Page 183 - Environment
Rlys accuses Karnataka govt of "backtracking from its commitment" to Bengaluru suburban rly
The railways has come down hard on the Karnataka government for backtracking from its commitment to the Bengaluru suburban railway project and alleged that despite having floated the proposal in 2013, the JDS-Congress dispensation was creating roadblocks, an official statement said. During a meeting in Bengaluru on Friday, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal urged Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to remove such roadblocks, the statement issued by the ministry said. In a letter dated February 8, Chairman of Railway Board V K Yadav had explained to the Karnataka Chief Secretary the stand of railways with regard to the 19 conditions put forth by the state to implement the project. "I am surprised to learn that the state government gave 'in principle' approval to the project subject to as many as 19 conditions on a proposal initiated by the state government in the first place. "It is discouraging to note that the state government has deviated from the original understanding and sought ..
Mold-Tek Packaging to inaugurate 9th manufacturing plant at Vizag
Mold-Tek has already inaugurated its 8th manufacturing plant at Mysore on 07 February 2019 to supply plastic packaging containers mainly to Asian Paints, Mysore plant requirements and Mondelez.
Waste-to-energy plant in Agra: SC seeks view of NEERI, CPCB
The Supreme Court Friday asked the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to conduct a joint inspection and suggest whether a waste-to-energy plant, proposed to be set up in Agra, would reduce the toxicity of air in the area. A waste-to-energy plant is a facility which combusts waste to produce electricity. The apex court asked both the bodies to also inspect the site where the Agra Municipal Corporation has proposed to set up the waste-to-energy plant and submit a joint report before it within six weeks. A bench of justices S A Bobde and Deepak Gupta was told that the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) is an "eco-sensitive area" and has four world heritage sites, including the Taj Mahal. The TTZ is an area of about 10,400 sq km spread across the districts of Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah in Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. Advocate M C Mehta, who has filed a petition in the apex court on the ...
Prabhu lays foundation stone of IIFT's new campus
Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu Friday laid the foundation stone of a new campus of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) here. The campus is being constructed by state-owned NBCC at Maidan Garhi here at an estimated cost of Rs 302 crore, the company said in a statement. The new IIFT campus will incorporate sustainable features such as solar power generation systems, rain water harvesting, and sewerage treatment plants. The 3-star GRIHA rating building will have a total built-up area of 50,000 sq metres that will feature an academic block, administration block and auditorium with a sitting capacity of 1000, a hostel block and a ten-storeyed warden block. NBCC Chairman and Managing Director Anoop Kumar Mittal said: "In thriving economies like India, the existence of robust infrastructure in the education sector is imperative to shape the future growth of the country." One of India's premier institutes, the IIFT currently has its Delhi campus in the Qutub ...
Puri lays foundation stone of redevelopment of GPRA colony in South East Delhi
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday laid foundation stone of redevelopment of the GPRA colony at Sriniwaspuri in South East Delhi. According to the government, not a single tree will be cut for redevelopment of Sriniwaspuri project to be carried out by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) An official statement said that the General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) currently has total 1,429 quarters of different categories, out of which 820 quarters are being demolished in Phase-I. It stated that the CPWD will construct 4,994 GPRA of different categories at a cost of Rs 3,999 crores in two phases. The CPWD has reduced the area of basement under the Towers to avoid transplantation of large number of trees. In addition to transplantation of the trees, compensatory planation of trees will be carried out in the complex in a big manner.
Over 30 lakh farmers in Odisha have received Kalia assistance
As many as 30,40,038 small, marginal, landless farmers and share croppers have benefited from Odisha government's flagship Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (Kalia) scheme, officials said on Friday. Small, marginal and landless farmers were given Rs 5,000 through their bank accounts. The state government has distributed about Rs 1,300 crore among the 30,40,038 farmers under the Kalia scheme, they said. The beneficiary farmers will be provided Rs 10,000 each per annum for two crops (Rs 5,000 for Kharif and Rs 5,000 for rabi crop), officials said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday distributed the second phase of financial assistance to over 14 lakh small and marginal beneficiaries at a farmers meeting in Bargarh district. The state government had earlier disbursed money to 12.45 lakh farmers in the first phase while another three lakh landless farmers were provided financial assistance at a farmers meeting in Kendrapara on February ...
