Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
In a major step that could finally break the logjam over forest and environmental clearances to linear projects, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs has agreed to sort out issues coming in the way of implementing these projects, as far as requirements under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) are concerned. Tribal …
Major procedural amendments, including exemption from environment clearances, for roads projects are being proposed to the Cabinet Committee on Investment to achieve the UPA government's commitment to construct 20 km per day. On the agenda is abolishing environment approval for widening of roads that entail cutting down trees planted by …
Non-planting of saplings along national highways in the State after uprooting several old trees for taking up road widening projects has come to light through a petition filed under the Right to Information Act by tree lovers. Answering a set of questions from a Salem-based resident, officials of the National …
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the State Forest Department are at loggerheads over plans to cut down trees so that the Bijapur-Gulbarga-Humnabad National Highway 218 can be widened. Contradicting the NHAI’s claims that the loss of several trees will not adversely affect the environment, the State Forest …
New Delhi: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) expects to build at least 2,800-2,900 km highways under the NH Development Programme during 2012-13, which will be the highest ever completion in the authority’s history. The maximum NH construction record so far has been 2,693 km in 2009-10, sources said. According …
The woes of investors in highway projects don't seem to end. The new guidelines issued by the environment ministry, allowing work on non-forest land while clearance for projects involving diversion of forest land is pending, are cumbersome and would not facilitate investments, developers feel. According to official sources, the developers …
More than 3 months after they were completed, a cluster of mobile toilets, that is bound to bring immense relief to commuters waiting at the Peerkankaranai bus terminus, is yet to be made operational. Elected representatives and town panchayat staff maintain that all the civil works as well as procedural …
“They suffer from inherent financial weaknesses” Taking a tough stand, the Union government on Thursday said GMR Infra and GVK Power and Infrastructure Limited, which had served notices on the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) stating that they were withdrawing from two major highway projects owing to delays in …
The 266-km project is estimated to cost Rs. 20,000 crore Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and the Centre have agreed to construct an access-controlled Delhi-Ludhiana Expressway at an estimated cost of Rs. 20,000 crore. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s proposal to revise the Delhi-Chandigarh Expressway to one connecting the national Capital …
The National Highways Authority of India has asked the environment ministry to clear 25 road projects that are stuck for want of approvals. “We have written to the environment ministry on January 12, asking them to clear 25 of our projects covering 2,800 km. The environment ministry is saying that …
Delhi-Ludhiana expressway talks begin, states express in-principle approval With the Prime Minister’s Office stepping in to resolve the row between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over forest clearances to highway projects, the former has communicated the ball is now in …
Stepping in to resolve the row between the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over forest clearance to linear projects, the Prime Minister’s Office Tuesday worked out a formula to end the embarrassing stand-off between two arms of the central government. A meeting …
Long-term lenders like IIFCL and IDBI Bank are unlikely to fund road projects where land acquisition is incomplete, a move that could scuttle plans to award projects of 8,000 km this fiscal year. Lenders and builders have approached the finance ministry, road ministry and NHAI, insisting that road contracts should …
Things may have come to a boil between the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Environment and Forests over green clearances to road projects last week with the former going to court in protest, but they have been simmering for long enough. The NHAI has for long …
The Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment disputed the claims of the National Highway Authority of India that has moved the Supreme Court for fast-track clearance of delayed highway projects. Elaborating upon the Forest Advisory Committee meeting held in December 2012, Ritwick Dutta, environmental lawyer and member of LIFE said, …
Stung by the “abrupt and unilateral” walkout of the GMR Group from the 555-km-long Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway project alleging delays in approvals, the ministry of road transport and highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are weighing various options, including initiating procedures to debar the firm from upcoming …
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) may black list GMR Infrastructure from bidding for highways projects on the grounds that the company allegedly terminated a contract unilaterally without giving a mandatory 90-day notice period to the highways authority. “A concession agreement was signed between NHAI and GMR. It was …
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its guidelines mandating forest clearance prior to environmental clearance, saying the related procedures have delayed and stalled 22 important projects worth over R20,000 crore. The highway authority has also sought a direction to the …
The decision by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to move the Supreme Court seeking exemption for delinking environment and forest approvals for road projects had the approval of the Prime Ministers Office (PMO), it has emerged. Government sources in the know say that the PMO’s approval came in …
NHAI likely to take ministry to SC today for ‘failing to comply with delinking order’ The tussle between the environment ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) over who caused the alleged delays in approvals in highway projects came to a head on Tuesday with the NHAI threatening …
