Page 765 - Environment
PFC enters Waste-to-Energy' segment, lends Rs 290 cr to Bawana proj project
State-run Power Finance Corporation today announced foray into funding waste-to-energy (WTE) projects by lending Rs 290 crore to the Bawana project in Delhi. The country's largest WTE project of 24 MW is being operated by Ramky Group, a PFC statement said. The company said that with this it has forayed into the WTE segment. This plant was commissioned in 2017 and is the third WTE plant of Delhi. It is part of a 2000 TPD (tonne per day) Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management System which includes door to door collection, segregation and transportation of municipal waste from North Delhi, its subsequent processing and disposal. This plant alone handles about 20 per cent Delhi's Municipal Solid Waste. After the waste reaches the processing plant, compost is prepared from the organic portion and after processing, the remaining waste is combusted in the WTE boiler to produce electricity, which is sold through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to Delhi DISCOMs. The plant has a unique ...
Bharat Heavy Electricals secures Rs 137 cr order for ESP Package
At Ramagundam Super Thermal Power Station
Four elephants die after being hit by train in Odisha
Four elephants were killed after being run over by a train near a level crossing under Bagadihi Forest Range area in Jharsuguda district today. The tragedy struck when the jumbos were crossing the railway track on the Howrah-Mumbai line near Teladihi in the wee hours, said Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) P K Dhal. Two tuskers and two female pachyderms were killed in the incident, he said, adding that jumbos often pass through the area which was an elephant corridor. The impact of the mishap was so severe that the pachyderms were thrown away quite a distance, said an official. Senior railway officials rushed to the site and arrangements were made for removal of the carcasses, he said. The traffic on the Howrah-Mumbai down line was also affected following the incident. Some trains were controlled at different stations before normalcy was restored on the route, said officials. Dhal said the forest officials had already urged the railway authorities to ensure the running of trains
Four elephants killed in Odisha
Four elephants were killed after a train hit them on a railway track in Odisha's Jharsuguda district on Monday.
Urban areas crowded with more 'nuisance' birds: study
People living in crowded urban areas are more likely to see birds that can cause a nuisance than those that make us genuinely happy, a study has found. Researchers at the University of Exeter and the British Trust for Ornithology in the UK found that crowded urban areas have fewer songbirds such as tits and finches, and more potential nuisance birds, such as pigeons, magpies and gulls. They examined ratios of birds-to-people and found areas of high-density housing have fewer birds overall. People in green and leafy suburbs see up to three and a half times more songbirds and woodpeckers - which are associated with a positive impact on human wellbeing - than birds whose behaviours can cause a nuisance, the study found. Previous research has suggested that people living in neighbourhoods with more birds, shrubs and trees are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and stress. Understanding the relationship between the numbers of birds and people is important for how we manage ...
Urban areas crowded with 'nuisance' birds
If you are living in a crowded urban area, there are more chances for you to see birds that cause a nuisance than those that make us genuinely happy.
Commonwealth rich nations 'shirking' on climate fight
Commonwealth rich nations are contributing less towards the global effort to tackle climate change, while poorer nations are over-achieving on pledges, a British charity said on Monday.
China's central government-owned firms should strictly control debt investments - regulator
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central government-owned firms should strictly control debt investments and high-risk businesses in global operations, the country's state assets regulator said on Monday.
Dilip Buildcon's subsidiary executes concession agreement for NHAI road project
In State of Andhra Pradesh
Rs.550 crores project bagged by ITDC for developing infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh
ITDC will be the Consulting Agency as well as Implementing Agency for the DPR and the execution which shall be taken up in three stages i.e. preparing the DPR, Implementation of project costing around 550 crores and implementation of second phase of the project.
Rajasthan Royals to plant 1mn saplings as part of Go Green initiative
Taking a cue from the Go Green initiative of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Rajasthan Royals will also be supporting the cause of the movement by planting one million saplings across the state of Rajasthan and contribute its bit to the environment, it was announced on Sunday.
Patnaik inaugurates bridge over river Ib
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated a bridge constructed over river Ib, a tributary of Mahanadi, that will connect the coal region of Jharsaguda district with Sambalpur. Addressing a meeting at Jogipali of Rengali block in Sambalpur district during the inauguration of the bridge, Patnaik said, it will be a milestone for the region. "The bridge will help connect the coal region of Brajarjnagar and Belpahar in Jharsuguda district with Sambalpur and boost economic activities in the area," he said. The 2.5 km long bridge, which connects Rengali block in Sambalpur district with Lakhanpur block in Jharsuguda district, has been constructed by state's Public Works Department (PWD) at a cost of Rs 117.50 crore. The bridge, which is now the longest one in Western Odisha, will reduce the distance between Lakhanpur and Sambalpur by 50 km, said an official. The bridge will provide people of Lakhanpur, Blepahar and Brajarajnagar area of Jharsuguda district easy road
India, France holding discussion for inter-planetary missions to Mars, Venus
Space agencies of India and France have been holding discussions to work on inter-planetary missions to Mars and Venus, a French source said. This comes almost a month after the two sides agreed on a joint statement for an enhanced space cooperation. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and French National Space Agency (CNES) had agreed to work together on autonomous navigation of rovers on Moon, Mars and other planets, and aero braking technologies for planetary exploration. Venus is under-explored compared to Mars. This is why we want to concentrate on Venus. ISRO has confirmed this priority for them. Discussions are also going on for the future Indian Mars mission, said a CNES official. India has already undertaken two successful inter-planetary missions, 'Chandrayaan-I' to Moon and 'Mangalyaan' to Mars. It is likely to send Chandrayaan-II this month, another mission for exploring the Moon, through which a rover would be landed on Earth's only natural satellite. ISRO also .
