Himachal to have new forest policy
The Himachal Pradesh Government is contemplating formulation of a new forest policy with a view to conserve the State's forests wealth. An official spokesman said to achieve the goal set in the national and State forest policy, the department has been raising plantation over 25,000 to 30,000 hectares annually.
GMDA gears up to evict illegal settlers from Green Belt Zone
The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has served showcause notice on 15 illegal settlers in the Green Belt Zone in the city. The illegal settlers have been asked to reply within 10 days. The GMDA will take action on the matter after that.
Redsanders smuggling goes on unchecked
Smuggling of redsanders from the region has increased in recent times and the Forest Department appears to be ill-equipped to curb it. Smuggling of this precious timber has become well organised and Chennai-based smugglers are luring poor villagers to take up felling of trees.
Delhi to host bamboo conference
The Union Minister of Textiles, Shahnawaz Hussain, formally announced the hosting of the prestigious "World Bamboo Congress" in New Delhi from February 27 to March 4. Simultaneously, a "Bamboo Expo" will also be organised at Pragati Maidan from February 28 to March 2 where 6,000 foreign visitors from 50 countries …
AITUC for probe into Dul Hasti project delay
The All India Trade Union Congress has urged the Prime Minister to order an inquiry into the delay in construction of the 390 mw Dul Hasti hydel project at Kishtwar by the NHPC that has led to escalation of the project cost by over Rs 2700 crore.
Bais opens forest to development
In just 10 days, some important decisions have been taken that not only threaten the existence of our forests but are in direct contravention of Supreme Court directives. Nearly 34,000 hectares of forest land have been given away for developmental projects and nearly 2,000 villages in forests would soon get …
Panel to submit HC report on status of water bodies
In a move to set aside conflicting claims by land-owning agencies in Delhi over the status of water bodies, the High Court directed that a committee be constituted which would report to the court. The petitioner, Vinod Kumar Jain, said there were 794 water bodies in the city as per …
JPC condemns misinformation
The Joint Parliamentary Committee has come out with number of suggestions for the government regarding safety standards for drinking water and food products, use,misuse of pesticides and "misinformation" campaign of the soft drink companies. In its report, the JPC said that the health ministry should have used provisions of law …
Incentive for planting saplings
The local committee of the Chief Khalsa Diwan has announced a novel scheme to give school fee concessions to those students whose parents will plant at-least five saplings.
J&K State Forest Corporation losses stand at Rs 291-cr
Special category states with special problems sometimes offer special anecdotes. Take J&K; that has vast forests. But its state-controlled Forest Corporation (SFC) has been making whopping losses even after axing forests and draining funds from public exchequer. CAG in its recent reports said the SFC has accumulated losses amounting to …
SC serves notice on MP Govt
The Supreme Court issued notices to the Madhya Pradesh Government and others on an application seeking a direction to rehabilitate about 150 families affected by the arising of the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam.
RTC is 2nd highest in diesel consumption
Various measures aimed at motivating drivers and mechanics to conserve oil, helped the AP State Road Transport Corporation in achieving the second highest diesel consumption award at the national level for 2002-03.
Unabated timber smuggling hits Chakrashilla Wildlife Sanctuary hard
The conscious section of the society, along with the nature related organizations of the State, have expressed concern over the apathy of the State Forest Department towards checking the unabated smuggling of valuable timber and massive encroachment in the Chakrashilla Wildlife Sanctuary of Dhubri district of Assam. It may be …
SC puts brakes on older heavy vehicles
In a major blow to Mumbai city transporters the supreme court refused to extend the January 31 deadline for eight-year-old heavy vehicles to convert to compressed natural gas (CNG) or be phased out. The court also refused the Maharashtra government's plea to stay the phase-out order passed by the Bombay …
Dwindling wetlands threat to man
"Act now or be ready to live in a world without clean sea shores, diverse species of birds, animals and plants, natural flood controls, hydropower plants and pure drinking water," warn environmentalists. Wetlands in Gujarat have decreased from 3.36 million hectares in 1972 to 2.27 million hectares in 1992. In …
International help sought to regenerate Palitana forest
An International alliance is in the offing to regenerate the forest area of Palitana in Bhanagar district of Gujarat. A religious body - Samastha Mahajan along with Alliance for Religion and Conservation (ARC), have joined hands to develop the Giriraj hills in the Shetrunjay range in a drive to create …
Call to make forest conservation people oriented
Of the 18,060 sq km reserve forests in Assam State, about 3,000 sq km have been encroached upon. As per the State of Forest Report two years back, 65 per cent of the State's forests do not bear any forest worth its name while another 15 per cent are left …
Timber smugglers rule the roost in Kokrajhar
Taking advantage of the Royal Bhutan Army's crackdown on the ULFA, NDFB and KLO inside Bhutan, hundreds of timber smugglers and mafia are actively engaged in smuggling of valuable trees like sal, sisu, titasapa, etc from the reserve forests of Assam these days.
