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• Notice to Govt on stinking waterways

  THE Madras High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the State Government on a public interest writ petition that sought to put the administration on the mat for releasing untreated sewage water directly or indirectly into the city's waterways. Petitioner V Ravichandran, founder-chairman of an NGO, Cit izens Guardians, alleged that the government was not implementing the Chennai City River Conservation Project in its letter and spirit. A vacation bench comprising justices G Rajasuria and M Sathyanarayanan ordered notice to the authorities concerned, returnable in four weeks.

  • 15/05/2008

  • New Indian Express (Chennai)
  • • Water Pollution
    • River Pollution
    • Adyar
    • Cooum
    • National River Conservation Directorate
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Chennai (T)

• Hurdles in way of four garbage disposal dumps for city cleared

  The ambitious plan to decentralise the garbage disposal at four different places in the city received a boost with the forest department finally giving its approval to set up a garbage disposal plant in Punawale. This will enable the city to have four garbage disposal plants in different parts of the city as against the present system of the lone dumping ground at Urali Devachi village.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Indian Express (Mumbai)
  • • State Pollution Control Board (SPCB)
    • Garbage
    • Waste Disposal
    • Waste Management
    • Maharashtra
    • Pune (T)

• To curb pollution, government to phase out old taxis, autorickshaws

  The state transport department is planning to phase out "old and unfit' autorickshaws and taxis and will soon be starting a campaign to cancel the permits of the old vehicles. Transport Commissioner, Shyamsunder Shinde said, "The transport department will soon start phasing out unfit autorickshaws and taxis from the city. The old vehicles also cause pollution levels to rise.'

  • 15/05/2008

  • Indian Express (Mumbai)
  • • Air Pollution
    • Vehicular Pollution
    • Automobiles
    • Maharashtra

• Vendors set waste on fire

  Non-removal of waste from the South Goa Planning and Development and the adjoining acquired land prompted some vendors to set tones of waste afire on Wednesday evening. The vendors maintained that the Margao Civic body has been irregular in clearing the waste, which gives a bad look to the mega market, visited by thousands of customers every day. This is not the first time that the Margao Civic body has failed to clear the waste from the market despite payments made by the PDA.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Herald (Panjim)
  • • Garbage
    • Waste Disposal
    • Goa

• Anti-mega housing stir spreads to hinterland

  Agitation against anti-mega housing projects seems to have spread to the hinterland village of Curtorim in Salcete. Opposition is brewing against a housing project mooted by a Margao-based building in the village, with local citizens mobilizing the people to scrap the project. In fact, a signature campaign is on in the village since the last few days, with locals saying the mega housing project would affect the infrastructure in a big way.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Herald (Panjim)
  • • Housing
    • Rural Housing
    • Goa

• Disasters, natural and man-made

  HONG KONG: On the day of the Sichuan earthquake, I happened to be in Bengkulu, the province of Sumatra, Indonesia, which has been experiencing almost weekly quakes that measure about 5 on the Richter scale, following one that measured 8.5 last September. Despite its magnitude, that earthquake killed just 25 people. This raises the question: What combination of nature, chance, human activity and government competence determines the death toll when a cyclone, earthquake or tsunami strikes?

  • 15/05/2008

  • International Herald Tribune (Bangkok)
  • • Natural Disasters
    • Cyclones
    • Earthquakes
    • Bangladesh
    • China
    • Indonesia

• 5,000 farmers apply for compensation

  Of the 5000 applications received by the Agriculture Department from farmers claiming loss of crops due to unseasonal rains in March, 2200 applications have been verified and loss has been estimated to be Rs 2.75 crore. The verification of the remaining applications is scheduled to be completed by May, told S S P Tendulkar, Director of Agriculture to Herald. Unseasonal rains in the months of February and March greatly affected horticulture crops and to some extent paddy.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Herald (Panjim)
  • • Farmers
    • Compensation
    • Goa
    • Rainfall Pattern

• Forest Dept saved 1020 snakes in 2007

  There are so many misconceptions about snakes that any of the snake species spotted in residential areas cannot escape without harm from man. For many people immensely fear snakes. But, at least, in Goa, people seem to be shaking off their preconceived notions. They call snake rescuers rather than kill the reptiles. The Wildlife Division of the Forest Department last year succeeded in trapping and saving 1020 snakes across the State.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Herald (Panjim)
  • • Reptiles
    • Snakes
    • NGO
    • Goa

• Aid at the point of a gun

  More than 60,000 people may have died as a result of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, and at least 1.5 million are homeless or otherwise in desperate need of assistance. The Burmese military junta, one of the most morally repulsive in the world, has allowed in only a trickle of aid supplies. The handful of United States Air Force C-130 flights from Utapao Air Base here in Thailand is little more than symbolic, given the extent of the need.