Power outage hits Kabul after militants attack pylon
A massive power outage in Kabul has left many residents of the Afghan capital with no lights or running water, officials said today, after militants blew up an electricity pylon in the restive north. A pre-dawn attack Saturday on a transmission tower in Baghlan province left Kabul with 95 megawatts, less than a quarter of its normal power supply, said Wahid Tawhidi, a spokesman for power utility Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS). Efforts to repair the pylon had so far failed as heavy fighting prevented a local DABS crew from reaching the site, Tawhidi told AFP. "Today when our team tried to go to the area, rockets were fired at their vehicles and they had to turn back," he said. The provincial governor's spokesman Mahmood Haqmal said Taliban fighters had used a mine to "bring down" the power line. "They have escaped the area but some of them are still in the mountains, preventing engineers from fixing the pylon," Haqmal told AFP. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that .
Hope under Sun: Marathwada villagers wage war on drought
Hundreds of people from 15 villages in Maharashtra's Beed district are braving blazing Sun to wage a war on perennial water crisis in Marathwada, one of the most arid regions of the state. They are part of the 45-day "Shramdaan Abhiyan" (Voluntary labour campaign), launched on April 8 by an NGO under former AAP leader Mayank Gandhi, who has adopted these villages for water conservation and preservation. The villagers are digging trenches, farm ponds, watershed structures, check dams to preserve the rain water. Dozens of excavators and earth-movers, funded by various corporates, are deepening and widening the tributaries of the "Paapnashi" river which passes through six of the selected villages. The 15 villages have collective population of 30,590. Gandhi, previously associated with the India Against Corruption movement, said he chose the particular area in Parli taluka of the district because it has the lowest irrigation. "Only 1.72 per cent of land here is under ...
NASA's positive on next planet-hunting mission launch
Meteorologists with the US Air Force 45th Space Wing have predicted an 80 per cent chance of favourable weather for SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's launch with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite aimed at detecting planets outside our solar system.
Antibiotics in treated farm waste contribute to rise of superbugs
Even the most elite waste treatment systems currently available do not remove antibiotics from manure, according to a study which suggests that traces of the medicines leach into the environment, potentially contributing to the global rise of drug-resistant bacteria. Researchers from University at Buffalo in the US studied two of the most elite waste treatment systems. Both technologies - advanced anaerobic digestion and reverse osmosis filtration - leave behind concerning levels of antibiotic residues, which can include both the drugs themselves and molecules that the drugs break down into. The research, published in the journals Chemosphere and Environmental Pollution, also uncovered new findings about solid excrement, which is often filtered out from raw, wet manure before the treatment technologies are implemented. Researchers found that this solid matter may contain higher concentrations of antibiotics than unprocessed manure, a discovery that is particularly disturbing because ..
Maoists area of influence shrinks; 44 districts removed from affected list: Union Home Secy
Forty-four districts in the country are no longer under the influence of Maoists or have negligible presence and most of the Left Wing Extremism is now confined only to 30 worst-hit districts. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba said the geographical spread of the LWE violence has shrunk significantly in the last four years due to a multi-pronged strategy involving security and development-related measures. "There is no influence or negligible presence of LWE in 44 districts and most of the Naxal violence is confined now only to 30 worst-affected districts," he told PTI in an interview here. Gauba said significant features of the anti-Naxal policy were zero tolerance towards violence coupled with a big push to developmental activities so that benefits of new roads, bridges, telephone towers reach the poor and the vulnerable in the affected areas. The Ministry of Home Affairs had categorised 106 districts in 10 states as LWE-affected districts. These districts are covered under the ...
FSI carries out 'complete revamp' of forest fire alerts system
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) has "completely revamped" the forest fire alerts system across the country, bringing in the 'Forest Fire Alerts System Version 2.0', making the entire process automated, including night-time alerts. Additionally, officials said, the FSI has put in place an innovative system enabling them to forecast wildfire 10 to 12 weeks in advance. The FSI is an organisation under the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests and its principal mandate is to conduct survey and assessment of forest resources in the country. FSI Director General Saibal Dasgupta said automation of the whole process, including night-time fire alerts which was effected by the FSI, had led to a significant reduction in the time taken for data processing and sending alerts. "The FSI is working on three aspects of forest fire - Near Real Time (NRT) Forest Fire alerts, Forest Fire Pre-warning alerts and Burnt scar studies," Dasgupta told PTI in an interview here, in the backdrop of the ...
Proposal mooted to declare core Goa sanctuaries areas as tiger
Encouraged by sightings of tigers in parts of four wildlife sanctuaries in Goa, the state forest department has decided to identify core areas in them that it feels could be declared as a "tiger reserve", subject to the approval by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). A detailed mapping of the movement of tigers will be conducted in the wildlife sanctuaries of Mahadayi, Mollem, Cotigao and Netravali--located in the Western Ghat region. "The department in the year 2016 and 2017 had laid camera traps in certain parts of the wildlife sanctuaries that confirmed the presence of tigers in those areas. There were direct sightings through the camera traps," said Ajai Saxena, State Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF). The findings through the camera trap method were encouraging against the backdrop of the department's Tiger Census, held in the year 2013, not finding any direct evidence of wild cats in the state's wildlife areas. Saxena said that tigers were ..
