The National Green Tribunal has put on hold the Bhadreshwar thermal power plant at Mundra in Gujarat. It has asked the project proponent, OPG Power Gujarat Pvt Ltd, to stop all works at its 300 MW power plant till it gets the requisite environmental clearance.

"We have no hesitation to hold that until OPG Power Gujarat Pvt Ltd obtains clearance to use reserve forest land and clearance from the Coastal Regulation Zone Authorities, it cannot go ahead with the project," said a bench comprising chairperson A S Naidu and Vijai Sharma on February 14.

NVVN recovers Rs 28 crore from erring firms. Acting tough on companies that did not commission solar power projects on time, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) Limited has encashed a part of bank guarantee of 14 of them. The companies were awarded projects under batch one of the first phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). The last date of commissioning was January 9. About Rs 28 crores have been encashed from these firms located in Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Power producers demand higher benchmark prices for cost components. The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) recently went public with its proposed terms and conditions for determining electricity tariffs to be paid to renewable energy power producers. A public hearing on the draft regulations was held in December last where stakeholders submitted their objections and suggestions. The regulations, which will replace the regulations that expire this year, will be valid for the next five years, starting April 1.

Aims to slow down global temperature rise by 0.5°C. The United States will lead a global campaign to reduce short-lived pollutants that aggravate global warming. In an announcement made on February 16, secretary of state Hillary Clinton announced the formation of a new coalition called Climate and Clean Air Coalition that will target non-Co2 pollutants, including methane, hydrofluorocarbons and black carbon. She made the announcement in the presence of ministers from four member countries of the coalition.

Environment ministry granted clearance even though mandatory public consultations were not held The National Green Tribunal has suspended the environment clearance granted to the sponge iron plant of Scania Steel and Power Ltd in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had granted environment clearance to the project in 2008 even though the mandatory public hearing was not held for it.

India's ambitious solar mission has faltered in its first step. LANCO Infratech subverted government rules to corner a major share of solar capacity in first phase of the mission. This is an investigative report on the scam by Centre for Science and Environment in Down To Earth.

After much debate, the Cabinet cleared the food security bill. Will it really ensure food for every Indian? The bill seeks to address widespread hunger in the country through food support programmes and provides eligible beneficiaries the legal right to receive foodgrains at subsidised prices.

Study predicts loss of Rs 10,800 crore in the city by 2050 because of a one-in-100-years flood coupled with climate change impacts. The eastern fringe of Kolkata, the fastest growing part of the city, is expected to be hit the hardest by climate change-induced impacts, and the poor will be affected the most, according to the findings of a World Bank study submitted recently to the West Bengal government.

Environment ministry clears hydro project rejected twice by its advisory committee. The union environment ministry has given in-principle clearance to a proposed hydro-project on the Alaknanda river, a tributary of the Ganga, in Uttarakhand. The 300 MW project had been rejected twice by the statutory body which recommends forest clearances, the forest advisory committee (FAC). FAC says the project lies in the buffer zone of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR), a home to many endangered species.

About half the projects miss deadline. A number of power projects taken up under the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) are running behind schedule. A survey by Delhi non-profit Centre for Science and Environment shows many projects in the first batch of phase I, totalling 150 MW of Solar Photovoltaic (PV) power capacity, have missed their January 10, 2012 deadline. Thirty projects of 5 MW capacity each were auctioned in November 2010 and contracts had been signed on January 10, 2011 with a 12 month deadline.