Page 142 - Environment
18 tonnes of red sanders worth Rs 9 crore seized in Chennai
A team of Customs Department on Friday seized a container with 18 tonnes of red sanders, a category of wood classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as "endangered" under Red list, worth Rs 9 crore from a truck here.One person has been arrested in this regard.On specific intelligence inputs, a team of customs officers conducted a special check on the movement of in-coming trucks into Kattupalli port area."The team noticed a container truck parked before the entry gate. On nearing, the team found that the truck driver had fled the spot. Efforts are being made to trace him," Rajan Chaudhary, Commissioner of Customs stated in a press release.On interrogation, the shipping bill and gate pass found in the bus appeared to be forged.The wooden blocks have been seized under the Customs Act, 1962 read with FT(D & R) Act.The forest officials were called to further examine and certify the red sander wood. Further investigation is underway.
Goa activists, Opposition welcome SC order on airport
Activists as well as the Opposition have welcomed the Supreme Court's order stopping construction of Goa's new greenfield international airport at Mopa.
RBI clears Rs 19,240 crore CCL for Punjab for Rabi marketing season
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Friday cleared Rs 19,240.91 crore towards Cash Credit Limit (CCL) for Punjab for the purchase of wheat in the Rabi marketing season. With this, the bulk of the CCL sought by the state government for the purchase of 130 lakh tonne of wheat for this season has been released by the central bank, an official release said here. The release of the CCL would facilitate the state government in making timely payments to farmers against purchases of food grains in the current season, which would begin from April 1 and culminate on May 25, it said. The central government has fixed the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat at Rs 1,840 per quintal, hiking it by Rs 105 from last year's Rs 1,735 per quintal. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh reviewed the arrangements for smooth wheat procurement on Friday and issued strict directives to the Food and Civil Supplies Department to ensure that the farmers do not face any hassles in the procurement of their grain.
Ex-student, 2 interns injured as hydrogen balloon bursts at
A former student and two interns were injured at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay Friday while filling hydrogen in balloons. The institute, in a statement, said the victims were filling hydrogen in balloons as part of an experiment outside the Aerospace Department when one of the balloons burst. Tushar Jadhav, an IIT Bombay alumnus, and two interns, Prashant Singh and Rajat Kumar, suffered 12 per cent burns and taken to National Burns Centre at Airoli, it said. They would be discharged from the hospital soon, it added. Jadhav, who started his own firm after passing out from IIT in 2012, had hired Singh and Kumar for his project, the institute said, adding that the two interns were not IIT students. Jadhav has been a "part-time staffer" IIT Bombay's mechanical department, it added.
YS Sharmila promises to bring back Rajanna Rajyam at Mangalagiri
YSRCP leader YS Sharmila on Friday promised people to bring back 'Rajanna Rajyam, a reference to the rule of her late father YSR, credited with introducing several path-breaking welfare schemes for poor and other weaker sections of the society.Sharmila interacted with to farmers while campaigning, where turmeric farmers complained that they were not getting minimum support price (MSP) for their produce because of which they were unable to clear their bank loans.Addressing the turmeric farmers, Sharmila said: "During Rajanna Rajyam turmeric farmers were given minimum support price of Rs 16,000 to Rs 17,000 as YSRCP was always concerned about farmer's welfare.""Agriculture might become extinct under N Chandrababu Naidu's regime. He is never concerned about farmers' welfare and doesn't deserve to be a people leader," she said."Give a chance to my brother Jagan Mohan Reddy, as he has closely seen the problems of farmers during his padayatra. He will pay crop insurance premium, prize ...
Fresh environmental study of new Goa airport
In a setback to the GMR group, the Supreme Court on Friday did not allow the construction of Goa's new greenfield international airport at Mopa and ordered that an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) would study allegations related to specific environmental concerns.
18 tonnes of red sanders declared as car spareparts seized
: A total of 18.5 tonnes of red sanders, declared as car accessories, worth Rs 9.17 crore has been seized and one person arrested in this connection, Customs officials said here Friday. Acting on a tip-off, the officials searched a container truck parked close to the entrance of the Kattupalli Port near here recently. As the driver was not around, the officials opened the container and recovered red sanders in it. The documents and shipping bill had been declared as 'car accessories and parts' meant for a company in Dubai, an official press release said. Initial investigations revealed some of the documents of exporter were not verified by the staff member of a shipping liner, who was later arrested, the release said. The officials traced the godown near Porur in the city from where the goods were loaded onto the container, and recovered a few more red sanders. The wood was seized under the customs Act, 1962 and further investigation was on, it said. The logs were ...
