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South Asia

  • 14/11/2005

pm halts road: Mauritius' prime minister Navin Ramgoolam has announced a halt to construction of a 25-km highway running through Ferney Valley, which helps to speed up journeys to tourist resorts. Environmentalists complained it would wipe out unique flora and fauna. Work on the road started last year and was funded with a us $19 million loan from the African Development Bank. Environmentalists had argued for upgradation of the existing coastal route or an alternative route, which would save Ferney Valley and also benefit poor local communities. However, the government had earlier refuted it saying that upgradation would mean costly relocation of communities and abandoning would incur a huge penalty.

bio-waste killer: In the outskirts of Agra, a bio-waste disposal incinerator claimed the lives of three children, while five others were hospitalised with symptoms of asphyxia. The incinerator was set up to dispose the medical waste of more than two-dozen hospitals. Its chimney was found broken and it was not up to pollution control norms. The incinerator could be the probable reason for the state of the children. Meanwhile, the incinerator is still operating and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board is now planning to serve a final notice to the company so that it shuts down its plant.

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