NEW DELHI: The government will introduce real-time random emission tests for on-road vehicles from 2020 to prevent a repeat of the Volkswagen emission scandal.

Govt asks Bosch and Cummins to provide required technology

In a bid to secure speedy green clearances for highways, the government plans to introduce a 'tree transplantation' clause in highway contracts that will require project developers to salvage as ma

In a bid to fast-track metro rail projects in various cities, the ministry of urban development (MoUD) has proposed that these plans be exempted from environmental clearances for an area of up to f

The railways is going for its first public-private partnership (PPP) in a windmill energy project. The national transporter will be calling tenders for a 25-MW wind energy plant near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan soon.

The railways is expecting companies such as Suzlon, GE, Siemens, Goldwind and Encore to come forward for the project. The cost of the project is expected to be around R220-250 crore

After getting overwhelming response from the private sector in major rail infrastructure public private partnership (PPP) projects, Indian railways is now eyeing to attract an investment of around R1,000 crore from private sector for building toilets at 600 railway stations under PPP mode.

The much-needed step to provide basic amenity at stations comes in at a time when the national transporter is cash strapped and has no money to complete its major infrastructure projects. Railways, for long, has been struggling to provide clean lavatories at its stations as hygienic toilets have never been a priority for railways due to cash crunch.

The Centre is working on a new scheme of affordable housing for the economically weaker sections in urban areas. The plan will be different from the UPA government's flagship JNNURM, one of the two sub-missions which the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation is anchoring.

Apart from housing, the new scheme would also have a component to provide a clutch of services such as skill development, water supply and drainage system to the urban poor.

The irony was not lost on anyone when Meerut, part of the ancient Harappan settlement renowned for its sophisticated drainage systems, was promised a decent sewerage system under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM) as late as 2005. The city seemed poised for a facelift after centuries of decrepit waste disposal infrastructure but, alas, that was not to be.

Seven years hence, even this modest project seems to have ground to a halt. With heaps of garbage lining its choked and dug-up roads, the project — expected to be commissioned by March 2012 —looks far from complete, adding to the city’s miseries.

New Delhi With the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) readying a new set of FIRs this week, the coal scam probe is hot again. The agency is preparing to register four fresh cases in connection with its probe related to alleged irregularities in the allocation of captive coal blocks between 1993 and 2004.

Around 43 coal blocks were allocated during this period. The probe also includes coal blocks allocated during NDA's tenure. In its report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said the government extended windfall gains of R1.86 lakh crore to private players by distributing coal blocks without bidding.

New Delhi The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will further widen the scope of its investigations into the coal block allocation scam by looking into the role of officials of Central and state sector PSUs, including NTPC, SAIL and a host of state mineral development corporations.

These utilities had got allocation of captive coal blocks from the Centre between 1993 and 2009 under the special dispensation route for government companies.