Lucknow: In a bid to check high rates of child mortality, the Centre has decided to rope in private sector and corporate houses.

LUCKNOW: The power units promoted by two private houses - Reliance Power's Rosa and Lanco'sAnpara - have stopped working following commercial disputes with UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL).

Lucknow: The Lucknow Municipal Corporation on Monday presented its 2013-14 budget to the 12-member executive committee.

Lucknow: In a major development, the Central Zoo Authority (CZA)has given its approval to the master plan of Etawah’s lion safari. This gives the project the full and the final consent from CZA to go ahead. However, what may put spanner in the wheel is the clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, which is still awaited. The fact that the safari is proposed in Fisher forest area, a reserve forest area, getting a clearance under FCA is mandatory for the state government.

In the final meeting of the inside committee of the Central Zoo Authority, where the master plan of the project bagged final consent, the need to obtain clearance under FCA was reiterated.

90 Trees Cut Near Butler Palace

Lucknow: A Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Thursday restrained the state authorities from felling trees in the city for widening of roads. The court also asked if the authorities have any plan to plant new trees at alternative places to compensate for the trees cut down. Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice VK Dixit passed the order on a PIL against cutting of trees in the Butler Palace area and Tilak Marg on Dalibagh, but it is likely to come as a deterrent in other instances of tree felling as well. Wideninf of NH24, for instance, has already taken a toll on some 8,200 trees.

Disease Affecting More Women Than Men, Reveals ICMR Study

Lucknow: Oncologists in the country see Uttar Pradesh as the emerging cancer capital of India. Findings of the Population Based Cancer Registry functioning under the National Cancer Registry Programme of Indian Council of Medical Research, suggest that UP accounts for more than 16% of cancer patients in India. Figures show that more than 10.55 lakh cancer cases were reported in the country in 2011. Of the total, 1.71 lakh patients hail from UP.

Lucknow: The ambitious lion safari project of the Akhilesh government is likely to get delayed for some technical reasons.

Lucknow: Have Dudhwa tigers shunned their preferred prey - the cheetals and sambhars - to hunt the mighty rhinos? The killing of a 35-yearold female rhino by a tiger in Dudhwa national park and the subsequent eating of the carcass has raised a doubt if the behaviour of Dudhwa tigers is changing.

The experts are not ready to buy the argument that the declining prey base is the reason why tigers are hunting and eating rhinos. "If tiger population in the park is increasing, prey base can not decline," said Tito Joseph from the wildlife protection society of India (WPSI). The tiger sneaked into the rhino rehabilitation area to kill the 35-year-old female rhino Pavitri, brought to Dudhwa in 1984 under the rhino rehabilitation programme.

Prospective Sites Include Ghats, Sanctuaries, Falls

Lucknow: For wildlife enthusiasts and nature lovers planning to explore eco-tourism sites of Uttar Pradesh, there is help at hand. Working on ways to promote eco-tourism in the state and to attract people to exotic locales, UP Forest Corporation (UPFC) will go public with its initiative this week. The corporation will begin with selected tourist sites, including Katarniaghat. Other sites will be taken up over a period of time.

Lucknow: After Gujarat lions, it would now be Uttar Pradesh lions for a dekko. The proposed lion safari project at Etawah will have locally bred lions for tourists to see. A pair or two will be imported from the zoos having lions in considerable number to the Etawah lion breeding centre. After the centre breeds at least a dozen lions, the animals would be released in the safari zone.

The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) had on January 18 approved the designs of the “breeding dens” to be built at the centre. On February 5, CZA will deliberate on the master plan of the Etawah lion safari and breeding centre.