Page 605 - Environment

'Seed bombing' carried out on hills near Aurangabad

An aerial "bombing" was carried out in the hills near Aurangabad city of Maharashtra last week. But it was bombing of a different kind -- of seeds -- and the aim was to increase the forest cover. The 'seed bombs' were dropped on two hills near the Daulatabad fort, a popular tourist place in Aurangabad, a forest official said here today. A 'seed bomb' is a cluster of seeds, peat-free compost and clay and it gives initial nutrition to the seed for germination, Aurangabad's deputy conservator of forests S P Wadaskar explained. The targeted hills have sharp slopes and humans generally cannot go there to plant saplings, Wadaskar told PTI. "We had collected four lakh seeds and prepared one lakh 'seed bombs'. The idea was to increase the germination rate per bomb," said another forest official. Officials of the revenue and forest departments flew in the helicopter to disperse the seeds as part of a mass plantation drive. "The mass-level tree plantation is going on for the last ..

Indian Railways introduces dwarf container service

The Indian Railways has introduced a commercial service to run double-stack dwarf containers on trains to capture the lost traffic through new delivery model for domestic cargo, the ministry said today. The containers are shorter in size and can run on electrified tracks. They enable the railways in double-stack movement of cargo and have increased the ministry's revenue. This freight train was flagged off on July 7 from Western Railway's Rajkot railway station on its maiden commercial run. In a statement, the ministry said the train was booked from Reliance Rail Siding at Kanalus to Rewari in Haryana and was loaded with 82 containers carrying polypropylene granules. "Due to this double stacked dwarf container service, Indian Railways has received increased revenue of Rs 18.50 lakh," the ministry said. A double-stack container is 6 ft 4 inches in height. Despite being smaller in size, the dwarf containers can hold a capacity of 30,500 kgs compared to regular containers. By using the ..

Rs 150 cr project to prevent pollution of Noyyal river: CM

The Tamil Nadu government will implement a Rs 150 crore project to prevent pollution of Noyyal river in Tirupur, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said today. Making a suo motu statement in the state assembly, he said compound walls would be constructed along the banks of the river in the Tirupur Corporation limits. 'Baby canals' would also be constructed to carry drainage water from homes and factories, he said. A hosiery hub, Tirupur has been facing the issue of water pollution, mainly from dyeing units, with Noyyal river bearing the brunt. As part of the proposal, setting up of effluent treatment centres, construction of parks along the river banks and upgrading anaicut areas would also be taken up, he said. A detailed project report would be prepared for this purpose, the Chief Minister added. In a separate announcement, he proposed allocating Rs 25 crore towards procuring surveillance cameras that could automatically read vehicle registration plates. The pilot project was

Sweltering heat pushes peak power demand to all-time high in Delhi

Breaking all previous records, the national capital's peak power demand hit an all-time high of 6,998 MW this afternoon. According to figures presented by State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC), it is the highest peak power demand recorded in the history of the city. Last month, it had touched 6,934 MW on June 8. The increase is 200 per cent over the peak power demand of 2,879 MW in 2002, an official of the Power Department said. On June 1 this year, the peak power demand had soared to 6,651 MW breaking the record of 6,526 MW on June 6, 2017. Due to sweltering heat, the highest peak power demand of 2017 has been crossed several times this year. It was 6,651 MW on June 1, 6,562 MW on June 5, 6,568 MW on June 7, 6,934 MW on June 8, a spokesperson of power discom BSES said. The Power Department and distribution companies had expected the peak demand to breach 7,000 MW mark in June this year. Delhi's Power Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier predicted 7,000 MW peak in June, saying enough ...

