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
The Odisha High Court (HC) on Thursday declared the agreement between ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd, a city-based firm and Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) ‘null and void’. ARSS and OSRTC had entered into a pact for developing a modern, state-of-the-art bus terminal over 14.43 acres at the Baramunda locality in the city. The High Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in this regard in January this year.
ML Rungta, Rungta Mines, Indrani Patnaik and Serajuddin among offenders The vigilance department in Odisha has initiated cases against mine owners in connection with illegal mining. The miners against whom cases have been lodged include ML Rungta (Silijora-Kalamati iron ore & manganse mines), Rungta Mines Ltd (Jajang iron ore & manganese mines), Indrani Patnaik (Unchabali iron ore & manganese mines) and Sirajuddin & Company (iron ore mines). All these mine owners have their leases under Joda circle in Keonjhar district, minister for steel & mines Rajani Kant Singh informed the state assembly in a written reply.
The proposed inter-disciplinary study to find causes behind the high incidence of kidney disease in pockets of Badamba and Narsinghpur blocks of the district will now be clubbed with similar studies to
The division bench of the Odisha High Court headed by Chief Justice VG Gowda on Wednesday issued notices to the central and state governments and asked authorities concerned not to put into effect a regulation
The Orissa High Court on Wednesday ordered the state government to take the court’s permission before allowing operation of mines that are functioning under deemed extension clause of the Mineral Concession
After de-allocating three coal blocks- Utkal-D, Manadakini-B and Baitarani West allocated to Odisha PSUs, the Coal ministry has sought details of joint venture (JV) arrangements with private players and mode of selection of the JV partners. The coal ministry in a recent letter to Odisha chief secretary B K Patnaik, sought to know if the state PSU that was allotted coal block entered into an JV arrangement with private companies and whether legal opinion was sought for such an arrangement.
The Odisha High Court has issued notices to the state and union government over the controversial deemed extension clause of Mineral Concession Rule (MCR), 1960, which allows miners to operate their mines even after the lease expiry under special cases. The High Court, admitting a petition filed by Biswajit Mohanty to strike down the clause, has issued notices to state and union government. It has also issued an interim order saying that miners cannot operate the mines under the deemed extension clause without the leave of the court.
Early this month, billionaire Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Group was forced to shut its one million tonnes per annum alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Odisha’s Kalahandi district due to unavailability of bauxite, 15 years after state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation signed over its rights to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills to the group firm. The group has invested Rs 30,000 crore in six years to set up the aluminium business under Vedanta Aluminium, believing it would be able to get approvals for captive bauxite mines by the time the facilities get commissioned. Eventually, it commissioned a 1 mtpa refiner, a 0.5 mtpa smelter and a 1,215 Mw captive power plant, but approval for bauxite mining did not come.
State initiates process to lease out Pattangi mine to the company National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has resumed bauxite excavation at its Panchpatmali (North-Central block) mines nearly a month after it shut down operation at the site following expiry of lease deed on November 16. The company has obtained a temporary working permit (TWP) to raise mineral for a year, pending renewal of its mining lease. “We have started the mines operation today after receiving the TWP. We will complete all pending work within four months to put up our cases for lease renewal. We hope to get the lease renewal within a year,” said a senior official of Nalco.
Minister for Forest and Environment Bijayshree Routray on Tuesday said in the Assembly that Rs 62.1 lakh has been spent on development of 14 elephant corridors during between 2009-10 and 2010-11 from