SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday inaugurated the Lake View Cottages and Orchid Lake Cottages near the scenic Umiam Lake constructed under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of the Ministry of
New Delhi: India has lost hundreds of acres of forest cover, mostly in North East but this was largely due to various reasons like shifting cultivation, rotational harvesting and biotic pressures besides tree felling. The largest dip in forest cover was in the North East which lost 550 sq km. This loss was very partially made up elsewhere, even as there was an overall negative growth in green cover, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, has said in Parliament recently.
Shillong: The North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) is planning to set up a solar power plant within its campus during the current 12th Five-Year Plan period to meet the growing power requirement. Informing this here on Tuesday, NEHU Vice-Chancellor Prof AN Rai said the Central University has proposed an investment of Rs 2.5 crore to improve power distribution within its campus apart from venturing into solar energy.
New Delhi: The Central government on Tuesday said mining activities have contaminated drinking water sources in Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya. “The Megh-alaya government has reported that sources of some drinking water supply schemes have had to be shifted due to contamination caused by mining and some major rivers in the area have been found to be unfit for human use,” Rural Development Minister and Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Jairam Ramesh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
SHILLONG: The District administration of Ri Bhoi has been make notable progress in acquiring land for construction of the Umsning Bypass, an integral part of the Umiam- Jorabat four-lane road project. The State Government was compelled to construct the road from the Umsning Bypass due to stiff opposition from Ri Bhoi NGOs who were against the Government’s initial plan to construct the four-lane road through the existing Umsning road.
Shillong: A roadmap drawn by the state in achieving Nirmal Meghalaya has shown an upward trend in the graph as far as the sanitation status or toilet average is concern with over 73 percent achievement, which is more than the national average, experts claimed. Experts of the Water and Sanitation Programme-South Asia (WSP-SA) has claimed that the state can become Nirmal Meghalaya in a period of two years adding that Meghalaya is one of the leading states as far as implementation of Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) now known as Nirmal Bharat Abiyan (NBA) in rural areas of the state is concerned.
Agartala: The state government has provided 86 mandays to each job seeker under the national flagship programme-NREGA during 2011-12 FY while the national job generation figure stood only 42 mandays While unfolding report cards in the field of Rural Development and Forest departments, RD Minister Jitendra Chowdhury on Tuesday said the government had given emphasis on overall socio-economic development in rural areas.
Agartala: To ensure development of forest-dwelling communities, the Tripura Government has designated as many as 62 locations in remote parts of the state as ‘Forest Village’, said state Forest Minister Jitendra Choudhury. In such locations the state government had already extended development projects for 1508 people of 236 tribal families living in the hamlets and the administration had undertaken income generation schemes for the dwellers.
SHILLONG: MeECL senior official and Chief Project Manager of Myntdu Leshka Project, Elias Lyngdoh on Saturday said majority of the people are not against the proposed 240 MW Umngot Hydro Electric Project even as negotiations are on with the villagers who are apprehensive about the same. Talking to The Shillong Times, Lyngdoh said, “Only one anti-dam activist is against the project and we can assure that not a single house would be submerged as a result of the project.”
Agartala: Perched on hills and remote areas of Tripura, 45 villages and 797 localities were lit up with solar energy in the last five years, a minister said on Friday. Debroy said, solar energy treatment plants would be set up in 100 schools in remote areas this year and 1000 bio-gas plant would be set up. He said, very soon 100 solar lights would illuminate a portion of Agartala town. He said North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) has planned to set up a five megawatt solar energy plant at Monarchak in Sipahijala district
Violation forest rules by cement cos in Jaintia Hills Shillong: The Shillong bench of the Guahati High Court has directed the State Government to submit a report on whether provisions of the Forest Conservation Act 1980 has been complied while granting permission of establishment of cement plants and limestone mines in Jaintia Hills. Initiating a suo-moto public interest Litigation petition, the court on July 27 directed the government to submit the report in the form of an affidavit within four weeks time.
