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The Cabinet has approved an agreement for widening civil aviation ties with the US. It has also decided to transfer the Badarpur Thermal Power Station to the National Thermal Power Corporation at a cost of Rs 274 crore.
Under the aviation deal, India and the US will sign an umbrella memorandum of agreement. This will let India draw upon the resources of the Federal Aviation Administration to modernise its infrastructure.
Assistance from the FAA will be largely in the form of technical and managerial expertise to improve civil aviation infrastructure, standards and equipment. FAA will also help in airport certification in India.
Meanwhile, the transfer of the 705 Mw Badarpur Thermal Power Station will be done at a cost of Rs 274 crore (arrived at by reducing liabilities of Rs 134 crore from the power station's business value of Rs 408 crore).
Through the transfer, the government will stop putting more money into the plant, while the NTPC will invest in its modernisation, a statement added. NTPC currently manages the plant.
As part of the BTPS deal, the government will authorise the lease of 517.08 hectares, on which BTPS is located, for 50 years. NTPC will pay Rs 5.2 crore a year, 10 per cent of the book value of the land, as lease rent.
The Cabinet has also approved the introduction of a Bill to amend the existing item of the Lohar community, as in the Hindi version of the SC/ST Order (Amendment) Act, 1976, to Lohara in Bihar.