Ruling party MLA embarrasses Punjab minister
The Congress government in Punjab faced embarrassment in the Assembly Friday after its MLA Randeep Singh Nabha said that he was not satisfied with state Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot's reply on the money spent on nature parks. During the Question Hour, the Congress legislator from Amloh seat said Dharmasot could not give a reply on the details of the funds spent on the nature parks. "I am sorry to state that the answer was incomplete. The minister was misguiding. I can read the question in Punjabi if he (minister) has some problem in English," Nabha said, taking a swipe at Dharamsot. The minister retorted and said, "I think either he (Nabha) does not understand Punjabi or knows only English. I have answered the question. Now in which language, I should make him understand." Nabha, not satisfied with the reply, even flashed photographs of the Rajiv Gandhi park and claimed it had become a garbage dumping ground. "This park does not figure in the list given by the minister. Why .
Delhi power discom enters partnership for energy efficient appliances
Power discom BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) has entered a strategic partnership with EESL for a 'energy efficient appliance program' covering its 25 lakh residential and institutional consumers in south and west Delhi, officials said Friday. An agreement to the effect was signed between BRPL and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). Commenting on the partnership, BRPL CEO Amal Sinha said, "BRPL is committed to energy efficiency, adoption of green technologies and smart procurement initiatives that will result in optimised solutions for us and our consumers." "Under the programme, BRPL consumers would be able to procure several optimally priced energy efficient appliances," said a BRPL spokesperson. The appliances will include power efficient air conditioners, induction cookers, fans, LED tubes and bulbs, among others. Besides promoting energy efficiency, the programme will also help to reduce the peak power demand in south and west Delhi. It will also enable BRPL to leverage
Cheetahs from Namibia to be kept at Nauradehi sanctuary, NTCA tells SC
African cheetahs, to be translocated in India from Namibia, will be kept at Nauradehi wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) told the Supreme Court on Friday. It said the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which provides inputs to governments and institutions on biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development, has given no objection for the translocation. India's last spotted cheetah had died in 1947. In 1952, the animal was declared extinct in the country. The matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and Deepak Gupta on Friday and the counsel representing NTCA told the court that Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, has also supported the proposal to re-introduce cheetahs in the country. NTCA's counsel said: "We are suggesting Nauradehi sanctuary in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh (for keeping cheetahs)". The counsel said NTCA was only seeking a clarification that there is ..
NEERI, CPCB to inspect site for 'waste to energy' plant in Agra
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to inspect the site where Agra Municipal Corporation has proposed to set up a 'waste to energy' plant.
Chemical warehouses in Old Dhaka asked to relocate after deadly fire
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Friday ordered authorities to relocate and remove all the chemical factories and warehouses in Old Dhaka after a massive fire killed at least 67 people in the congested historic part of the capital city. The fast-moving fire swept through adjoining apartment buildings and chemical warehouses in Old Dhaka's congested Chawkbazar area on Wednesday night, killing 67 people and injuring several others, the latest such deadly blaze in the country. The fire was triggered when a gas cylinder of a parked pickup truck exploded, which razed surrounding vehicles and the flames then quickly spread to five buildings, including a community centre where a wedding party was on, in the narrow Chawkbazar alley. A four-storey building Wahed Mansion' that suffered most damage had a dozen stores for perfumes and plastic goods. The fire spread rapidly due to the multiple chemical godowns that were situated in the area. Large amount of canisters stored inside several .
Teenage activist brings climate action campaign to France
Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg brought her class-boycott campaign to Paris on Friday, hoping to encourage French students to hit the streets with demands for more ambitious efforts to combat global warming. The Friday protests that the 16-year-old Swede launched in August have gained little traction so far in France, where the landmark COP21 international accord on cutting emissions was signed in 2015. After calling on the EU in Brussels on Thursday to move more aggressively on greenhouse gas cuts, the young Swede will hold a press conference in Paris at 1100 GMT. She will then participate in a march in central Paris, one of dozens planned in cities across Europe as part of her Fridays For Future movement. But outside Paris, only two other class-cutting marches have been called, at Beauvais just north of Paris, and in the southwestern city of Dax. Last Friday, only around 200 students protested outside the environment ministry in Paris. "I don't know why young people mobilise
Leopard seen in Rangamatia area of Bhubaneswar
A leopard was reportedly sighted by residents of Rangamatia area here, Forest officials said Friday. The leopard was seen by a resident and he raised an alarm on Thursday night. A team of forest personnel went to the spot and examined the pug marks. The forest staff suspect that a leopard from the Chandaka sanctuary might have strayed into the human settlement area. The incident comes days after a leopard had strayed into Palaspalli area of the city on February 18 evening. The animal was captured by forest officials near the Bhubaneswar airport on February 19. The animal was shifted to the Nandankanan Zoological Park and later released to Chandaka forest after treatment at the zoo.
