.

The complaint alleged that borrowers had removed entire machinery from old plant and fudged the balance sheets in order to unlawfully gain at the cost of banks'' funds, it said.

Mumbai, Feb 9: Given the slow progress on the ongoing Rs 38,000-crore capacity expansion at the four largest metro airports, and also the surging traffic, the snaky queues will continue at least till 2023, warns a report.

The four largest airports -- New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad -- handle more than half of the traffic and are operating at 130 per cent of their installed capacity. These airports are under a record Rs 38,000-crore capex but the capacity will not come up before end-2023, says a Crisil report.

“With the dip in traffic growth largely behind, we expect congestion at the top four airports of New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, which handle more than half of the load, to continue till about FY23,” says the report.

Already these airports are operating at over 130 percent of installed capacity, and the ongoing healthy traffic growth this operating rate is expected to rise further in the next 12 months.

“Operationalising of capacities in the following two fiscals will bring down utilisation levels albeit still high at over 90 per cent by fiscal 2023 and that is despite an unprecedented Rs 38,000 crore capex being undertaken by the operators of these airports over five fiscals 2020-24,” says the report.

Despite this unprecedented capex that is debt-funded, ratings are likely to be stable given the strong cash flows expected due to healthy traffic growth, low project risks associated with the capex and improving regulatory environment, notes the report.

“Capacity at these four airports will increase a cumulative 65 per cent to 228 million annually (from 138 million now) by fiscal 2023. However, traffic is expected to grow strong at up to 10 per cent per annum over the same period. Since additional capacities will become operational in phases only by fiscal 2023, high passenger growth will add to congestion till then,” warn the report.

High utilisation will ride on pent-up demand (accumulated in 2019 as traffic was impacted with the grounding of Jet Airways) and one-off issues with new aircraft of certain airlines.

Further impetus will also come from improving connectivity to lower-tier cities and reducing fare difference between air and rail. Increasing footfalls at airports provide a leg-up to non-aero streams such as advertising, rentals, food and beverage and parking, which comprise around half of the revenue of airports already.

These are expected to grow strongly at over 10-12 per cent, also supported by higher monetisation avenue coming along with current capex. The other half of revenue (aero revenue) is an entitlement approved by the regulator, providing a pre-determined, fixed return over the asset base and a pass-through of costs.

Aero revenue is also expected to get a bump up during fiscals 2022-24, when a new tariff order for airports is likely. Overall aggregate cash flows are likely to double by fiscal 2024 and provide a healthy cushion against servicing of debt contracted for capex, the report concludes.