Page 911 - Environment
Impact of indoor air quality discussed in summit
Experts today deliberated on the issues of indoor air quality in different settings and its impact on health in a summit here. The one-day event 'Air-O-Thon' was organised by an NGO, Indian Pollution Control Association, at the Malviya National Institute of Technology. It focused on indoor air quality and its management with issues related to it addressed by researchers, academicians and industry experts. They discussed on design and development of air pollution control systems and air quality in different indoor micro environments among others.
India restricts use of imported petcoke in Delhi region
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's environment ministry has placed restrictions on the use of imported petroleum coke in the capital Delhi and its surrounding region, in the latest effort to curb rising air pollution.
HP: Man arrested for cutting down over 400 trees
The Shimla police today claimed to have arrested a man accused of cutting down over 400 trees in the Koti Forest Range of the state. Bhup Ram was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by Forest Officer, (Koti Range), Anu Thakur, on January 12 and after verification of revenue records, Deputy Superintendent of Police, City, Dinesh Sharma said. Ram had claimed that he had cut down 416 trees as they were on his land. But, on checking records, it was found that the trees were illegally felled on forest land without permission from authorities, the officer said. "Even if the trees were on private land, the offence was grave as permission was required even for cutting trees on such land," he said. He has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Indian Forest Act, police said, adding that the trees were on 40 bighas of land in the range near the state capital. The accused had removed the trees with the help of a machine, claiming .
Leopard captured from house in Karnataka town
A young leopard was captured on Saturday amid high drama after it remained trapped for hours in a house in Karnataka's Tumakuru town, police said.
Leopard holes up in house, sends cops into tizzy
A leopard strayed into a residential area and holed itself up in a house in Tumukuru today, sending two women inmates, forestand police officials, and the neighbours into a tizzy before being trapped. The women, who locked themselves in a bathroom to escape from the wild animal, were rescued some time later, while the leopard was tranquilised and caught by forest officials after a nine-hour long operation, Forest department sources said. The leopard, straying from a nearby forest area, entered the house of one Ranganathan at Jayanagar area around 9 am when the man's mother and wife were alone inside. The terrified women rushed for their safety and locked themselves up in a bathroom. The screaming women then alerted the neighbours, who informed the police. Police who arrived with forest officials rescued the women by breaking the wall of the bathroom. It took about nine hours to locate the leopard, which was hiding in the kitchen behind utensils, the sources said. At one ...
Gurugram residents hold protest march for removal of toll plaza
A large number of people, including women and children, on Saturday held a protest demanding removal of the Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurugram expressway and the proposed toll plaza on the Dwarka Expressway.
Sewage treatment plant inaugurated in Ghaziabad
A sewage treatment plant costing Rs 78 crore was inaugurated at Ghaziabad's newly developed township Raj Nagar Extension on Saturday by District Magistrate Ritu Maheswari.
India restricts imports of petcoke for users in Delhi region
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's environment ministry has put restrictions on the imports of petroleum coke in the capital Delhi and its surrounding region, in the latest effort to curb rising air pollution.
Haryana govt to purchase maize on MSP: CM
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said that after restarting the process for the purchase of bajra and sunflower seeds on minimum support price, it has now been decided to purchase maize also on MSP. Bajra and maize purchased on MSP would be used for public distribution system (PDS) stock, he added. Khattar was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of new cooperative sugar mill here. He said with the setting up of a new cooperative sugar mill, 60 lakh quintals of sugarcane would be crushed during the crushing season besides generating 15 MW of electricity. Out of the total electricity produced by this mill, 10.50 MW would be sold to power utilities which would generate an additional income of Rs 15 crore to the sugar mill, he said. While describing today as a historical day for the people of the area, the chief minister said that a sum of Rs 225 crore would be spent on this mill and it would benefit the farmers of 232 villages of Karnal ...
Union Urban Ministry launches star rating for garbage-free cities
Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday launched a star rating protocol for garbage-free cities in the country, where cities will be rated from one star to seven stars on the basis of several parameters identified by the ministry under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).
Gabon says major ivory trafficking ring dismantled, 10 held
Gabon says a major trafficking ring that smuggled six tons of ivory out of the country in 2017 has been dismantled, in a victory against poachers who have killed large numbers of forest elephants in the Central African country. The Chadian head of the syndicate, Abdoulaye Mohamoud Ibrahim, and eight accomplices, including his wife, son and daughter-in-law, were arrested on November 1 after a two-year investigation assisted by Interpol and French law enforcement, Gabon's national parks agency said. The ring's "moneyman" was arrested three weeks later. The arrests were not immediately announced because the investigation was continuing and suspects would have gone "underground" if there had been publicity, the parks service director, Lee White, said in an email to The Associated Press. He said the suspects could be imprisoned for at least 10 years if convicted on organised crime charges. NGOs that help to make arrests tend to publicise them "in part to put pressure on the ..
7-ft-long dolphin rescued from Indira Gandhi Canal
A 7-foot-long female dolphin, which was spotted in Indira Gandhi Canal here on Saturday, was later rescued by the forest department in a 19-hour long operation.The dolphin, who weighed 80 kg, was released in Ghaghara river.Range officer of the Kukrail forest department, Mahendra Singh Yadav along with Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) officer Shailendra Singh formed a team to carry out the rescue operation.The rescue operation was completed with the help of 13 divers. Four dolphins have been caught from Lucknow-Raebareli border in last two years.
