Odisha plans to restore coastal green cover
Uprooted trees in Puri. Nearly 22 lakh trees have been destroyed in the cyclone in Odisha.Biswaranjan Rout Cyclone Fani-hit State aims at planting over 1.3 crore saplings as per a five-year scheme
Uprooted trees in Puri. Nearly 22 lakh trees have been destroyed in the cyclone in Odisha.Biswaranjan Rout Cyclone Fani-hit State aims at planting over 1.3 crore saplings as per a five-year scheme
Berhampur: Around 150 carcasses of Olive Ridley turtles have been washed ashore near the Rushikulya river mouth in Ganjam district, a major mass nesting site of the endangered species, in the last one month. Forest officials found at least eight dead turtles on Monday. "Most of the carcasses were found in decomposed state. We suspected these were washed ashore to Ganjam coast from Astaranga area in Puri district, where a number of turtles were found dead recently," said divisional forest officer, (DFO) Berhampur, S S Mishra.
The authority, while hearing over the plea filed by merchant miners on Wednesday, said, it will soon issue the written stay order The Revision Authority, set up under the Union mines ministry, has stayed the enforcement of a resolution of the state government that had barred merchant miners to produce minerals during their lease renewal period. The authority, while hearing over the plea filed by merchant miners on Wednesday, said, it will soon issue the written stay order.
Seeking the Centre's intervention to ensure speed restrictions at crossing points used by elephants, Odisha government on Wednesday asked the railway board to revisit its advisories on prevention of train
PSU firm prefers to export the product board to take up the matter in its next meeting After its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh was shut due to lack of bauxite, now operations at Vedanta’s aluminium smelter in Odisha have been hit by shortage of alumina. Time and again, Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) has asked National Aluminium Company Limited ( Nalco), which has surplus alumina, to sell it the commodity at a premium, but in vain. B L Bagra, director (finance) of Nalco, confirmed VAL had offered to pay a premium over Nalco’s export price. However, he added the company’s strategy was to export alumina. Others said Nalco’s move was triggered by the company’s reluctance to encourage competition. Nalco and VAL are competitors; both manufacture and sell aluminium.
Concerned over rising frequency of industrial accidents, leading to death of workers at the site of Bhushan Steel's plant, the state labour department has decided to engage an independent agency to check the safety measures at the site. Labour minister Bijayshree Routray has also summoned the company's vice chairman and managing director Neeraj Singhal on January 21 for discussions on the matter.
Paradip: The anti-Posco agitation in Jagatsinghpur district took a new turn today with children and women joining the stir for the first time in two years as the government prepared to resume land acquisition in the proposed plant site. Over 2,000 school going children, college students and women joined a sit-in at Balitikira of Gobindpur gram panchayat organised by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), a CPI-backed body opposing the South Korean steel major since it inked a MoU with the state government in 2005.
‘Cos, both PSUs & private, have neither operated in an environmentally sustainable manner, nor socially beneficial manner’ “Mining only leads to greater poverty,” Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of Rural Development explained to the tribals of Lanjigarh, Odisha at the foothills of the Niyamgiri hills. This is the union minister's first visit to the naxal-affected Kalahandi district, a political tinderbox, where tribal interests are ranged against big corporates. Mr Ramesh insisted his visit was part of his agenda to visit all naxal affected districts and fight extremism with increased rural development.
Tells VAL to look for bauxite beyond Niyamgiri for its refinery Union Minister for Rural Development, Jayaram Ramesh on Sunday announced a package worth Rs 300-crore envisaging construction of houses and roads for the Dongaria and Kutia Kandhas, a primitive tribes group (PTG), living at the foot-hill of Odisha’s bauxite rich Niyamgiri mountain in Kalahandi district. The package includes Rs 200-core for construction of 2100 houses under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and laying of rural roads to all villages with a population of 250 and more in Kalahandi district with an outlay of Rs 100 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
“Mining has only resulted in displacement of lakhs of tribal families instead of creating jobs for them” Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Sunday urged the governments in the mineral-rich Naxal-affected States to focus on development of agriculture and implementation of rural development programmes instead of focusing on mining to create employment. Addressing a gathering of Dongaria and Kutia Kandha tribal groups on the foothills of Niyamgiri hills in this tribal-dominated block of Kalahandi district, Mr. Ramesh underlined the need for prioritising agriculture and rural development saying that mining in the country’s mineral-rich States such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had only added to the people’s miseries. Mining had only resulted in displacement of lakhs of tribal families instead of proving to be beneficial for them, he added.
In a bid to promote solar power generation in a big way, the Odisha government has decided to finalise a comprehensive solar policy in two months. The department of science & technology, which is finalizing the policy, has targeted solar power production of 80 Mw in three years. “We had discussions with the chief secretary regarding the solar power policy. The policy is set to be finalised within two months. We are also going to come out with Vision 2020 for the renewable energy sector by that time. In the next one year, solar power production in the state is expected to reach 50 MW and we hope to scale it up to 80 MW in the next three years,” said D N Gupta, secretary (science & technology).