Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Futala Lake’s charm fades amid neglect and poor maintenance appearing in ‘The Times of India’ dated 25.05.2025". The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Futala Lake’s charm fades amid neglect …
Trespassers moved: The glory of Dal lake is being revived. Thirteen hotels situated in the lake area are being shifted to Humhama near the Srinagar airport. The land to be allotted to hotel owners has been identified. Tree slaughter: Over 850 huge and old trees along the 8-kilometer long stretch …
Pune has been the centre of a quiet revolution. Heading this transformation is the Tree Authority of Pune (tap), part of the Pune Municipal Corporation's garden department. tap is responsible for keeping Pune city, with a population of over 26 lakh, lush and green. Maharashtra was the first, and until …
tiger population in Maharashtra is dwindling fast. The number of tigers increased to 417 in 1989 from 174 tigers in 1979. But the 1990s witnessed a steep decline in its population. According to the latest estimate, in 1993, there were 276 big cats in the state and in 2001, they …
In systems traditionally known to be tightlipped, public disclosures seldom make an appearance. Pune Municipal Corporation's (pmc) initiative in publishing the environment status report (esr) for public scrutiny last year, is a bold attempt to revamp this image. While the 74th amendment to the Indian Constitution makes it mandatory for …
• For effective development and utilisation of its natural resources, the Orissa government intends to draft a mineral policy soon. Along with this, the state also wants to formulate a gems policy to tap its vast gem reserves. • Around 4,000 villagers of Gondriala in Kodad mandal of Nalgonda district …
Two home truths about irrigation departments across India: they are a fountainhead of corruption and run on huge losses. But July 2002 may prove to be a watershed for rural water supply management. Around that time, the Maharashtra government will hand over control of irrigation facilities to the state's farmers
Through a notification issued on July 23, 2001, the Maharashtra government has made the participatory irrigation management programme compulsory. Its salient features are as follows: • The farmers' cooperatives will take up all irrigation work, including dam construction and maintenance • They will choose their chairperson • The farmers would …
In Nasik, large-scale cooperatives were formed with the support of the irrigation department in 1989. Work began in Ozhar in June 1990 at the behest of the late Bapu Upadhyay after the irrigation network was completed in 1983. Upadhyay, a freedom fighter, and Bharat Kavale formed the Samaj Parivarthan Kendra …
union petroleum and natural gas minister, Ram Naik, stands accused again for mocking at the environment at the expense of public health. As his attempts to derail the Supreme Court's orders on cleaning Delhi's air continue, in Maharashtra's Dahanu he made a statement to disband the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection …
IIT Mumbai and the Central Pollution Control Board had conducted a survey of exposure to air pollution and consequent health effects in Mumbai, in 1996. They had clubbed the eight surveyed sites into three groups according to varying levels of pollution
The 2000 monsoon didn’t keep its date with Dulaiben, 60, resident of Thoridi village in Amreli district of Gujarat. Her eyes stare down the road in the hope of the water tanker that brings 5,000 litres of water for the 600 residents once every week. Her two sons migrated to …
The Employment Guarantee Scheme ( egs ) of Maharash tra is said to be the only one in the world that guaran tees employment on demand. This was for the first time an employment generation programme was conceived to create productive works at the village level. The absence of social …
During the 1999-2000 drought, Down To Earth ( dte ) reported that five villages in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had enough water during the drought because of the water conservation activities they had undertaken. dte revisited these villages, reeling under the second successive drought. Unlike last year, some of these …
An analysis of the government's failure at drought relief shows some clear loopholes that are not very difficult to plug for a government that is worried about its political future. The most important thing is to plan decentralised, village-level institutions to both manage drought relief and come up with strategic …
The biggest hurdle in providing the much-needed drought relief is corruption in the government machi nery. Rajasthan has spent almost Rs 6,500 crore on drought relief works like employment generation, fodder distribution and drinking water facilities in the past 45 years. Another Rs 628 crore has been spent in the …
The Maharashtra government has decided to shelf its much-hyped devolution of power to the gram panchayats , a promise that the ruling Democratic Front government has been making since it assumed office. The chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, announced the proposal last September at a public meeting and subsequently the governor …
April 2, 2001 will go down as a sad day in the history of India's environmental movement. Four tribals were shot dead by the police in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh ( mp ). Their crime: cutting trees for beams to support the roof of their house. The firing took …
The Deccan Trap geology of Bombay (Mumbai) differs from the main Deccan flood basalt province in several ways. Very few geological, geochemical and geochronological studies exist on the Deccan geology of Bombay. The basalt of Gilbert Hill, Andheri occupies a special place in Bombay geology on account of its spectacular …
SUSTAINABLE forest management has been practiced since time immemorial. The Arthashastra records management of forests and wildlife during Kautilya's rule. There were 18 forest laws during the Mauryan period. But the centuries-old indigenous knowledge, developed after careful observations of natural and physical environments, is today a victim of neglect or …
the Union government's much-delayed plan to introduce ethanol-blended petrol is finally being implemented. Field trials will soon begin at Miraj in Maharashtra and at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. "The trials will determine whether the five per cent ethanol additive to petrol can be introduced nationwide,' said Union petroleum minister Ram …
