The green bench of the Himachal Pradesh High Court has imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on Jaiprakash Associates Limited for setting up a mega cement plant with means the court described as deceitful, besides a captive, thermal power plant without clearance. The court has allowed the 1.75-million-tonne cement plant to stay but ordered dismantling of the 60MW power plant.

A.P. Shah surprised that State Human Rights Commission has not intervened

A jury that presided over a public hearing on the alleged State suppression of democratic rights on the Kudankulam issue here on Monday will petition the National Human Rights Commission against the foisting of “omnibus FIRs” accusing thousands of anti-Kudankulam protestors of sedition.

Taking a tough stand on environmental issues, the Gujarat High Court has directed steelmaker Electrotherm (India) Ltd to close down its manufacturing plant in Kutch district and quashed the environmental clearance granted to it by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest without holding a public hearing as per rules.

Electrotherm's 36,000 tonne per annum (tpa) facility for producing structural steel, alloy steel and stainless steel at Samkhiali in Bhachau taluka of Kutch district is also known for making of Yo-bikes, India's first battery-run two-wheelers.

Kohima, May 8: Civil society groups have objected to the construction of a hydel project at Tamanthi on the Chindwin river in Myanmar. A memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today by the civil society groups said the construction had so far displaced over 45,000 Naga people living nearby. According to the memorandum the dam is estimated to wipe out an area of approximately 1,400 square km.

The Supreme Court has refused to vacate the stay granted by the AP High Court on sand mining in the state. While dealing with a batch of Special Leave Petitions moved by the state government and others, the apex court directed the state government to approach the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to get clearance for the sand mining in accordance with the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) notification.