Date:12/08/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/08/12/stories/2003081205011101.htm

National

Amendments planned in IDBI Bill

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI Aug. 11. The Union Cabinet today decided to introduce certain amendments to the Industrial Development Bank of India (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Bill, pending in Parliament, to make it clear that the new entity proposed continued to be an institution providing development financing.

The Cabinet spokesperson and Union Minister, Sushma Swaraj, said the amendments came in the wake of apprehensions that the Bill, which seeks to convert the IDBI into a bank, could dilute its very purpose of development financing. The changes were being made in line with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.

The Cabinet cleared a railway link for the important centres of Buddhist pilgrimage in Bihar at a cost of Rs. 324 crores. Under the proposal, a new broad gauge line would be constructed between Hajipur and Sagauli via Vaishali and Kesariya. While the Hajipur-Vaishali segment would be ready in five years, the remaining portion would be completed three years later.

Ms. Swaraj said that with a mega Ganga bridge coming up near Patna, the new project would provide a Buddhist circuit from Sagauli to Sarnath via Vaishali, Rajgir and Gaya.