After claiming to have conducted an analysis of the minutes of over 60 meetings of Expert Appraisal committee (EAC) of the union ministry of environment and Forests (MoEF), the South Asia Network o

Guj CM had written a series of letters to PM since June 2010 seeking additional coal blocks for Guj Mineral Dev Corp

The Centre has turned down Gujarat government requests for coal blocks. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had written a series of letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since June 2010 seeking additional coal blocks for Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) and allocation of an alternate coal block for the state-run company.

Taller Buildings To Be Encouraged Over Wide Area

Ahmedabad: Raising the floor space index (FSI) by up to 30% across Ahmedabad to create more affordable housing units will be the thrust of the new development plan (DP) likely to be announced on Friday. The plan, which covers 1,772 sq km covering 68 villages, is expected to raise the FSI from the existing 1.2 in R-2 zones — construction of 1,200 sq yards on a plot of 1,000 sq yards — to 1.8, thus paving way for vertical growth on outskirts.

Order Allows Temple Priest, Workers And Devotees Access To Sanctuary After Sunset

Ahmedabad: It is official now. You can enjoy a night safari in Girnar, one of the last abodes of the Asiatic lions. Acting on complaints received via the state government’s Swagat online programme, collector Manish Bhardwaj issued directions that the sanctuary gates should be open for temple priests, workers and devotees during the night. This effectively opens them to the common public.

The Gujarat government will draw up an action plan on wildlife conservation in association with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Engineers India Ltd has completed a preliminary report for the environmental impact assessment for Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd’s (NPCIL) proposed 6x1,000-megawatt (Mw) project at Mithivirdi, Gujarat.

US nuclear reactor supplier Westinghouse Electric Co has signed a memorandum of understanding with NPCIL, agreeing to negotiate an early works agreement for setting up six AP1000 units at Mithivirdi. The AP1000 is a two-loop pressurised water reactor sold by Westinghouse. “This is a draft EIA report, which will be further scrutinised,” NPCIL Chairman and Managing Director K C Purohit told Business Standard.

3,000 More May Get Partially-Hit Tag In Saurashtra

Gandhinagar: On Wednesday morning, residents in Amreli left every other chore so that they could store water. The Saurashtra town received water supply after a gap of 20 days! Fearing that situation may get out of hands, the state government plans to declare about 1,000 villages as drought affected and an additional 3,000 villages as partially-affected. The move comes after MLAs from Saurashtra and Kutch —the two regions have received just 35% of the average rainfall — raised issues like drinking water scarcity, fodder shortage and migration on the sidelines of the two-day assembly session.

Amul Procures Record 164L Kg Milk Per Day

Vadodara: Gujarat—the cradle of India’s White Revolution—has beaten Punjab in milk production by emerging as the fourth largest milk producing state of India, world’s largest milk producer.

Amul, the homegrown milk brand, marketed by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) on its part is registering an all-time record high milk collection this winter making the US $3.6 billion brand even stronger.

CEPT Profs For Upgradation Without Uprooting People

Ahmedabad: As the proportion of world population living in urban areas has surpassed rural population, cities are facing major challenges in maintaining and restoring the environmental ecology that includes its water bodies. A paper titled ‘Sustainable development of urban water bodies using ESPA approach: A case from Ahmedabad, India’ by professor Neeru Bansal and professor Madhu Bharti of CEPT University’s Faculty of Planning and Public Policy was published in the International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences in November 2012. The paper elucidates collaborative learning and how to do sustainable development of urban water bodies involving local residents.

Vadodara/Anand: Amul is all set to reach Mumbaikars’ doorsteps with one of its most modern dairy plant at Virar. “This will be the first dairy plant with fully automatic traffic management system using robots for milk packing. It will be inaugurated next month,” Amul Dairy’s managing director Rahul Kumar told TOI.

It has many firsts in India including a 50,000 litres milk reception, processing, automatic online standardization and homogenization line and dedicated fermented milk products manufacturing facilities. The Virar facility will be Amul’s sixth plant in India.