2 killed, 3 injured in wall collapse in Uttar Pradesh
At least two labourers were today killed and three others seriously injured when a wall at the basement of an under-construction site collapsed on Mall road, police said. Superintendent of Police (East) Anurag Arya said that the labourers were asked to dig soil when the loose soil wall collapsed on them. The deceased were identified as Manoj alias Vinda (45) and Lavlesh (35), both residents of Pratapgarh, police said. The other labourers, including Subhash (32), Naresh (21) and Dinesh (24), were also trapped under the soil, the SP added. The police rushed to the site and began rescue operation, he said. The labourers were brought out from the debris and sent to the Ursula Horseman Memorial (UHM) hospital where Manoj and Lavlesh were declared brought dead, the SP said. Circle Officer (Cantt) Ajeet Singh Chauhan said that a case was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code against the land owner, Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, a resident of Ramadevi. Additional ...
Goa will achieve ODF status by October: Union minister Puri
Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri today said he was confident that Goa will become hundred per cent 'open defecation free' by October 2018. Puri, who held a press conference in the presence of chief minister Manohar Parrikar here, said 2,260 cities in the country have become open defecation free so far. "I was told by the Goa chief minister that the state will be hundred per cent open defecation free by October 2018. I have no doubt that the state will achieve this goal," the minister said after chairing meetings to review various urban development initiatives in Goa. The Goa government is doing very well in the implementation of affordable housing scheme, utilisation of funds under the AMRUT scheme and other similar projects, the Union minister said. He praised the implementation of a scheme for affordable housing for homeless in the state, saying some 5,000 families which are yet to get its benefit will be covered by next year. Puri also .
Scientists showcase how to create low-cost solar cells
A team of scientists at Stanford University, including a researcher of Indian origin, has shown how nanotechnology can be used to create crystalline silicon (c-Si) thin-film solar cells that are more efficient at capturing solar energy.
Rajasthan 'well equipped' to combat swine flu
With the cases of swine flu constantly on the rise, Rajasthan Health director VK Singh Mathur on Saturday said that the health department is "well equipped" to control the situation, adding that they are looking for ways to combat it.Speaking to the reporters here, Mathur said, "25 deaths have been reported in Rajasthan within 20 days. Cities like Jodhpur and Jaipur have also been affected to an extreme"."Our health department is well-equipped to control the situation and is finding ways to combat it soon", he added.On January 3, the Rajasthan government announced an alert in the state after more than 400 people were diagnosed positive for the swine flu virus in December 2017.Rapid response teams of the health department were rushed to the areas where people were feared to have been affected by the H1N1 virus.A meeting with senior officials of the health department was held on January 3.According to medical and health department records, 241 swine flu deaths have occurred in the State
65 violators booked by Hyderabad traffic police
Under the initiatives of penalty point system, the Hyderabad traffic police has till date cancelled one driving license and issued notices to 64 other drivers, who have crossed six points."Till now only one person's license has been cancelled as he acquired 12 points. We have issued the notices to 64 people who crossed 6 points", Traffic Joint Commissioner Dr Ravinder said.The people who have reached the half-mark are also being counselling so that they don't violate the traffic violation in future."We don't want to cancel the license of the people, but we are creating awareness among them and explaining them not accrue more points or else their license will be cancelled", he said.The Hyderabad traffic police implemented 12 Penalty Point System for Traffic Violations from August 1.
30 killed, 253 injured in wild animal attacks in 2 yrs in JK:
The Jammu and Kashmir government today said 30 people were killed and 253 others injured in attacks by wild animals in the state over the past two years. Quoting a census conducted in March last year, the government said that the number of Hangul, also called the Kashmir stag, in Dachigam landscape in the outskirts of Srinagar, stands at 182 with an upper and lower limit of 214 and 138, respectively, Forest minister Choudhary Lal Singh informed the state Assembly. He said, while 21 people were killed and 156 others injured in attacks by wild animals last year, only nine deaths were reported, with 97 others injured in such incidents this year. Replying to a question by National Conference legislator Mubarak Gul, he said a compensation of Rs 83.70 lakh was given to the next of kin of the deceased persons, while Rs 1.05 crore was provided to those injured by wild animals. He said the government has taken a number of steps to control the man-animal conflict, which include ...
Chinese city to test air pollution tower to counter smog
A 60-meter-tall air purification tower has been built in the heavily polluted Chinese city of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province, to find solutions for the city's chronic smog problem, a media report said today. The purification capability of the tower, with a diameter of 10 meters, is being tested by researchers from Institute of Earth Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A glasshouse measuring 60 meters long and 43 meters wide sits around the base of the tower. The polluted air in the glasshouse is heated by solar energy. The hot air rises inside the tower and passing through layers of cleaning filters, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Xi'an has long been troubled by heavy air pollution in winter. The purification tower project aims to artificially remove pollutants such as PM 2.5 from the atmosphere. Cao Junji, a researcher with the institute, said the research team planned to release detailed data in March to assess the facility's overall performance .
Climate change linked to more flowery forests: study
Scientists have revealed a surprising relationship between surging atmospheric carbon dioxide and flower blooms in remote tropical forests. The researchers studying the rich tropical forests of Panama's Barro Colorado Island found that climbing rates of carbon dioxide have set the stage for a multidecade increase in overall flower production. "Over the past several decades, we have seen temperatures warming and carbon dioxide increasing, and our study found that this tropical forest has responded to that increase by producing more flowers," said Stephanie Pau, from the Florida State University in the US. The findings suggest that tropical forests, which have evolved over millennia to flourish in warm, equatorial conditions, may be more sensitive to subtle climatic changes than some ecologists predicted. "Tropical forests have evolved in generally stable climates," Pau said. "So while they may not be warming as much as some higher-latitude ecosystems, these tropical ...