NTPC to set up 25 MW floating solar power plant at Simhadri
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Friday said it was setting up a 25 MW floating solar power plant in its water storagereservoir here as partof its diversification into the solar segment. Addressing a media conference here, Group General Manager of NTPC's Simhadri plant, A R Maiti, said it was also setting up a flue-gas desulphurisation plant (FGD). "We are also encouraging many fly-ash based applications. A local researcher, Dr. Kalidas, has come up with the idea of nano concrete housing using fly ash bricks. We are experimenting with it," he added. Maiti further said the NTPC Simhadrihad four units (of 500 MWs each) and the plant was operating at 70.98 plant load factor (PLF)this yearas against last year's 67.2 per cent. He said the plant was getting coal from Talcher in Odisha adding there were a fewchallenges in coal supply and the unit was also importing coal and mixing it with local coal suitably to operate the plant. Maiti said NTPC Simhadri was giving the
Western Railway mints record Rs 517 cr from scrap
Setting a new record for the Indian Railways, the Western Railway (WR) has minted a whopping Rs 517.41 crore by selling scrap material, an official said here on Friday.
HC tells Centre to list steps to protect project-hit fishermen
The Bombay High Court Friday asked the Centre to inform the court of the steps it was taking to ensure that the fishermen affected by the coastal road project were not robbed of their source of livelihood. A bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N M Jamdar directed the Union government counsel, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, to file an affidavit. The affidavit should state whether the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was required to have had experts conduct a specific study on the effect of the reclamation and construction work for the project on the fisherfolk in the city and their source of livelihood, the bench said. Such study was a condition imposed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest on the BMC at the time of granting clearances for the project, which envisages building a 29.2-km long road along Mumbai's west coast, connecting Marine Drive in South Mumbai to Kandivali, a western suburb. The court directed the Union government to file the ..
Hubble telescope images spun-up asteroid coming apart
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a small asteroid in the process of spinning fast and throwing off material dusty debris.
Thousands of German teens join Thunberg's climate fight
Thousands of German youths went on strike from school on Friday, joining Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg who has taken her protest against climate change to Berlin. Armed with homemade posters bearing slogans like "It's getting hot in here" or "Our house is on fire" or "You're never too small to make a difference", the teenagers packed into a park in central Berlin to sound the alarm about global warming. From the park in front of the economy ministry, they were to march to Brandenburg Gate, where Thunberg is due to address the crowd. Police said they have dispatched 300 officers to the protest which is expected to draw around 15,000 people. "We're going to continue skipping classes every Friday because we can't keep going like that with the climate. We have to pull the emergency brakes," vowed Franziska Wessel, one of the organisers of the protests in Berlin. Since December, teenagers across Germany inspired by the 16-year-old Thunberg's climate fight have been marching weekly ..
SC suspends environmental clearance to Mopa airport, asks EAC to revisit decision
The Supreme Court Friday suspended the environmental clearance granted for an international airport at Mopa in Goa and directed Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) to revisit the decision in light of its impact on ecology. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta said EAC, as an expert body, abdicated its role and function by taking into account circumstances which were extraneous to the exercise of its power and failed to notice facets of the environment that were crucial to its decision making. It said that a glaring deficiency which emerges from the EIA report is its failure to notice the existence of Ecologically Sensitive Zones of Western Ghats within a buffer distance of 10 km of the project site. "The EAC shall carry out the exercise within a month of the receipt of a certified copy of this order. Until the EAC carries out the fresh exercise as directed above, the EC granted by the MoEF on October 28, 2015 shall remain suspended," the bench said. The court also said ..
Mars Helicopter ready to fly to Red Planet: NASA
NASA's Mars Helicopter has successfully completed a series of tests and is ready to take flight over the Red Planet, the US space agency said.