Pak launches 2 satellites from China

Pakistan on Monday launched two indigenously built satellites into the orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, using a Chinese-made launch vehicle, the Express Tribune quoted officials.The satellites were launched onboard a Chinese Long March (LM-2C) rocket, it was reported.The first satellite sent into space is a remote sensing satellite (PRSS1), a dual-purpose Earth observational and optical satellite. This makes Pakistan one of the few countries to establish its own remote sensing satellite into orbit.The second satellite launched is a PAK-TES-1A, which has been developed by Pakistan's space agency, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), to augment satellite manufacture capabilities in the country.The two satellites were sent to China as Pakistan lacks the infrastructure to launch such objects into space, according to the Express Tribune report.The PRSS1 has been developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), according ..

Europa's ocean ascending to surface: NASA

Deformation in the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa could transport subsurface ocean water to the icy body's surface, a study by NASA scientists has found. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the US focused on linear features called "bands" and "groove lanes" found on Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede. They have used the same numerical model to solve mysteries about motion in Earth's crust. The scientists created an animation - a two-dimensional simulation of a possible cross-section of a band running through Europa's ice shell. Bands on Europa and Ganymede are typically tens of miles wide and hundreds of miles long. As the animation runs forward, the ice shell is deformed by gravitational interactions with Jupiter. The cold, brittle ice at the surface gets pulled apart. At the same time, faults in the upper ice form, heal, and re-form, NASA said. The churning material that quickly fills the bottom half of the view is a collection of tiny white dots representing .

Gandhi targets Modi over promise of doubling farmers income

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his government's promise of doubling farmers' incomes, citing a report where a a Chhattisgarh sarpanch claims that officials from Delhi taught a woman farmer to tell Modi she now earns twice as much.

All households in Jharkhand should get electricity connection

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das today said by December this year every household in the state should get electricity connection. "By December 2018, we have to bring electricity to every household. In this work, negligence will not be tolerated at any cost," the chief minister said while reviewing the progress of work with rural electrification agencies. Das said electricity has not reached all the people even after so many years of Independence and told the agencies to plan out strategies to achieve the goal of electricity connection to every household, an official release said. "Complete the work of power supply to every household within the given time frame and those who cannot do, surrender. Now the government will take action. Those companies who will not complete work, their bank guarantee will be seized and legal action will also be taken against the officials," the chief minister said. Das said his government is working to illuminate every household and ...

SC lashes out at MoPNG, asks if the ministry is 'God'

Does the Petroleum Ministry consider itself to be 'God' or a 'super government' and think that the "unemployed" judges are at their mercy, an anguished Supreme Court bench observed today. The scathing remarks by a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta came when the top court was informed that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) had only yesterday apprised the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) about the issue of ban on import of pet coke, which is used as industrial fuel. The court, which was hearing a matter relating to air pollution in the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on the MoPNG for "laxity". The top court also imposed a cost of Rs one lakh on the Delhi government for not filing a status report giving a time-line for removal of traffic bottlenecks on several corridors in the city. The strong observations against MoPNG came when Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A N S Nadkarni, appearing for

DJB approves scheme to regularise unauthorised water connections

In a move that would provide relief to thousands of people living in unauthorised colonies of the national capital, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) would regularise water connections in these areas in the coming months. A meeting of the DJB, presided by its chairman and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, approved a scheme to regularise unauthorised water connections for a period of three months. "This will provide relief to thousands of people," Kejriwal said in a tweet. There are a large number of unauthorised water connections in various parts of Delhi, especially in the unauthorised colonies, which causes loss of revenue while posing danger of contamination, a government official said. In other decisions, the board approved realisation of development charges before sanction of new water connection from separate dwellings, the last date of penalty on rainwater harvesting in Dwarka sub city extended from July 1 to September 1 and laying of sewer line in Begumpur group of unauthorised ...

Goa: GSPCB to curb release of raw sewage into water bodies

The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) will take measures to ensure establishments, including hotels, don't release raw sewage into the state's water bodies. The decision was taken during the board's meeting last week, a statement from the GSPCB said today. "Members were informed that closure directions have been issued to three units discharging their waste in the creek close to Baga beach (in North Goa)," GSPCB chairperson Ganesh Shetgaonkar said. He added that surprise inspections would be undertaken to curb the problem of raw sewage being discharged into creeks, rivers and other water bodies. The pollution control body also discussed ways in which waste water can be reused by the hotel industry for purposes like flushing apart from construction activities. The statement said that Board members deliberated on the necessary infrastructure, including dual pipelines and collection tanks, that needed to be put in place for this purpose. "It was decided that the ...

