Mumbai: The Bombay high court has held as “fraudulent” an alleged deal signed by Thane corporator Ravindra Phatak, as “director” of an iron ore mining company in Sindhudurg, to hand over all of its mining rights to a contractor from Sawantwadi.

In a judgment passed on Wednesday by Justice R D Dhanuka, the HC also slammed a lower court for passing what it said was a “perverse” order in favour of the contractor, based on prima facie fraudulent memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Phatak, who currently is the standing panel chief in the Thane civic body.

MUMBAI: The average age of women suffering from lifestyle diseases is fast declining. While problems like heart attacks, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and thyroid earlier seemed to set after 40 years in women, the average age can be pegged to 30 years and above these days.

A fast-paced life, junk food consumption, lack of exercise and stress is laying the city women low. While hypertension and heart attacks are known evils, thyroid-related problems and obesity are fast emerging as widespread epidemics, say doctors.

Mumbai: The state water resources department is ready to release Rs 114 crore to the contractor of the Kondhane dam project in Karjat.

Mumbai: The sudden spurt in leopard attacks and increased instances of leopard spotting around Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) are primarily due to the high density of human population and concentration of small prey on the periphery, a year-long study has revealed.

The study, “Mumbaikars for SGNP”, was conducted by the forest department and the Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore and found that there are at least 21 leopards in the national park.

Mumbai: The BMC and not the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), will undertake the next water supply project for the city.

The city will receive 865 million litres daily (mld) once the project is completed, which is expected in a decade.
The MMRDA had announced in 2010 that it would develop the Rs 8,500-crore Pinjal water supply project at its cost. The state irrigation department had even granted in-principle approval for the project. But the MMRDA recently informed the department that it was no longer interested in taking up the project as it has been able to tap water from other sources for the metropolitan region.

Thane: With a water-scarcity situation in 93 villages and 183 hamlets in Thane district, especially the tribal pockets, the district administration has planned a string of initiatives to rejuvenate the old wells and other water sources here.

Thane district guardian minister Ganesh Naik held a meeting of all elected representatives and officials on Tuesday to put in place a plan of action to ensure that not a single village remains parched. Instructions were issued to all officials of the zilla parishad and the district collectorate that providing drinking water was the administration’s first priority and trucks should be requisitioned to facilitate water from tankers into the hilly and remote tribal terrain of Thane district.

Mumbai: Mining will not be allowed in areas declared as forests, wildlife sanctuaries and buffer zones.

These were among the new rules for mining of minor minerals that were approved by the state cabinet on Wednesday to make mining an ecologically sustainable industry. Now, every district will have to prepare a district mining plan to be monitored by a committee headed by the collector. Mining will be allowed only during the day and to reduce noise, air and water pollution, only scientific excavation will be permitted.

Switch From Rain-Fed Crops To Cash Crops

Hiware Bazar: For those who wonder if Maharashtra can tide over the current drought situation, Hiware Bazar, with its ‘yes we can’ spirit, is the answer. Notwithstanding the fact that Ahmednagar is facing its worst drought since Independence, Hiware Bazar in the same district has no water scarcity.
It’s not that Nature favoured Hiware Bazar with a special bounty. In fact, the village had received a normal rainfall of 199 mm last year, just like most regions that are hit by water scarcity today. But the 1,300 residents of Hiware Bazar scripted their destiny differently.

Maharashtra is one of the first states to have regulated its groundwater resources. However, two decades after it introduced a law banning sinking of private borewells or deeptube wells within 500 metres of a public drinking water source, brazen extraction of water continues, even in the 16 drought-hit districts of the state.

This is reflected in the fact that 195 of the state’s 1,531 watersheds lie critically depleted, according to the state’s Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA). Seventy-three of these are ‘overexploited’.

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will form flying squads to check whether new buildings have followed the mandate of having a rain water harvesting plant.

In order to boost the compliance rate of buildings, the BMC has decided to give a rebate of 5 per cent in property tax to societies that have followed the mandate laid down by the BMC since 2002.