Colombo bargains China connections in return for US favour

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 February 2014, 14:36 GMT]
Colombo has been lobbying the members of the US Congress through Thompson Advisory Group, a Washington DC based advisory and strategy firm helping governments to solve global strategic problems citing its geo strategic location, the China factor and a ‘fast growing’ economy. A Europe-based source has provided TamilNet a letter of invitation sent by Robert J. Thompson, the chairman of the lobby group to US Congresswoman Gwen Moore on 21 January 2014. “China is making major inroads already in Sri Lanka, but our distinguished visitors wish to make sure that relations with the United States are improved even more strongly,” the letter says attaching a trade routes map projecting the island's geostrategic location. 

• Invitation to Congresswoman by Thompson Advisory Group

The ‘distinguished visitors’ were Mr Ajith Nivard Cabraal the governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Lalith Weeratuga, the permanent secretary to the President of Sri Lanka. 

“As illustrated on the attached map from Hofstra University, the island nation of Sri Lanka is astride the main maritime trade routes of the Indian Ocean, with fast-growing economic and strategic significance as that area of the world experiences rapid growth. China is making major inroads already in Sri Lanka, but our distinguished visitors wish to make sure that relations with the United States are improved even more strongly,” the letter states. 

“Next Monday we will deliver to your office a DVD of the 28-minute mini-documentary, "Sri Lanka: Reconciling & Rebuilding" by former CNN Anchor Gene Randall, which is to air immediately following "This Week" on Sunday morning in Washington, DC. It provides an overview of the situation in Sri Lanka, which Mr Cabraal and Mr Weeratunga will expand upon during their Capitol Hill visits,” the letter further states also adding a personal note by former Rep. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma with the letter. 

* * * In April last year, Colombo based Sunday Times revealed that Colombo's Ambassador to Washington, Wickremesuriya, has hired the lobbying firm Majority Group for USD 50,000 a month to lobby the US Government. 

The paper had also revealed that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka hired the US lobbying firm Thompson Advisory Group LLC for US$ 66,600 (Rs. 8,337,600) a month.

Thompson Advisory Group Chairman Robert Thompson’s driver was Thilak Mohan Siriwardana, a Sinhalese, who was being paid $7,000 per month on a contract with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Press Conference With Assistant Secretary Nisha Biswal in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Press Conference

Nisha Desai Biswal
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs

Colombo, Sri Lanka

February 2, 2014

AMBASSADOR SISON:  I am so pleased to be with you all this evening in order to introduce you to our new Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Nisha Biswal.

Press Conference With Assistant Secretary Nisha Biswal in Colombo, Sri Lanka by nelvely

US to table UN human rights resolution criticising Sri Lanka over 'war crimes'

• Allegations centre on crushing of rebellion in 2009
• US official: 'There hasn't been sufficient action by government'

Saturday 1 February 2014 

Assistant secretary of state Nisha Biswal talks to reporters flanked by Michele Sison, the US ambassador, on Saturday. Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

The United States will table a United Nations human rights resolution against Sri Lanka, a State Department official said on Saturday, putting new pressure on Colombo to address war crimes allegations.

The UN has already called on Sri Lanka to punish military personnel responsible for atrocities in the civil war that the government won in 2009, and Washington says the human rights climate on the island is worsening.

"Lack of progress in Sri Lanka has led to a great deal of frustration and scepticism in my government and in the international community," assistant secretary of state Nisha Biswal told reporters in Colombo after a two-day visit.

"There hasn't been sufficient action taken by the government to address the issues of justice and accountability. We heard from many people about people who are still unaccounted for, whose whereabouts and fates are unknown to their family members."

Biswal declined to say what would be in the resolution to be tabled at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council, but US embassy officials have said it may call for an international investigation in Sri Lanka.

"We understand growing concern, frustration, and scepticism among many in my country and many in the international community that has led to increasing calls for international investigation and an international process." Biswal said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, which finally crushed a 26-year rebellion by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, has rejected calls for an international inquiry and said repeated requests from overseas were to please the large Tamil diaspora in the west. 

