As the draft report on the Environmental Impact Assessment of the Vizhinjam port project faces a public hearing on Saturday, environmentalists are not happy with the manner in which the report has projected the impact of the port on Vizhinjam.

In fact, non-governmental organisation Coastal Watch has gone to the extent of saying that the draft EIA report “reads like a campaign material rather than an objective environmental impact assessment of the project”.

Ecologist says sustained campaign to create awareness essential

The proposed ban and boycott on plastic carry bags in the city can be a good idea, but requires proper groundwork and a sustained campaign to ensure its success, feels ecologist S. Faizi. Reacting to the concept mooted by political parties, proposing to implement the ban and boycott with government support, Mr. Faizi said the plastic ban issue was a complex one and to have it enforced overnight, though not impossible, would require preparations, including creation of awareness among the public and more importantly, ensuring availability of alternatives.

Minister says letter was sent on Saturday

In response to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's allegation on Sunday that the Kerala government was preventing officials of her State from closing the holes drilled for tests on the Mullaperiyar dam, Kerala has clarified that it had written to Tamil Nadu on Saturday stating categorically that it had no objection to the work, a stance it had made clear even two months ago.

A perennial nightmare for the residents of the State's coastal belt, that of mineral sand mining, is back again. This time, with a bureaucratic prop. And, the first lot to get the jitters are those living along the shores of Alappuzha, particularly the mineral-rich Thottappally stretch.

It is a series of letters from the Indian Rare Earths (IRE) Limited, Chavara; the Chief Engineer in charge of the Rs.1,840-crore Kuttanad Package, Alappuzha; and then from the office of the Chief Engineer (Irrigation and Administration), Thiruvananthapuram, to the Principal Secretary (Water Resources) that have triggered the tension this time around.

Water in the Vembanad lake and Pampa river turns saline
ALAPPUZHA: Even as the threat of floods that loomed over the water-logged Kuttanad seems to have receded, the people are now up against another recurrent scourge.