Finland wants to tango with UP

Finland has evinced interest in partnering the Uttar Pradesh government in various sectors, including the smart city project, power, renewable energy, smart grid solutions etc.

Taking this agenda forward, Finland minister for environment, energy and housing Kimmo Tiilikainen today called upon UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath here this evening and held wide ranging discussions, while offering Finnish expertise in hordes of sectors.

Earlier in the day, industry chamber FICCI and Embassy of Finland had jointly organised an industry interaction in Lucknow. It witnessed the participation of 21 Finnish companies offering innovative and sustainable solution in the energy, smart grid, smart cities sectors, apart from some funding agencies.

The session also saw the participation of 30 Indian companies, who later partook in B2B sessions with their Finnish counterparts.

“We are here to offer our technological expertise in a wide range of sectors, including smart cities, smart grid, renewable energy, power etc. I am also looking forward to hearing the chief minister about his vision of development and to see where Finnish companies could contribute,” Tiilikainen said on the sidelines.

UP industry minister Satish Mahana and power minister Srikant Sharma represented the state government at the summit.

Tiilikainen said Finland was desirous of expanding the scope of partnership with UP in different sectors. Finnish technology could be used for energy conservation projects, while it could be employed in better traffic management, he added.

Mahana observed UP had transformed over the last six months even as he exhorted FICCI to serve as a bridge between Finland and India. He claimed now investors were showing interest in setting up their industries in the state.

Sharma said the state government had undertaken various new projects, including providing electricity connection to every household. He noted the partnership between Finland and UP would help the state develop in different sectors.

Over the past few months, the representatives of various governments, including Israel, Japan, France, Belgium and now Finland, have met Yogi and offered their expertise in the on-going state projects.

EOM

Lucknow Metro facing ‘overhead’ Chinese threat

Lucknow Metro, the country’s latest metro rail plying passenger coaches and signalling system supplied by French major Alstom, is faced with a peculiar threat of Chinese origin these days.

The Metro, which rolled out its commercial services last week over 8.5 km long elevated section, is today vulnerable to its electrical systems tripping after coming in contact with Chinese ‘manjha’ (kite string), which among other harmful chemicals contains metallic substances.

The electric supply to Lucknow Metro has tripped multiple times due to Chinese manjha getting entangled with its overhead supply cables. After a recent such incident, LMRC has filed a police complaint in this regard.

After the last Metro service every night, LMRC engineers undertake an arduous task of checking overhead cables and extricating such manjha for the smooth run of the metro the following day.

While, Chinese manjha stands banned in Lucknow, it nonetheless continues to sell illegally in the kite markets.

Earlier, LMRC had also appealed to the Lucknow residents to desist from flying kite near the metro elevated route as it engenders the safety of metro passengers, while also posing threat to the smooth running of the metro services.

The heritage city of Lucknow is famous for kite flying, especially in old residential areas and the sprouting of high rises has quite not dampened the spirits of its aficionados.

Kite flying reaches crescendo during the annual kite flying and competition carnival on ‘jamghat’, which falls on the following day of Diwali festival, the skyline becomes colourful with kites of varied shapes and sizes flying across.

On September 5, union home minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Aditynath had jointly flagged off the maiden commercial run of Lucknow Metro, which is touted among the fastest completing metro projects in India. Its priority section of 8.5 km reached the commercial operations stage within three years of the start of ground work.

EOM