A top Sri Lankan official said in Washington last week that an international inquiry into war crimes would bring "chaos" and insisted that the government's national reconciliation process must be given several more years to work. 

Biswal acknowledged that the reconciliation process needed more time, but said credible steps had to be taken now.

"The culture of deterioration of human rights gives us great concern when churches and mosques are burnt down and people feel that they cannot practise their faiths freely and without fear. Then I believe the urgency that has gripped the international community is justified," she said.

The British prime minister, David Cameron, has said he will push for an international inquiry into war crimes allegations if Sri Lanka does not conduct its own probe by March.

Some Sri Lankans who met Biswal told Reuters they had told her an international process was essential. 

"We do not have confidence in a local investigation because that would be done by the military, who are accused of war crimes," one activist from northern Jaffna peninsula told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.

A UN panel has said that about 40,000 mainly Tamil civilians died in the final few months Of the war. Both sides committed atrocities, but army shelling killed most victims, it concluded. Separatist Tamil Tiger rebels renowned for the use of child soldiers and suicide bombings battled government forces from 1983. 

“Kirimandala”: Our Female Stars In The Gold Rush

By Shyamon Jayasinghe -February 2, 2014 

Shyamon Jayasinghe

“Being an actress is just like being a politician”- Ruwanthi Mangala

Can we make sense of this widespread attack on the rush of cine and tele-cine actresses onto the political stage in Lanka in time for the Provincial Council elections?  Examine this phenomenon a little critically and you will find that the jeering and sardonic criticism does say more about the critics than about their victims. It is all publicly displayed hypocrisy. It is also misogynistic. It is in bad taste. It is unfair.

The latest to stage an attack is the Island feature writer, Lucian Rajakarunayake (1/2/2014) who labels the lot of beauties as sex symbols, suggesting they are unworthy of the ‘superior’ game of Lankan politics.  Lucien’s diatribe matches with numerous emails going around. I just received one that refers to these young women as “kirimandala” (milk machines) and using photo shop creativity to highlight their breasts. The image juxtaposes the face of the Minister of Health, Sirisena, displayed as enjoying pneumatic bliss. It is immaterial here that Sirisena is unable to supply drugs to suffering cancer patients. The stars are described as “gon wassian,’ (young cows).

I just received one that refers to these young women as “kirimandala” (milk machines) and using photo shop creativity to highlight their breasts.

In the first place, what is intrinsically wrong about a film actor participating in politics? The world has had famous television personalities that performed with distinction in politics? Ronald Reagan, former President of America, is a prominent illustration. Sri Lanka, too did have Gamini Fonseka, TB Illangaratne, and Vijaya Kumaratunge. Some, like Paba, maybe dreadful examples, no doubt; but then the good and the bad is common across all categories of pollies.  Paba had been a special ignoramus. The late Cyril Dharmawardena related to me a story according to which Paba was seated in front of Cyril at a Sirikotha meeting; she turned behind to Cyril and sought to be educated: “Cyril Ayye, kawda aney Castro kiyanne?” (Brother Cyril, can you tell me who Castro is?). Mind you, Paba topped the UNP preferences at Gampaha beating mature business leader, Karu Jayasuriya.

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US frustrated with Sri Lanka’s reconciliation

By Associated Press, Published: February 1

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A senior United States diplomat said on Saturday that Sri Lanka’s government has made little progress on justice, reconciliation and accountability more than four years after the end of the civil war, as the U.S. prepares to press that government at the U.N.’s top human rights body.

Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal said lack of progress has frustrated her government and the international community.

“Patience of the international community is wearing thin.....” Biswal told reporters at the American Centre in the capital Colombo, at the end of her visit on Saturday, adding that the U.S. will sponsor a resolution asking Sri Lanka to do more on reconciliation and accountability at the U.N. Human Rights Council in March.

During her visit, Biswal met senior government officials, opposition political leaders, civil society representatives.

Her visit comes two months ahead of a United Nations Human Rights Council review of Sri Lanka’s progress in probing alleged war crimes. The U.S. has successfully carried two resolutions at the United Nations Human Rights Council urging Sri Lanka to conduct its own investigation into war crimes allegations against both government troops and the separatist Tamil rebels.

