The new mines act will tighten supervision of mines and on coal companies outsourcing labourers in the restricted area, Union minister of state for Labour and Employment K Suresh said today.

In an effort to re-energise the economy in a big way, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, today announced a slew of measures for oil, coal and power sectors.

The Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau released an emergency air pollution plan on April 1.

An explosion killed six workers on Monday at a coal mine in northeast China where a similar accident killed 28 miners just three days earlier, state news media reported.

New Delhi: Greenpeace India on Monday staged a protest outside the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, asking CM Sheila Dikshit to move from coal-based power to renewable energy sources.

The team from Greenpeace held up a caricature of the CM in which she was shown assuring uninterrupted power supply to Delhi this summer despite not having any concrete plans for it.

Company fears that other units may be shut down completely if the situation does not improve in coming days

The utility major, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has shut down one 500 Mw unit of its 3000 MW Kaniha power plant due to acute shortage of coal. The plant was sourcing coal from nearby Talcher coalfields of Mahanadi Coalfield Limited (MCL), a Coal India (CIL) subsidiary. The coal scarcity has also hit the capacity utilization of other five other units of the power plant, the second largest power complex under NTPC umbrella, forcing it to generate only 2000 Mw against a full capacity of 3000 Mw.

China's poorest areas enjoy the best quality air, a new report suggests.
Of the 30 cities found to have the worst levels of PM10, 70 percent also rank highly in terms of per capita GDP.

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The International Monetary Fund has urged nations to slash their $US1.9 trillion ($1.8 trillion) in annual energy subsidies because they increase inequality, boost greenhouse gas emissions and limi