JAIPUR/AJMER: Six workers were injured during illegal mining at a mine which was purportedly closed six months ago at Makrana in Nagaur district late on Wednesday. The incident occurred at mine no. 135 at Gunwati range.

According to sources, though the mine was closed six months ago, the contractor started working again at the spot as there were still some marbles left. Three of the injured -- Hukma Ram, Dhachi Ram and Sita Ram -- were admitted to Makrana government hospital while three others who sustained serious injuries were shifted to JLN hospital in Ajmer on Thursday. They are Sachdev, Bharatlal and Sohanlal.

JAIPUR: The state government's report on the initial action plan in dealing with encroachments and other unplanned and illegal construction activities in the Ramgarh dam's catchment area submitted to Rajasthan High Court has exposed its own flaws.

Admitting that the encroachments exist, the government report mentioned that in the Ramgarh dam area there is rampant illegal mining, illegal borewells, encroachment of forest land and reduction in size of catchment area resulting in depletion of both surface water and underground water table.

JAIPUR: The state government has declared drought in Jodhpur, Nagaur, Barmer, Bikaner and Jaisalmer districts on Wednesday. The five districts have been worst-hit by deficit rain and will remain in the status of 'drought-affected' from August 1 to July 31 next year.

As per the emergency relief plans, collectors of all the above districts have been asked to do an early assessment of the total losses. To get maximum aid, chief minister Ashok Gehlot instructed the officials to mention everything in detail in the letters that will be presented to Centre. He also asked them to take the assessment exercise of losses seriously. To gauge the situation in the state, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will visit Jaipur on August 3.

JAIPUR: The Supreme Court's interim order to ban tourists from core zones of tiger reserves, where the concentration of tigers is particularly high, has dampened the spirit of wildlife lovers across the world. Be that the international media, Facebook, Twitter or blogs these were abuzz with the news.

Though the final verdict is yet to come, travellers across the globe don't want to take any chances. "I have already started receiving cancellations from repeat visitors for next year," said Paul Goldstein, an award-winning wildlife photographer, philanthropist and TV presenter in UK.

JODHPUR: Former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India and former director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Anil Kakodkar has called solar energy the future source of energy looking at the ever-growing demand for energy.

Kakodkar, member of the Solar Energy Research Advisory Council, was in Jodhpur on Tuesday and Wednesday with his team for detailed discussions with the IIT-J on the experimentation and demonstration of different technologies and plan the future course of action for promotion of solar energy research.

Jaisalmer: Public sector company Oil India Ltd (OIL) has for the first time found oil reserves at Poonam Singh ki Dhani in Nachna area of Jaisalmer 1,230 metre below the ground.

According to sources, digging of oil well is going on at the allotted block RJON 2004/2 NILP/16 in Nachna area for the last few days and good quality oil reserves have been found at a depth of 1,230 metre. Samples of the findings have been sent for testing. OIL will also dig one more well near the existing well to find out if there are more reserves, company officials said.

BIKANER: Wind power came to the rescue of Jodhpur Discom during the Northern and Eastern power grid failure, whereas the other Discoms had to wait until the power units at Kota, NTPC and power plants at Rana Pratap Sagar and Jawahar Sagar resumed supply.

"The power generated through wind energy put an end to the outage within two hours at the Jodhpur Discom on Tuesday, providing us with around 800-900 MW power. We immediately switched to wind power and resumed power supply at hospitals, PHED water pumps, railways, high court and administrative offices," A K Gupta, MD, Jodhpur DISCOM, said.

JAIPUR: The newly formed Ranthambore Tiger and Tourism Protection Committee has assured that tigers will not be endangered in any way by allowing entry of tourists to the core areas of the Ranthambore National Park (RNP).

Continuing its demand to allow entry to the core areas of RNP, the protection committee went on its agitation for fourth day as well. Earlier forest minister Bina Kak, at a meeting in the city on Sunday, had appreciated the efforts put in by the committee for assuring to represent the feelings and the mood of the tourism-related trade and the local populace of Ranthambore to the Supreme Court.

JAIPUR: Implementing the order of the high court, the state government has issued directions that all allotments made in the catchment area of water bodies in the state since 1955 shall be cancelled and constructions in such places be demolished.

This was stated in the high court by additional advocate general R P Singh before Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari after submitting a detailed Action Taken Report where it has been said that a reference has been made to the Board of Revenue to cancel all such allotments.

JAIPUR: National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) on Thursday sanctioned Rs 1355 crore for the construction of roads in rural parts of Rajasthan. The financial support is in the form of soft loans under NABARD's rural infrastructure development fund.

State government is aiming to connect all the villages with population of 250 to 500 with the tar roads. However, out of 2900 eligible villages under the scheme, NABARD will only fund for 1337 villages covering 4822 kilometers. Rest of the villages will be covered from the aid received from World Bank and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).