Shillong: Meghalaya has tried not once or twice but repeatedly to ban plastic carry bags but the effort has failed miserably. As a result every drain, stream and river are filled with plastic bags and plastic packages which contain a variety of junk food such as potato chips which are laden with trans-fat but which the younger generation is addicted to.

Environmentalists despair about the manner in which drains get choked and rivers are polluted by garbage which comprises mainly plastic bags and packages of different shapes and sizes. When these are clogged over a long period they emit methane gas which scientists say poisons the environment.

Upset over the failure of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to frame forest clearance norms as directed by the Supreme Court and the resultant delays in road projects, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is planing to take up the matter with the court afresh. The authority’s move comes after it secured a favourable opinion from both the law ministry and the Cabinet secretariat, official sources told FE.

Delays in environmental approvals — usually attributed to the existing policy of linking the same to forest clearances — and procedural issues have affected implementation of national highway projects worth R23,000 crore. This is at a time the Prime Minister’s Office and finance ministry are asking all wings of the government to make concerted efforts to speed up infrastructure projects to accelerate economic growth.

SHILLONG, Dec 28: During the five years period from 2006-2011, only 35 villages in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya were electrified.

NONGSTOIN: The proposed plan for construction of a dam at Khri river near Kyrshai in West Khasi Hills District by the Assam State Electricity Board was vehemently opposed in a public meeting at Kyr

SHILLONG: The Megh-alaya People’s Environment Rights Forum (MPERF) has urged Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary to keep on hold his assent to the Meghalaya Forest Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2012,

Close to 50 per cent of the land under nine cement plants in Meghalaya are “forest”, said a report of the Joint Inspection Team (JIT) constituted under the directive of the Supreme Court.

SHILLONG: The Megh-alaya People’s Environment Rights Forum (MPERF) has urged Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary to keep on hold his assent to the Meghalaya Forest Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2012, which was passed by the State Assembly recently.

In a representation submitted to the Governor on Wednesday, the MPERF requested that the Amendment Bill be sent back to the state government for a ‘detailed deliberation’. The representation also stressed on seeking opinion from technical, legal experts and conservationists besides the general public before deciding either in favour or against the amendment.

Difficult terrains, delays in nods, inhabitations in wildlife sanctuaries major impediments to power supply electricity

252 development panels, KMSS kick-start campaign to free river of settlers