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 …
INTEGRATED development has changed the Hivare landscape in more ways than one. Check dams have raised the groundwater level, slowed down erosion and helped increase crop yields. Villagers like 67-year-old G D Gurav hope that water and fuelwood problems will be solved shortly. The villagers used to migrate to cities …
THE temporary check dams (locally known as bandharas) across streams, have made a huge impact on the agricultural system in Hivare, a drought-prone village 35 km from Pune on the Pune-Saswad road. Even a year ago, the villagers of Hivare wouldn't have dared to dream of watering their fields all …
In a crusade to weed out corrupt officials, noted social activist Anna Hazare, widely acclaimed for his innovative conservation efforts that transformed the Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra into a green belt, went on an indefinite fast to protest government inaction against some corrupt forest officials in …
IN A case unprecedented in the annals of medical science, 10 workers in a Nasik paint factory became infertile due to exposure to some chemicals used in the manufacturing process. The workers, between 22 and 24 years of age, first complained of sterility in September last year. When this was …
HUNDREDS of tin sheds catch the eye as you drive down the narrow roads in Ausa taluka in the Latur district of Maharashtra. Coming up next to the sheds are long rows of one- or two-bedroomed houses -- the spanking new, permanent dwellings for those dislocated by last year's earthquake. …
THE people of Ratnagiri, a coastal district in southern Maharashtra, are a jubilant lot today. A recent report by an expert committee instituted by the state government has vindicated their opposition to a large copper smelting unit proposed in the district. The committee said firmly that such industries would endanger …
P D BAPNA is the owner of a 20-ha sapota (cheeku or sapodilla plum) orchard in the Dahanu area of Maharashtra. Back in the '60s, like other growers, Bapna used chemical fertilisers. But in 1975, after his plants became weak and prone to disease, "perhaps because of the over-exploitation of …
TELANGWADI village in the Solapur district of western Maharashtra is located on undulating and rocky terrain and receives little rainfall. Farmers who are lucky enough to have irrigation cultivate inferior cereals like jowar, bajra and maize and fruits like pomegranates. This barren area is the setting for the success story …
EIGHTY-year-old Ganapathyrao Mhetre has a fondness for grapes. He is an avid collector of books and journals on grape cultivation. And since 1991, he has experimented with cultivating them organically. The idea of going organic occurred to Mhetre because the land around Tasgaon in Maharashtra's Sangli district, where he owns …
DESPITE the normally high prices of organic foods, there doesn't seem to be enough of it going around. Natu Bhai Shah, a sales representative, says that organic products -- bought mainly by "scientists and intellectuals" -- are invariably in short supply. Anil D Shah, chairperson of Mahajanam, a Bombay-based NGO …
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has been charged with disturbing the flora and fauna in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Goregaon near the Film City for a proposed conservation education project conceived by the late ornithologist Salim Ali. Park officials refused to grant a no-objection certificate for the …
The multinational Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL) is facing the music from its employees for allegedly, issuing boots containing carcinogenic materials. In a legal notice served in January this year, employees of the Bombay unit of HLL demanded Rs 9 lakh as compensation to all workers who developed serious skin problems …
Citizens of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra have decided to revive their agitation against the Rs 700-crore copper smelting factory of Sterlite Industries India Ltd in the district. Last August, local environmentalists had formed the Ratnagiri Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, which campaigned against the unit located at Zadgaon, protesting that its operations would …
THE VILLAGERS of Gawandwadi in Maharashtra's Raigad district no longer fight over fish and water. Instead, they meet regularly to discuss strategies to share them. And, Dharmi Marohar Gavanda of the village, which is in Karjat tribal block, does not have to walk 3 km in the hot summer to …
WITH THE Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) becoming increasingly incapable of dealing with the metropolis' mounting garbage, three agencies are working to make its disposal a paying proposition. The department of science and technology has set up a plant to convert organic waste into fuel pellets for industries; BMC has teamed …
An agreement between the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and Enron Corp, a US-based multinational power company, to set up a 2,015 megawatt power plant in Dabhol in Ratnagiri district has come in for criticism. The plant is to be set up by General Electric and Bechtel Corp of the …
Union environment minister Kamal Nath will release 1,500 ha of forest land in Maharashtra's Dhule district for oustees of the Saradar Sarovar Project. This follows a directive issued by Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao after a meeting in January with the chief ministers of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya pradesh, …
How did you switch from mathematics to agriculture research? Since childhood, I was fond of growing crops and the yields were impressive. Kitchen garden and wasteland research gave me enough confidence to start experimenting with other crops. On the terrace of my house, I successfully raised sandal, which needs special …
THE MAHARASHTRA government is planning to take action against Nippon Denro Ispat Limited (NDIL), one of the largest steel manufacturing concerns in the country, for causing water pollution. The Rs 300-crore NDIL plant, located in Kalmeshwar town near Nagpur, was commissioned in 1985 and uses hydrochloric acid in its manufacturing …
Vilasrao B Salunke, father of the pani panchayat concept in the drought-prone Marathwada region in Maharashtra, has evolved quake-resistant houses in areas affected by the September 30 earthquake. Salunke, convenor of the Pune-based Earthquake Disaster Management Group, advocates ferrocement technology to build new houses on existing foundations of the recently …