Biswal said US has always supported a Sri Lankan process to resolve the issues emanating from the conflict. But she said she told senior Sri Lankan government officials about the “insufficient progress” in addressing justice, reconciliation and accountability, after the war’s end.

She said the new resolution will call on Sri Lanka “to do more to promote reconciliation, democratic governance, justice and accountability....” But she declined to discuss the text of the resolution, saying it is too early.

While Sri Lanka has enjoyed relative peace since then, it hasn’t satisfied concerns, principally from Western nations, over the fate of tens thousands of Tamil civilians in the final months of the war in 2009, when government forces were closing in on Tamil Tiger rebels cornered on a sliver of land in the island’s northeast.

A U.N. report previously said as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians died, mostly in government attacks, but Sri Lanka denies such a high toll and has repeatedly denied it deliberately targeted civilians.

For two years after the war, Sri Lanka’s government insisted that not a single civilian was killed. But later in 2011 it acknowledged some civilian deaths and announced a census of the war dead but its results were vague.

Government troops were accused of deliberately shelling civilians, hospitals and blocking food and medical aid to hundreds of thousands of people boxed inside a tiny strip of land as the rebels mounted their last stand. The government denies the charges. The rebels were accused of holding civilians as human shields, killing those who escaped their control and recruiting child soldiers.

In November, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would call for a U.N.-backed investigation into allegations of war crimes unless there was progress on postwar reconciliation by March, when the U.N. Human Rights Council holds a bi-annual session

U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay has said she would recommend that the council establish its own probe if Sri Lanka fails to show progress by March.

Biswal also expressed concern about the worsening human rights situation including the continued attacks against religious minority, weakening of the rule of law, increased levels of corruption and impunity.

Lalith Weeratunga, secretary to the Sri Lanka’s president and his point man on the government’s own reconciliation efforts, early this week in Washington, denied targeting civilians by the government forces and said government had only 18 months to implement the recommendations of it’s own reconciliation commission.

Weeratunga warned that if that process was mishandled, it could trigger renewed conflict.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Rajapaksa Regime Confirms Rajpal’s Position On Church And Mosque Attacks: Reactions By Local Community To Unauthorised Facilities

February 3, 2014

The Rajapaksa regime has officially confirmed it is in fact in agreement with a position taken recently by the State newspaper Daily News and its Editor Rajpal Abeynayake, by issuing a statement claiming that many of the religious worship targeted in mob attacks were those operating in violation of the guidelines governing the establishment of such place. “ It has generally been found that these incidents have been a reaction on the part of the community resident in those areas,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in its rebuttal of remarks by visiting US Assistant Secretary of State on South and Central Asian Affairs.

Foreign Minister

“With respect to incidents that have raised concerns the minister observed that in many instances the facilities concerned were not mosques or churches but makeshift prayer centers whose operations had irked relevant communities.  He pointed out that there are laws regarding the establishment of places of religious worship,” Minister G.L. Peiris said, according to the Nation Newspaper.

Biswal had underscored concerns about continuing religious intolerance and attacks on mosques and churches in Sri Lanka during her concluding press briefing yesterday.

In response, the External Affairs Ministry said that attributing blame to the government for these incidents was totally unwarranted.  “While legal action has been taken with regard to some incidents, others have been settled amicably. Therefore, the criticism is grossly disproportionate and politically motivated,” the Ministry said.

The sentiments echo the reasoning by Abeynayake who recently authored an editorial in the Rajapaksa state newspaper Daily News, alleging genocide against the Sinhalese people. “For example the Sinhala majority in this country is often not permitted to do anything tangible about aggressive proselytization which is carried on through the twin instruments of unethical conversions and the illegal or barely legal establishment of churches etc., on ground that was previously occupied by Buddhist temples, or on property that has simply not been authorized for the purpose of establishing places of religious worship,” Abeynayake’s editorial in January said.

Neither the Daily News nor the Sri Lankan Government appear to comprehend that the excuses being made for mob violence are tantamount to justifying the attacks against minority religions. In the case of theHikkaduwa church attacks for instance, the most recent case, the “community” in the area were claiming that the churches were operating in violation of an October 2008 circular issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, making reference to places of religious worship set up with effect from that date, claiming they would need authorisation from the Ministry. However, both churches had been in operation since the late 1990s.

