Counter affidavit on behalf of Chief Municipal Engineer, Patna Nagar Nigam in the matter of Saurav Narayan Vs Bihar Pollution Control Board & Others dated May 20, 2025. The report said that the corporation has been diligently performing its statutory duties within the limitations of the available resources and infrastructure. …
Recommends withdrawal of forest clearance The Elephant Task Force constituted by the High Court has recommended cancellation of the lease granted to mushrooming mini hydel power projects in the Western Ghats, particularly in Sakleshpur region. Contrary to the contentions that there is not much forest cover in Sakleshpur region where …
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) will soon create a national data base for tigers, the flagship species of India, and each one of the big cats will have a unique identification number and code. This was announced by Rajesh Gopal, member-secretary of NTCA, during a side event on “Have …
State governments have acted positively to protect it, say agencies The lion-tailed macaque, one of India’s endangered mascot species, is no longer on ‘The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates’ list, after the international body compiling it determined that the State governments had acted positively to protect it. The list of …
The Western Ghats Protection Committee (WGPC) seeks a detailed study of the tremors felt in certain parts of Kasaragod and Kannur districts on October 14. It feels that the tremors could be the fallout of uncontrolled and illegal granite and laterite mining in the region. A meeting held here on …
The wood panelled office in Delhi's Paryavaran Bhawan is now a 'no-go' zone. Its reigning green queen, Jayanthi Natarajan , once a daily fixture on television shows as Congress spokeswoman, presides in imperious silence. Over the last 15 months, as minister for environment and forests, she has successfully stalled every …
The Western Ghats of India are known to be a major biological hotspot that supports plant diversity and endemism. On the Kas Plateau, a lateritic plateau of the northern Western Ghats, we examined mesoscale distributions of endemic, rare, or locally significant plant species in forest habitats or on the plateau …
Urban land-cover change threatens biodiversity and affects ecosystem productivity through loss of habitat, biomass, and carbon storage. However, despite projections that world urban populations will increase to nearly 5 billion by 2030, little is known about future locations, magnitudes, and rates of urban expansion. Here we develop spatially explicit probabilistic …
Union minister of state for commerce Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday allayed fears on any adverse effect of plantation crops on the rich biodiversity of the Western Ghats. “Cultivation of plantation crops in the Western Ghats will not affect its rich bio-diversity or disturb the ecological balance between flora and fauna …
Making its representation to get Goa region of Western Ghats included as world heritage site by UNESCO, the state forest department has said that its forests are the only home on earth for rare species of bat – The Giant Indian Mastiff.The forest department, in its draft letter prepared last …
PANJIM: Giving up its initial reluctance to include Goa region of Western Ghat in the World Heritage Site of UNESCO, Forest Department has finally admitted that Goa along with contiguous forests of Karnataka and Maharashtra, is one of the best potential tiger habitat in this bio-diversity hotspot. It has been …
Meeting today to consolidate views of the governmentd A high-level working group on Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report has sought the views of the State government on the report. The State government has been asked to list out the acceptable recommendations, unacceptable ones, and those which can be …
‘Project tunnels not to reach State’s territory’ No direct study has been done on the possible ecological impact in Idukki from the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project as “no surface activity/construction is envisaged in the area [district],” says the rapid Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the project. P.A. Aziz, …
Public sector Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is looking at reviving its plan to set up a greenfield refinery plant in Visakhapatnam. The company already operates an 8.3-million tonne (mtpa) capacity refinery at the port city. The plan remained only on paper after HPCL was allotted 1,500 acre land five …
Most clearances are learnt to have been granted during 2007-09, when PM Manmohan Singh held the environment portfolio In a major crackdown on illegal mining in mineral-rich Goa, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) on Wednesday suspended the environment clearances of all 93 leases in the state, asking …
Senior ecologist Madhav Gadgil who led a panel to map the eco-sensitivity of the western ghats has charged the state and central governments of attempting to bury his findings. Gadgil who was at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in the city for a talk on eco-conservation pointed out how the …
In the Western Ghats region, Tamil Nadu has the best record in regenerating forest areas and extensive plantation activities in and outside forests. Goa and Karnataka, too, marginally increased their forest area in 2011. Kerala was top among the states that recorded a decrease in forest area in the Western …
A nine-member working group will examine the ecology expert panel report The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report, submitted by ecologist Madhav Gadgil last year, was further delaying the Rs 30,000-crore refinery project of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) in Maharashtra, a senior official of the state-run oil marketing firm …
The implications of classification in the State The zonation of the Western Ghats region, as proposed by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), is coming under the scrutiny of the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB). The Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), Thrissur, has already completed the case study of …
PANJIM: In what can be seen as good news for the mine owners in the state, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has declared that the moratorium on renewal and granting of new mining leases in Goa would be reviewed on December 31, 2012. Union Minister for MoEF, …