China to reopen market to German poultry exports

HAMBURG (Reuters) - China has agreed to reopen its market to imports of German poultry meat, German agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner said on Monday.

Factbox: Fish consumption hits a peak, but is it sustainable?

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A third of the world's oceans are overfished, with fish consumption at a record high, according to report published on Monday by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

100 kg of fish preserved in Formalin seized

Fisheries Department today seized 100 kg of fish preserved in toxic chemical Formalin at the fish market in the Kumbakonam four-road junction near here, officials said. Acting on a tip-off, the department personnel raided the market and seized the fish. Fishmongers said the catch did not belong to them, they said. The Formalin-mixed fish would cause cancer, allergy and several other diseases, they added.

Forest department rules out handing over its rest houses to UEDCL

Armed with a recent Supreme Court order, the state forest department today ruled out handing over five of its rest houses to Uttarakhand Eco-tourism Development Corporation Ltd (UEDCL). "In compliance with the apex court order we can't hand over five of the rest houses located in our Lansdowne forest division to UEDCL," Chief Conservator of Forests, Manoj Chandran, said. "The court order gives the entire control of Forest Rest Houses (FRHs)and Inspection Bungalows to the forest department and therefore it is impossible to hand them over to any other authority," Chandran said. The UEDCL had sent a request to the forest department about three months ago seeking control of Laldhang, Sendhikhal, Kolhuchaud, Sneh and Goolarjhala forest rest houses located in Lansdowne forest division. Chandran, who is also the nodal officer for forest land transfer in Uttarakhand, had returned the request to UEDCL due to some objections. "However, with the apex court's order the chapter is closed forever. .

Insight: Trump's trade war splits a Missouri county into winners and losers

NEW MADRID COUNTY, Mo. (Reuters) - People don't talk about trade tariffs in this stretch of the Mississippi River basin, where grains and metals have paid the bills for generations.

DJB to regularise illegal water connections

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) on Monday approved reintroduction of a scheme for three months for regularisation of unauthorised water connections in the national capital.

Singapore to float $3.69 billion tenders for water, waste management project

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore said on Monday it will call tenders to build an integrated water reclamation plant and waste management facility in Tuas district for more than S$5 billion ($3.69 billion) over the next five years.

Earth may get twice as hot as predicted

The Earth may end up being twice as warm as projected by climate models, even if the world meets the target of limiting global warming to under two degrees Celsius, a study has found. The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, showed that sea levels may rise six metres or more even if Paris climate goals are met. The findings are based on observational evidence from three warm periods over the past 3.5 million years when the world was 0.5-2 degree Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial temperatures of the 19th Century. The research also revealed how large areas of the polar ice caps could collapse and significant changes to ecosystems could see the Sahara Desert become green and the edges of tropical forests turn into fire dominated savanna. "Observations of past warming periods suggest that a number of amplifying mechanisms, which are poorly represented in climate models, increase long-term warming beyond climate model projections," said Hubertus Fischer from the ...

China successfully launches 2 satellites for close ally Pakistan

China today successfully launched two remote sensing satellites for its "all-weather" ally Pakistan, which will also help the two countries monitor progress as they build the strategic USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The launch of the two satellites marks yet another space cooperation between China and Pakistan since the launch of PAKSAT-1R, a communication satellite, in August 2011. The satellites -- PRSS-1 and PakTES-1A --- were launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at 11:56 am using a Long March-2C rocket, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The PRSS-1 is China's first optical remote sensing satellite sold to Pakistan. It is the 17th satellite developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) for an overseas buyer, it said. A scientific experiment satellite, PakTES-1A, developed by engineers of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), was sent into orbit using the same rocket. After entering ...