In Short
kandla mishap: 15 labourers were killed on June 29, 2006, at the Kandla port in Gujarat, when a Cyprus flag ship M V Pontonostos collided with the Anchor Handling Barge. The accident occurred in
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Coal India, IL&FS arm in project development SPV
Coal India Ltd (CIL) and IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (IL&FS IDC), a unit of IL&FS, have signed a deal to float a 50-50 joint venture to undertake develop mining, power and other coal-based projects. A special purpose vehicle, Integrated Power & Coal Development Co Pvt Ltd (Intec), will set up a project development fund of Rs 10 crore per project with equal shares from the two partners to fund each project that it takes up. CIL's technical director NC Jha and IL&FS IDC's managing director DK Mittal signed the pact at CIL's headquarters here in the presence of CIL chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya and others. The SPV will undertake the entire chain of project development activities, from project identification, site selection, facilitation in land acquisition and technical and environmental studies to preparation of DPR, EIA, obtaining various clearances and approvals, obtaining linkages, tying of sales (power sales as relevant to power projects), finalisation of evacuation arrangements, financial modeling, legal documentation, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, O&M, project structuring and marketing with lenders and investors. The SPV will work on projects that involve improving mine performance, accessing difficult mines, developing or implementing pithead coal-based power projects, development of washeries, power plants based on asheries and so on. The venture will also help private sector Companies that have been allotted mines to develop them. CIL expects to gain from the SPV's activities by way of low-cost power from pithead-based power plants and by selling power instead of coal.
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Central panel advises Ministry against Mangalore SEZ Phase II
The Rs. 35,000-crore Mangalore Special Economic Zone Project appears to have suffered a setback as a Central committee of experts has advised the Ministry of Environment and Forests against going ahead with Phase II of the project, according to information available on the website of the Ministry. At a meeting in New Delhi on February 27 and February 28 to discuss the issue of environment clearance for the project, the Expert Committee on Infrastructure and Miscellaneous Projects said, "The project should be restricted to only Phase I.' Phase I covers 1,800 acres of land which has been acquired by the promoters of the project. Land (2,035 acres) for Phase II is yet to be acquired. The company, Mangalore Special Economic Zone Limited, has been facing opposition from various farmers' organisations and environmentalists as far as Phase II is concerned. The committee has come to the conclusion based on the recommendations of another sub-committee constituted by the Ministry which was entrusted with the responsibility of visiting Mangalore and inspecting the villages notified for the project. The inspection committee was sent to Mangalore after the Ministry took cognisance of the protests and objections against the proposed project. At the New Delhi meeting, the committee said that in view of the protests, the company should confine itself to Phase I of the project. However, the promoters of the project have requested the Ministry to consider the whole project (Phases I and II) saying that the Environmental Impact Assessment has been done for infrastructure on 2,035 acres of land as well. Guarding against any complacency, Lawrence D'Cunha, secretary of the Krishi Bhoomi Samrakshana Samiti, said, "This is only the first step towards victory. We are going to scale up our agitation and not relent until our lands are de-notified.' The samiti represents the four villages of Permude, Thenka Ekkaru, Delantha Bettu and Kuthethoor which have been notified for the second phase of the project.
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Stumbling blocks
The Gujarat earthquake struck at the very foundation of urban India. The disaster highlighted the haphazard manner in which the country's towns and cities are laid out. In its aftermath, hastily framed laws on earthquake resistant structures and ambigui
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Japan: Some home truths about nuclear power
<p>The severe quake that hit Japan earlier this month and the devastating tsunami that followed it were unfortunate. These two events triggered a series of explosions at Fukushima Daiichi and a few other nuclear power installations. The Dept.
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Good growth needs better regulation
It is said everyone, from the Prime Minister downwards, is concerned with the process of environmental clearances: the process takes too much time, it is cumbersome and impedes the breakneck speed of
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Who cares for black bucks, we want tourists
A beach resort proposed to be situated within a protected area near Puri has drawn the wrath of environmentalists who contend it will ruin the natural habitat of such endangered species as the black buck
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Agenda for people's participation
Two new amendments to the Constitution promise greater effectiveness in civic administration and urban planning; but is that enough?
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Despite ban, mines thrive in Sariska reserve
A Supreme Court order demanding immediate closure of about 250 mines in and around the Sariska Tiger Reserve has evoked little response from the Rajasthan government.
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Not quite in order
Bichhri: where the earth bleeds People's protests had forced the closure of Bichhri's polluting industries. The court's intervention, which was late in coming, has not helped much, Bichhri
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Working children find a home in Bangalore
A voluntary group helps street children by organising them into associations and building a home for them.
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Pollution fears cloud future of cement plants
The announcement that more cement factories will be set up in the state has unleashed a controversy. Units already operational have not controlled emissions and it is feared more plants will further degrade the environment and adversely affect tourism.
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Not in my backyard
Delhi, reduced to a gas chamber due to the proliferation of highly polluting industries, now requires the social and political will to enforce an effective relocation
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Not a blade of grass...
...although the now bald pate of Iceland was once resplendent with grass and verdant willow, rowan and birch forests
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The power of the zephyr
The government is sowing the wind for energy, attracting investments with the promise of fiscal felicity
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The poison piles up
Ten winters since methyl isocyanate exhaled history"s deadliest industrial disaster on Bhopal, action on toxicity remains agonisingly inadequate. India needs the technical knowledge of the Western world. Union Carbide recently made available its vast scie
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Industry pays
In the face of public pressure, Indian industry appears albeit dimly to be ready to clean up its act
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Shifting under a colonial past
A Myanmarese shifting cultivation technique, once perverted by British colonisers to maximise teak exploitation, is still valued for its benefits
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Too close to the sun
The internationally funded programme to promote solar photovoltaic systems remains a nonstarter
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Rocking the Himalayas
Indian seismic experts are in a tizzy over predictions of an imminent gigantic earthquake in the central Himalayas