Warming may expose one billion people to dengue, Zika by 2080: Study
Global warming could expose as many as one billion people to mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and Zika by 2080, according to a study that examined temperature changes on a monthly basis across the world. The news is bad even in areas with only a slight risk of having a climate suited for mosquitoes, because the viruses they carry are notorious for explosive outbreaks when they show up at the right place under the right conditions, according to the study published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. "Climate change is the largest and most comprehensive threat to global health security," said Colin J Carlson, a postdoctoral fellow in Georgetown University in the US. "Mosquitoes are only a part of the challenge, but after the Zika outbreak in Brazil in 2015, we're especially worried about what comes next," said Carlson. The team, led by Sadie J Ryan of the University of Florida and Carlson, studied what would happen if the two most common disease-carrying mosquitoes --
1bn people could be exposed to dengue, Zika by 2080
Global warming could expose as many as a billion people to mosquito-borne diseases including dengue and Zika by 2080, says a new study that examined temperature changes on a monthly basis worldwide.
Dusty winds from Afghanistan and Rajasthan increases air pollution level in Delhi
Dusty winds blowing from as far as Afghanistan and neighbouring Rajasthan have increased the pollution levels in the national capital with the air quality plummeting to the 'poor' category on Friday, authorities said. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) officials said the rise in pollution might be due to dusty winds flowing from the western side, including Rajasthan and Afghanistan. According to CPCB data, the overall air quality index (AQI) of the city was at 232, which falls under the 'poor' category. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'. The level of PM2.5 (particles in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres) was recorded at 103 and the PM10 (particles in the air with a diameter of less than 10 micrometres) level was recorded at 226, it said. The Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR) said the overall air ...
Five varieties of Indian coffee get GI certification
Five varieties of Indian coffee have been awarded Geographical Indication (GI), a move that will enhance their visibility globally and allow growers to get the right value.While Coorg Arabica coffee is grown specifically in Kodagu district of Karnataka, Wayanaad Robusta coffee is from Wayanad district in east Kerala, Chikmagalur Arabica coffee from Chikmagalur district in Deccan plateau of Karnataka, Araku Valley Arabica coffee from hilly tracks of Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha region, and Bababudangiris Arabica coffee from central portion of Chikmagalur district.The Monsooned Malabar Robusta Coffee, a unique specialty coffee from India, was given GI certification earlier, according to an official statement issued on Friday by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.India is the only country where the entire coffee cultivation is grown under shade, hand picked and sun dried. It is cultivated across 4.54 lakh hectares by 3.66 lakh farmers.In ...
Garfield beach phone mystery solved after 30 years
For more than 30 years bright orange "Garfield" phones have been washing up on the French coast to the bemusement of local beach cleaners, who have finally cracked the mystery behind them. Locals had long suspected a lost shipping container was to blame for the novelty landline phones, modelled on the prickly feline cartoon character, that have plagued the northern Finistere beaches for decades. "Our association has existed for 18 years and in that time we have found pieces of Garfield telephones almost each time we clean," said Claire Simonin, the head of local beach cleaning group Ar Viltansou in Brittany. But it wasn't until a local resident revealed that he had discovered the container after a storm in the 1980s that they were finally able to locate it -- wedged in a partially submerged cave only accessible at low tide. "He told us where it was... it was very, very dangerous," Simonin told AFP after an expedition to track it down. "We found this incredible fissure that is 30 ...
TPDDL sets a target of saving 100 MW during 'Earth Hour' this year
Power discom TPDDL has set a target of saving up to 100 MW power during this year's 'Earth Hour', which will be observed on March 30, its spokesperson said on Friday. Earth Hour will be observed worldwide on Saturday, from 8.30 PM to 9.00 PM during which people and institutions will switch off their electrical appliances and non-essential lighting. "Tata Power-DDL aims to save 80 -100 MW this year. Last year the company managed to save around 70 MW during Earth Hour," a TPDDL spokesperson said. The company has sensitised over one million consumers by conducting various sessions and by sharing awareness through SMS and electronic direct mailers. The company has also roped in RWAs and IWAs to mobilise the movement at the ground level. "We are a proud supporter of the Earth Hour movement and urge people to come forward in large numbers and lend a unified voice for action against climate change," said Sanjay Banga, CEO of TPDDL. The company will also organise several candle light marches .