HAL signs MoU with Central PWD for works at chopper factory
Defence public sector unitHindustan Aeronautics Ltd Friday signed an MoU with Central Public Works Department for execution of the stage 2 infrastructure development works at its greenfield helicopter factory in Tumakuru at the Aero India here. The MoU was signed by GVS Bhaskar, Chief Executive Officer, Helicopter Complex and Rajesh Jain, Chief Project Manager (CPM), HAL project zone, CPWD in the presence of R Madhavan, CMD, HAL, a release said. HAL said the stage 2 works include development of infrastructure for structural assembly and equipping of helicopters at Tumakuru. The project will be executed in a phased manner. The new Helicopter factory is coming up on a 615 acres greenfield campus that would be fully self-sufficient for manufacturing full range of helicopters from 3 ton to 12 tons category. According to HAL, the factory shall comprise facilities such as state-of-the-art manufacturing, structural assembly, final assembly-line facilities, heli-runway, ...
Japanese spacecraft lands on asteroid to collect samples
Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft on Friday landed on the surface of an asteroid located 340 million km fromthe Earth to collect space-rock samples, a significant step in a complex mission to study the origin of life.
Specify distance of stone crushers from educational institutions: NGT to Haryana
The National Green Tribunal has directed the Haryana government to finalise within two months as to what should be the distance of stone crushers from educational institutions in the state. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel asked the Haryana chief secretary to submit the report expeditiously. "We direct the Chief Secretary, Haryana to finalise the matter expeditiously within two months from today and furnish a report to this tribunal by e-mail at ngt.filing@gmail.com. The distance which may be specified must be based on scientific and environment rational," the bench said. The directions came while the green panel was hearing a plea moved by the Sardar Patel Jan Chetna Education Society that sought enforcement of an October 31, 2018 NGT order, directing the Director of Environment to take steps and specify the distance of stone crushers from educational institutions. During the hearing, the lawyer appearing for the Haryana government told the NGT that ...
Ford probing possible problems with fuel economy, emissions tests
DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it has hired outside experts to investigate its vehicle fuel economy and testing procedures after employees raised concerns, and did not know whether it would have to correct data provided to regulators or consumers.
From then to now: Inside the developments of 1960 Indus Waters Treaty
The water distribution treaty between India and Pakistan that was brokered by the World Bank in 1960 to use the water available in the Indus system of rivers originating in India has come in the limelight once again as New Delhi has decided to stop the flow of its share of water from the three eastern rivers - Beas, Ravi and Sutlej - to Islamabad.
Little leeway to ease consumer pain as European power prices soar
PARIS/WARSAW/LONDON (Reuters) - Households across Europe should brace for higher energy bills this year as governments have had little success in limiting rises in the face of soaring wholesale and environmental costs.
'Wonders of the World' Park opens for public; SDMC mulling lending it for film shoot
A theme park featuring a 60-ft Eiffel Tower, a 20-ft Taj Mahal and replicas of five other wonders of the world built using 150 tonnes of industrial and other waste in south Delhi, was thrown open to the public on Friday. Home Minister Rajnath Singh had inaugurated the 'Waste to Wonder Park', spread over seven acres in Rajiv Gandhi Smriti Van near Sarai Kale Khan, on Thursday evening. "The park was today thrown open to the public. On the first day itself, it is seeing a rush, as it is a unique recreational area, marrying recycling with aesthetics," a senior SDMC official said. He said the park built at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore will operate from 11 AM to 11 PM. The home minister had praised the initiative of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), saying the park "sets an example of 'waste-to-wealth' for other agencies", as scrap has been used to create the "wonders of the world". The replicas are -- Taj Mahal (20 ft), the Great Pyramid of Giza (18 ft), Eiffel Tower (60 ft), Leaning
