Controversy rages over Haryana green project
In the midst of reports that the Forest Department officials are misutilising the European Community (EU) grant meant for greening Haryana - a portion of the Aravalli ranges - the State Forest Minister, Mr Jagdish Yadav and the Principal Chief Conservator of Aravalli Afforestation Project claim to have exceeded the …
MEF rejects SAIL proposal to tackle iron ore mining in MP
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF) and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) are heading for a showdown, with the former vehemently opposing SAIL's proposal to undertake captive iron ore mining in prime forest land in Rowghat in Madhya Pradesh.The MEF has rejected the proposal on the ground that it …
Team to monitor Arunachal forests
The Centre yesterday submitted to the Supreme Court a draft notification setting up a nodal authority under the Environment Act for Arunachal Pradesh.The authority will take care of the disposal of more than one lakh cubic tonnes of wood lying in the forests following the court order stopping all non-forest …
Is the ridge shrinking?
Delhi ridge which was declared a reserve forest in May 1994 had encroachments on 61 per cent of the total area earmarked as the ridge . Following a Supreme Court ruling in May 1995, only 30 per cent of the encroachments were removed. Even today, the ridge is dotted with …
Tk 28 cr to be spent for CHT afforestation
Some Tk 28 crore will be spent for afforestation of the denuded hill forests in Khagrachhari Rangamati and Bandarban districts of Bangladesh. A massive afforestation programme has been taken up by the Forest Department in this regard under a master plan.
Fires in the Amazon-a joint NGO statement
The non-governmental organisations Greenpeace, Ibase, Fase and others are seriously concerned with the slow and inefficient response by the government agencies responsible in taking effective measures for the prevention and control of the fires in the Amazon. After the fires in Roraima, the government was repeatedly altered to the great …
Sandalwood thieves nabbed
A chase and several rounds in the air later, a four-member gang, involved in sandalwood tree thefts in and around the City, was arrested by the Sadavshivanagar police, and sandalwood billets worth over Rs 2 lakh were seized.
MCD to submit report on poor wood at cremation grounds
An interim report on the supply of substandard wood at cremation grounds will be submitted on Thursday by the MCD Vigilance Department. All documents of five cremation grounds were sealed by the department following a raid at five cremation grounds on Monday. As many as 13 trucks were caught smuggling …
Ahmedabad's green project is down in the dumps
The ambitious urban forestry programme mooted by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporaiton and aimed at developing green patches on certian portions of the city, exactly a year ago has failed miserably on account of lack of initiative by the voluntary agencies involved as well as that of the municipal authorities.
For sale
5% of Maine, plenty of trees : Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of forest, a swath that is about 5 percent of the land in Maineis is for sale in the northern part of the state, prompting a debate over the future of the heavily logged yet alluring woods. …
Plant and forget
On paper, DDA and MCD have been planting over ten lakh saplings a year in Delhi, in the last decade. But the absence of a monitoring mechanism , these rarely get to become trees : a report.
People's participation in forest policy urged
A meet of the NGOs and tribal associations have demanded that people's participation should be the thrust of the proposed Tamil Nadu Government Forest policy instead of the Forest Department. This was the major resolution passed at the meeting, jointly organised by the Tamil Nadu Environment Council, Legal Resources for …
AIADMK, allies reject Cauvery settlement
The AIADMK and its allies "totally rejected" the settlement reached by the Prime Minister Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, with the Chief Ministers of the Cauvery Basin states on the water dispute.
High Court restrains Orissa govt from leasing out forest land
The Orissa governemnt has been restrained from leasing out forest land and water bodies in the Bhitarkanika Sanctuary. The state government has further been restrained from allowing any aquaculture farm to be set up in the sanctuary. According to a judgment by the Orissa high court, all forest land, including …
Gujarat govt opposes dam team's visit
The Gujarat government has asked the Centre not to allow the World Commission on Dams (WCD) team to hold its "so-called inquiry" on dams like the one on the Narmada river which has been the subject of a raging controversy over its feasibility and environmental fallout. The state government is …
Green group member under fire over tree-felling
The forest department has pulled up a senior member of the prominent Mumbai-based Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG), Colonel Mohite, for allowing illegal felling of trees in the environmentally fragile hills around Mahabaleshwar. Mohite, a caretaker of a bungalow owned by the Tata group of companies in Mahabaleshwar, had recently …
Punjab, Haryana oppose water tax
Even as Punjab and Haryana squabble over sharing river water, they have found a common cause against the Prem Kumar Dhumal Government in Himachal Pradesh on the controversial cess on water for hydel projects. The Punjab and Haryana Governemnts are resisting Himachal Pradesh's demand of about Rs 300 crore per …
HP forestry graduates face bleak future
More than 204 forestry graduates from Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry are facing a bleak future following the parallel system of forestry education and because of the wrong policies of the previous government.
A facelift for the sholas
Through a multi-pronged afforestation programme the Tamil Nadu Forest Department is breathing life into the shola forests of the Nilgiris : a report.