Biswal hints at international probe on war crimes

By Namini Wijedasa-Sunday, February 02, 2014

Voices concern over worsening human rights situation, attack on religious minorities and corruption

Frustration and scepticism in the United States and international community about Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in investigating the final days of the war have led to increasing calls for an international investigation, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal, said yesterday.

Biswal Hints at International Probe on War Crimes by nelvely

Defence Ministry’s Leadership Training Claims Another Life

February 2, 2014 |

Another student died while undergoing the Defence Ministry’s programme to carry out “Leadership Training” for all university students. The student, identified as Mudiyanselage Lahiru Sandaruwan Rathnayake was undergoing leadership training at the Peradeniya Gannoruwa Army Camp and was admitted to the Peradeniya Hospital on 26 January, due to a sudden ailment, passed away yesterday, The Ceylon Today reported.

Selected to the University of Jaffna, upon successfully sitting the GCE Advanced Level Examination in the commerce stream from the Nochchiyagama Vidyadarshi College, Lahiru Sandaruwan was 21 years old at the time of his demise.

Military Spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said according to the father of the deceased, the student had been receiving treatment for an ailment from which he had been suffering since his infancy. Asked whether students were subject to a fitness test, prior to their enrolment in the leadership training programme, Brigadier Wanigasooriya said, “No. That is not our responsibility. It is the Ministry of Higher Education which is tasked with obtaining their fitness reports.”

Compulsory leadership training for undergraduates  is a mandatory programme introduced in 2011 by the  Government for all students selected State universities. The residential three week leadership training and “positive thinking development” training camps under the Defence Ministry  has claimed at least two lives so far. In   2011 a student died during the leadership program for undergraduates, while a principal who was part of a similar leadership training program died in 2013.

Mahinda S Sidelined After WikiLeaks

February 2, 2014 

Sri Lanka’s plantations minister and the presidential special envoy Mahinda Samarasinghe is reportedly having difficulty getting himself included in the Sri Lanka delegation to Geneva in March after a WikiLeaks cable published on Colombo Telegraph revealed that the Minister had blamed the Rajapaksa brothers for the country’s human rights problems, government sources have revealed.

Mahinda Samarasinghe

Samarasinghe who is busy attempting to organise a local media delegation is yet to be assured of his spot on the Lankan delegation, having lost his clout somewhat as Sri Lanka’s main focal point on human rights.

However the sources said that the Minister’s popularity in Kalutara, a key district in the western provincial polls battle also due in March may swing things Samarasinghe’s way at least for the March session of the UNHRC.

Last year, Samarasinghe was sent to address the high level session of the Council in March but his blistering speech attacking UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay became a major embarrassment for the Government delegation afterwards when other member states began to defend Pillay against attacks by Sri Lanka. The delegation was led by AmbassadorRavinatha Ariyasinha after the high level meetings and saw a major shift in tenor with Sri Lanka making attempts to engage and convince rather than go on the offensive against the Council and its head.

Senior officials in the Rajapaksa administration are reportedly irked by Samarasinghe’s comments to the US embassy in Colombo that the ruling brothers were calling all the shots onnthe human rights and accountability fronts.

Related posts;

Muslim fishermen in Pulmoaddai protest against Colombo’s discrimination

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 February 2014, 22:07 GMT]
More than 300 Muslim fishermen from Pulmoaddai have been protesting against a discriminatory ban imposed on them by the occupying Sinhala military. The protest continued for the 4th day at Trinco Junction in Pulmoaddai on Saturday. While allowing the Sinhala fishermen from other areas to exploit the fishing resources of the Kokku’laay lagoon through illegal fishing methods, Colombo’s fisheries ministry has selectively banned Muslim fishermen from practicing stake net fishing (Kadduvalai), the protesting Muslims say. 

The SL government officials deny the accusation of the protesting fishermen. 

Deputy Director of Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Mulllaiththeevu, Jeyarasasingam Suthaharan told media that the officials were instructed to act only against those who were using illegal tools in fishing. 