  • 15/05/2008

  • International Herald Tribune (Bangkok)
  • • Cyclones
    • Burma
    • Myanmar

• Workshop on vector borne diseases

  Finance Minister Dayanand Narvekar said that the Government is committed to provide better health facilities in every nook and corner of the State. To achieve this goal the Government has initiated many steps. The Government's sincere efforts to control the malaria have proved fruitful to bring down the Malaria cases in the State.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Herald (Panjim)
  • • Malaria
    • Vaccination
    • Vector Borne Diseases
    • Goa

• Curca garbage dump capping yet to start

  The tug of war between the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) and the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) over "who will cap the Curca garbage dump?' may have ended but the work of capping the dump is yet to start though the monsoon is not far away. The work had to be completed before the monsoons to ensure that polluted water does not reach Curca village. The CCP which has been directed by the High Court, last week, to cover the garbage dump with tarpaulim before the monsoon of 2008, has not been able to start the work for want of funds.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Herald (Panjim)
  • • Waterborne diseases
    • Monsoons
    • Garbage
    • Goa

• Ammonia could have polluted well water

  The health officials, investigating contamination of seven wells in Taleigao today indicated that it may be due to mixture of ammonia in ground water. Though the final laboratory report on the water samples of five wells, is expected on Friday, sources in the department indicated that it may be due to mixture of ammonia. Samples of two others were not taken as they are in close proximity with the four. Last week seven wells in Chincholem and four in Borbhat, from Taleigao were reported to be contaminated with dead fish floating over the whitish colour water giving a foul smell.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Herald (Panjim)
  • • Water Pollution
    • Groundwater Pollution
    • Wells
    • Groundwater Pollutants
    • Goa

• MLA threatens to stop dumping at Sonsodo

  The situation at the Sonsodo garbage dump yard is slowly but surely heading towards unmanageable proportions, even as Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco has threatened to stop garbage dumping at the site if the government fails to work out a solution immediately. A month have gone since Hyderabad-based Hyquip Project signed an agreement with the government to set up the garbage treatment plant at Sondoso with the in vessel technology, but the plant is yet to take shape at the yard.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Herald (Panjim)
  • • Garbage
    • Waste Disposal
    • Waste Treatment
    • Goa

• BRTS threat to pedestrians

  The right of way for the pedestrians envisaged as per the original concept of the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) comes under threat at the proposed BRTS corridor in the city. In the BRTS corridor report, as being presently proposed, the pedestrians are likely to face the threat of getting sandwiched between buses and the railings of bus stops.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad)
  • • Public Transport
    • High Capacity Bus
    • Traffic Accidents
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Vishakhapatnam (T)

• City leads in urban scheme

  The city topped in the implementation of Jawaharlar Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). With abundant funds available the execution of the projects is going at a fast pace. According to sources, after Ahmadabad, Vijayawada stands in the best position in following the guidelines of the mission in the implementation of various projects in urban areas. The city has also received accolades as it has successfully implemented projects like e-governance, double-entry accounting, collection of more than 95 per cent of property tax and funds allocation for urban poor.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad)
  • • Drinking Water
    • Drainage
    • Urban Development
    • Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)
    • Housing
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Vijayawada

• Project delay irks populace

  The delay in commissioning of the Kandula Obula Reddy Gundlakamma project has irked people of Prakasam district as they were hoping to get irrigation and potable water from the reservoir. It was one of the three irrigation projects started in Prakasam district under Jalayagnam and was constructed by spending Rs 453.86 crore. It is slated to give irrigation water to 80,060 acres of land.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad)
  • • Gundlakamma
    • Reservoirs
    • Irrigation
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Prakasam

• Beijing hit with first hand, foot and mouth disease death

  BEIJING: China's capital recorded its first death from hand, foot and mouth disease on Wednesday as the authorities tried to contain the spread of the potent virus just three months before the city hosts the Olympic Games. The illness has sickened tens of thousands of children across the country and killed at least 42 people. A child died Sunday on the way to a hospital, according to Xinhua, the official news agency, which cited a Beijing Health Bureau spokeswoman, Deng Xiaohong. The director of the health bureau's publicity office, contacted by telephone, declined to comment.

  • 15/05/2008

  • International Herald Tribune (Bangkok)
  • • Animal Diseases
    • Children
    • Child Health
    • Viral Diseases
    • China

• After avalanche, Alaskan city is quick to go green

  JUNEAU, Alaska: Conservationists swoon at the possibility of it all. Here in Alaska, where melting arctic ice and eroding coastlines have made global warming an urgent threat, this little city has cut its electricity use by more than 30 percent in a matter of weeks, instantly establishing itself as a role model for how to go green, and fast.

  • 15/05/2008

  • International Herald Tribune (Bangkok)
  • • Global Warming
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Hydroelectricity
    • Alaska
    • Arctic

• Relief stepped up as quake toll touches 20,000

  China today rushed more troops and air-dropped relief supplies in areas cut off near the epicentre of the devastating earthquake in southwest Sichuan province as the toll mounted to nearly 20,000 with thousands of people still buried, trapped or missing. As troops reached the quake-battered areas, the state media reported that the death toll in Mianyang city alone rose from 3,629 to 5,540 with 18,486 more buried and 1,396 missing. In Yingxiu of Wenchuan County, only 2,300 persons were believed to have survived out of 10,000 residents, official Xinhua news agency said.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Tribune (New Delhi)
  • • Natural Disasters
    • Earthquakes
    • China

• Firms seek patents on climate-ready' GM crops

  A handful of the world's largest agricultural biotechnology companies are seeking hundreds of patents on gene-altered crops designed to withstand drought and other environmental stresses, part of a race for dominance in the potentially lucrative market for crops that can handle global warming, according to a report being released Tuesday.

  • 15/05/2008

  • Tribune (New Delhi)
  • • Agricultural Research
    • GM Crops
    • Climate Change
    • Global Warming
    • Food Stress
    • Drought
    • Patents
    • Germany
    • Food Security