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Time of India
05-08-2025
- General
- Time of India
Kaiga nuclear plant units 5 & 6 to be fully operational by 2030
Karwar: The 5th and 6th units of the Kaiga Generating Station (KGS) in Kaiga, Karwar, are expected to be fully operational by 2030, with construction activities already in progress, said B Vinod Kumar, site director of KGS. He told that excavation at the site is complete, and contracts for major components have been awarded. The turbine package went to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), and the nuclear package was awarded to Megha Engineers and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL). The first pour of concrete is expected to begin after te monsoon. Kaiga is the sixth nuclear site of NPCIL and currently, houses four operational Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) units (KGS-1 to 4), each with a capacity of 220 MWe. Two additional PHWR units (KGS-5 and 6), each with a capacity of 700 MWe, are being developed, bringing the total capacity to 2280 MWe. Vinod noted that the existing units set international benchmarks in operational efficiency and safety. Since their commissioning, the Kaiga site generated over 1.3lakh million units of electricity and helped avoid around 1.2 lakh tonnes of CO₂ emission. Kaiga's safety record earned numerous accolades, including Sarvashrestha Suraksha Puraskar, Unnata Suraksha Puraskar, Prashamsa Patra from National Safety Council, and safety awards from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), NPCIL, and DGFASLI. KGS Unit-1 set a global record for continuous operation, running for 962 days, from May 13, 2016, to Dec 31, 2018, before being shutdown for maintenance. On March 16, Unit-2 completed 25 years of commercial operation. Units 3 and 4 were constructed and commissioned in a record time of 59 months. Currently, KGS-1 is undergoing En-Masse Coolant Channel Replacement (EMCCR) and En-Masse Feeder Replacement (EMFR) as part of its life extension, a process expected to take 18 months. Once completed, similar activities will be carried out on KGS-2. Under its CSR initiatives, NPCIL Kaiga supports developmental activities in nearby villages. It spent around ₹20 crore on wildlife conservation efforts in Kali Tiger Reserve.
Time of India
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Assembly, LS polls may be held after delimitation exercise: Ex-MP
Hyderabad: Former MP and BRS leader B Vinod Kumar has predicted that the Telangana assembly elections in 2028 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2029 will be held with enhanced seats after the delimitation of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now He also said that women's reservation will be implemented in the next elections. Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday, Vinod Kumar dismissed rumours that there would not be a delimitation of seats in Telangana in the wake of the Supreme Court's dismissal of a petition seeking the delimitation exercise in the state on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. As per the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Telangana assembly seats should be increased to 153 from the present 119, while AP seats to 225 from the current 175 seats. "As per Article 170 sub-clause 3 of the Constitution, the delimitation exercise should be taken up in 2026. The SC dismissed the petition filed by one Purushottam Reddy a couple of days ago. But SC delivered the judgment as per Section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act, subject to the provisions of Article 170," the ex-MP said. In the AP Reorganisation Act, instead of 'subject to' it should have been 'notwithstanding' to take up the delimitation of seats in both Telangana and AP 10 years ago. This issue was brought to the notice of the then UPA govt and also the Modi govt, but it was not taken up by both the govts, Vinod Kumar said. On women's reservations in legislative assemblies and Parliament, the BRS leader said the Women's Reservation Bill was passed in both Houses and would come into effect only after the completion of the Census.
Hans India
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
BRS leader laments missed opportunities for more assembly seats in TG, AP
Hyderabad: BRS senior leader B Vinod Kumar today asserted that had the Indian Government amended Section 26 of the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, 2014, by replacing the phrase 'Subject to' with 'Not Withstanding,' the number of seats in both the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State Legislative Assemblies would have increased significantly. Vinod Kumar revealed that the BRS Party had repeatedly urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi between 2014 and 2019 to enact this crucial amendment. However, he noted, the Government of India took no steps to amend Section 26 of the Act. 'I, myself, proposed a Private Member's Bill in the Lok Sabha in 2015 to amend it,' Vinod added. His comments follow the Supreme Court's decision today to dismiss a petition concerning delimitation, stating that such a process would only commence after the census conducted post-2026. 'Therefore, I believe that if the Government of India had amended Section 26 of the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, the seats would have increased long ago,' Vinod stated. He concluded with optimism, 'But now 2026 is not far away. Delimitation will take place soon.'
Hans India
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
BRS' car steers into trouble, again; SEC urged to junk look-alike symbols
Hyderabad: BRS leaders on Tuesday urged the State Election Commission to not to allow symbols such as 'Chapati Roller', camera and ship, which are identical to the party's car symbol in the ensuing local body elections. The party leaders said that the identical symbols dented the prospects of candidates of the party in 2023 Assembly elections. The BRS leaders pointed out that rectangular body of the camera further mimics the basic shape of the car's front fascia and the flash bulge in front resembles the windshield or roof structure of a vehicle. Especially for voters who rely more on form recognition than object differentiation such as the elderly, rural, or visually impaired, the Camera symbol has been misidentified as a stylized or minimal version of a car. Further in case of the Chapati Roller, in the absence of detailed contours or contextual cues, this configuration was easily mistaken for a simplified car drawing, particularly one rendered from the frontal view. BRS senior leader B Vinod Kumar said that the ambiguity increases when one considers that a large segment of the electorate may not recognize a Chapati roller as a domestic utensil, but may instead project onto it their familiarity with wheeled objects like cars or carts. In case of the ship, the portholes could be easily misread as headlights, while the central structure might be confused with a car's bonnet and windshield. The BRS leader said that the opponents of BRS had taken advantage of such identical symbols, which were available in the list of free symbols to confuse the voters in choosing and recognizing the BRS' car symbol on the ballot papers. Often, the candidates who have contested elections on these identical symbols got votes more than the recognized national political parties. A look at these symbols with the size in which they are displayed on ballot papers / EVM machines clearly show the identicalness of these free symbols to the 'car', the symbol of the BRS party. Thus, it can be clearly understood as to how candidates had been cutting into TRS votes in the past and damaging the prospects of the TRS party candidates in the elections. In this way, thousands of votes of TRS are diverted to such candidates, who were, obviously, motivated by our politically opposing parties, he said. The BRS leaders said that identical symbols have the potential in causing confusion among the voters of the BRS and divert the votes to the so-called candidates of unrecognized parties, including Independents. Because the size of the above symbols shown on the EVM were too small, it becomes very difficult for illiterate and aged voters, particularly from rural background, to identify the difference between these symbols and the car symbol.
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
BRS demands Centre to hold Census immediately
Hyderabad: Senior BRS leader B Vinod Kumar on Monday demanded the Central govt to immediately announce the schedule for the long-delayed Census. He urged the govt to expedite the general Census along with a caste-based enumeration to uphold the values of democracy, equality, and social justice enshrined in the Constitution. In a statement, Vinod said the Central govt decided to conduct caste census along with the general census on April 30. A resolution supporting the caste census was moved by Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini during the NDA meeting and was backed by Andhra Pradesh deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan. "While my party and I welcome and appreciate this development, merely passing resolutions without a transparent roadmap or official notification for conducting the decennial census is like speaking into the void. The caste census is not a matter of political rhetoric—it is a constitutional necessity tied to social justice, equitable policy planning, and representation," Vinod said. He said it was unfortunate that despite such an important resolution, no official communication or clarity has been shared with the public or political stakeholders regarding the timeline, methodology, or scope of conducting the decennial Census. In a country where backward classes form a significant proportion of the population, updated population and caste data are critical for designing fair, representative, and inclusive policies, and the Census should be taken up immediately, he demanded.