Sinhala fishermen living in Kokku’laay, Ka’lappai and the intruding fishermen from South are the ones who were practicing illegal methods in exploiting the fishing resources at Kokku’laay lagoon, the Muslim fishermen say. 

Mr Ismail Seybudeen, the chairman of the central cooperative of fisheries development in Pulmoaddai said the fishermen were used to stake net fishing for more than 50 years and that the officials have banned this form of fishing 3 months ago and were selective in implementing the ban against Muslim fishermen. 

In the meantime, Tamil fishermen in Pu’liyamunai also complain that their fishing equipment worth of 1 million rupees were destroyed by unidentified men on 23 January. 

The chairman of Kokku’laay fisheries society Mr Francis Gonsal Ludman has complained on the problems being faced by the Tamil fishermen to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) and the Councillor Thurairasa Ravikaran visited the place inspecting the damage caused to the fishermen.

Mattala: Planes come, nobody gets in or gets out

Sunday, February 02, 2014

2013, boom year for Ceylon Tea

Questions are being asked why certain SriLankan Airlines flights continue to stop at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) when there are no passengers embarking or disembarking.  For instance, a Colombo-bound flight from Kuala Lumpur made a scheduled stop at MRIA on Thursday morning. Writing to the Sunday Times, a passenger on that aircraft said there was “no apparent reason” for the flight to have landed there.

“No one embarked or disembarked at Mattala,” he says, adding that all passengers were booked to Katunayake from Kuala Lumpur. “Was this just to keep the public informed that Mattala is still alive and alert?” he asks.  SriLankan Airlines sources said this had been going on for some time. “Sometimes, flights just land and take off at Mattala with nobody getting down,” said one authoritative source, on condition of anonymity. “If there are passengers who do disembark, they usually stay in transit at the airport. It is only on rare occasions that anybody flies to Mattala on account of it being his or her final destination.”

Embarkations are also not numerous but President Mahinda Rajapaksa makes it a point to leave and enter the country through MRIA. “What we see mostly are passengers who are in transit because the airline chooses to route them that way,” said another source.  “But this works for the interested parties because they are able to show international flight movements to and from MRIA,” he said. Among the SriLankan flights that go via Mattala are those to Trichy, Bangkok and Male.

“At the same time, SriLankan also operates direct flights to those destinations from Katunayake,” he continued. “This is a clear case of ferrying a passenger from point A to point B via point C without going directly to point B.” The Sunday Times was unable to get a full schedule of arrivals and departures at MRIA. The information published on its official website, www.mria.lk, has not been updated since November 25 last year.

The official website of the Airport and Aviation Services Ltd (AASL) does not carry a flight schedule for MRIA. The three international airlines currently operating to MRIA are SriLankan, Flydubai and Mihin.  AASL Chairman Prasanna Wickramasuriya said he was unwell and referred the Sunday Times to MRIA CEO Derrick Karunaratne. Head of Airport Management H.S. Hettiarachchi also asked the Sunday Times to contact Mr. Karunaratne. However, despite several attempts the line was not connected to Mr. Karunaratne.

But SriLankan Airlines yesterday defended its decision to land at Mattala. “We operate to MRIA with multifaceted objectives,” Media Relations Manager Deepal V Perera said. “In terms of our operations to MRIA, we have found that 35-40 per cent of the foreign travellers who visit Sri Lanka travel to the southern and eastern parts of the country.”

“At the moment, the main constraint that they are faced with is that it takes a longer time to travel to these destinations via road,” he explained.
“SriLankan, having identified this factor, decided to enhance travel by air domestically by means of offering special destination packages in promoting MRIA as a gateway to the southern part of the country.”

“Secondly, we are also developing the MRIA as a regular travel destination encouraging visitors to use MRIA as a convenient gateway as it shortens the travel time,” he said.  Mr. Perera said there was congestion at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) during peak time. “Besides, we also see an increasing number of transit passengers arriving at BIA. This is causing more congestion at the BIA,” he said. “As a result, we are also experiencing flight delays which are not only causing inconvenience to travellers but also increasing our costs.”

