Groundwater level has increased by 0.6 metres
Rs. 20 crore has been allocated for supplying water across the State, says TWAD Board managing director The groundwater level has increased from 18.10 metres below ground level (pre-monsoon) to 17.5
Rs. 20 crore has been allocated for supplying water across the State, says TWAD Board managing director The groundwater level has increased from 18.10 metres below ground level (pre-monsoon) to 17.5
Monorail will occupy less space, can be completed comparatively early using pre-fabricated structures: RAAC At a meeting recently, the Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC) asked the Coimbatore Corporation to take up with the State Government the need for a monorail for the city. A presentation made on the occasion said that a city such as Coimbatore, with over a million population, could go in for the mass transport system project, more so when cities with far fewer population and lesser area had taken many steps forward.
The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), which has received applications for opening 44 new sand quarries on the Cauvery-Coleroon river basin, is clueless about how to proceed further, in the absence of Central guidelines on such project proposals. As a sequel to the August 3 order of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, the PWD had to secure approval of the SEIAA for setting up 44 sand quarries and running 21 existing quarries. Twenty-seven sand quarries over five years old were closed down.
Policemen among gathering to complain against land grabbing It was a special camp organised by the Madurai rural district police seeking petitions from people who had lost their houses and agricultural
Says Central and State Governments have taken safety measures and it is high time steps were taken for starting production The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board have applied their mind in all clearances and statutorily passed various orders relating to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). There is no scope for the Madras High Court to presume that the orders are arbitrary, a Division Bench has held.
The State Government has sought a detailed Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) on the pollution allegedly caused by various chemical industries to water bodies including River Cauvery, and villages and hamlets in and around Mettur. In response to the Madras High Court’s direction, N. Thirumurthy, Deputy Secretary, Department of Environment and Forests, Government of Tamil Nadu asked the TNPCB Chairman to “send an action taken report on the complaints of pollution (due to chemical industries in and around Mettur) to Government immediately.”
In its verdict giving the thumbs-up to the Kudankulam nuclear power project, the Madras High Court ruled that the government had taken post-Fukushima concerns while clearing the project and observed that remote possibilities of a disaster could not be cited to abandon a project. The basic issue before the court was whether the KKNPP had all the required confirmations as per statutory provisions. It dealt with a host of issues relating to the agreements between India and Russia for setting up of the plant, apprehensions that arose following the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents, safety measures, temperature of the trade effluent that would be discharged into the sea, earthquakes and safety, spent fuel and environmental safeguards.
For over two decades, the State Forest Department is mulling over the creation of a wildlife sanctuary in Kodaikanal hills. Yet, the task has not been accomplished. The 14th Legislative Assembly’s Petitions Committee says in a report: “The committee asks the forest department to take steps to carve out a wildlife sanctuary in forest ranges in and around Kodaikanal. It recommends the passing of an order to this effect immediately.”
Department of Forestry has begun pilot work, says V-C Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), along with other stakeholders, will help in executing the State government’s East Coast Development Project, TNAU vice-chancellor K. Ramasamy said here on Thursday. Addressing mediapersons after assuming charge on August 27, the Vice-Chancellor said the five-year project would focus on increasing the green cover on the east coast of the State – a stretch of 1,006 km – from Kanyakumari to Chennai. Speaking to The Hindu later, he said the project involved a multi-pronged approach and included tank modernisation at a cost of Rs. 1,596 crore and increasing green cover at a cost of Rs. 672 crore.
Cheques to the value of Rs 2.08 crore were distributed to 89 villages in Sivaganga, Tiruppuvanam, Ilayankudi, S. Pudur and Kannangudi panchayat unions for undertaking poverty eradication programmes under the ‘Pudu Vazhvu’ scheme here on Thursday. Collector V. Rajaraman, who gave away the cheques to representatives of village poverty eradication committees, said that the scheme was being implemented in the first phase in five panchayat unions of Sivaganga district.
Plans to appoint a consultant to prepare a project report In what could be a far-reaching and ambitious move, Tiruchi Corporation is considering the feasibility of extending round-the-clock drinking water supply in the city. Initially, the move is likely to be implemented on a pilot basis in select areas of the city. As a first step in this direction, the corporation has planned to appoint a consultant to study and prepare a feasibility report on providing 24/7 water supply on international standards, corporation sources told The Hindu . The consultant would also identify the areas where the system could be implemented.