“As a remedy for this we are looking forward to use MRIA as our transit hub, to give our passengers a better travel experience,” he said. “Finally in the future, we will be offering direct destination flights from MRIA on a regular basis with the objective of promoting MRIA as a gateway for Sri Lanka tourism.

One of us becomes a party leader! 

i







 Sunday, 02 February 2014
The relationship between Anura Dissanayake and us is nearly 30 years old. During the 87-90 terror period, he was involved in politics along with us, shoulder-to-shoulder. He was also a leading figure in the Students for Human Rights (SHR), launched by us on the guidance of the late president’s counsel Nimal Senanayake. Anura blossomed up in Peradeniya.

ii
We lost track of him after the second rising of the JVP in 87-89 was repressed with iron arms. To this year, it is 25 years since Gemunu, Collure and Nishmi left us. A few of those who had been with us then, live secluded lives in Australia today. Anura is a character cast in iron. It cannot be repressed by blood or iron. It is remarkable that one of us has come to be the leader of the party around which we had gathered together, when 25 years elapse since our comrades in the battlefront had laid down their lives.

It is our heartiest wish to see that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna raises a voice under the leadership of Anura, our companion then, on behalf of the hundreds of thousands oppressed people! That is the best tribute that can be paid to our comrades who had sacrificed their lives for humankind. Anura wewill gaze at you.

“The law, this violent thing”: Dissident memory and democratic futures

• • • Image courtesy Lanka Standard
• by Vasuki Nesiah 
• - on 02/02/2014 
• 

“The law, this violent thing” Dissident memory and democratic futures by nelvely

Norochcholi Is A Lemon: Junk It! Sell It For Scrap!

By Kumar David -February 2, 2014

Prof Kumar David

This is my third piece on Norochcholi in the last two years; previously, soft and mild mannered gentleman that I am, I expressed myself in polite terms . . . hmm, well! But its just too much now; junk the wretched thing, sell it for scrap, collect insurance, get the Chinese Government to write off the loan; in the long run this will be cheaper and less annoying than pottering around with this Lemon in the hope that it may come right one day. Lemon is an Americanism for a dud, usually a car, which from the time you take home fresh from the dealer is trouble, a flop, chronic. You are stuck with it and the dealer won’t take it back. The equivalent Australian expression is ‘up the gum tree’. Norochcholi Unit-1 has failed about 30 times since it was commissioned; these are no teething troubles, the failures are endemic and betoken defective manufacturing, poor quality materials and probably dumping on one sucker garbage that could not be passed off on some other sucker.

Mind you I am not saying that Chinese electrical plant is generically lousy; not at all. Thousands of MWs are commissioned in China each year and the stuff works fine. The point in this case is that if the customer is a sucker, or if someone on the buyer’s side was on the take, or if competent technical people were excluded from the specification drafting, negotiation and inspection process, well expect to be taken for a ride. I have no inside knowledge of which of these happened, or if it was some other reason, but it’s time to call a spade a spade; or if you don’t mind, let’s call it a bloody shovel.

What is the failure costing?

Let me put things in perspective. All numbers are rounded for ease of memory, but rest assured nothing is so out of shape as to lead you astray. For the same reason the preposition ‘about’ and adverb ‘approximately’ are discarded in this piece. CEB electricity generation in 2013 was 12 terra-watt-hours (TWh), maybe 6% more this year  – I will tell you what a TWh is in a moment – and if Norochcholi Unit-1 (300 MW) was behaving as it should it would be churning out 2.1 TWh per annum or 17% of the needed output. And if it worked well, that is maintained a satisfactory heat-rate in the jargon, the production cost would be Rs 10 per unit. The hydro-complexes generate 3.6 TWh in an average rainfall year, practically gratis. Therefore another 6.3 TWh per annum (53%) is targeted for oil-fired power plant at an average cost of Rs 25 to 35 per unit. The great hope was that when the 600 MW Norochcholi Stage-2 is added, another say 4.2 TWh per annum of cheap (Rs 10) coal power would become available, displacing an equal amount of expensive (Rs 25 to 35) oil-fired power. These price estimates of course fluctuate with world coal and oil prices.                Read More