A nine-member working group will examine the ecology expert panel report

The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report, submitted by ecologist Madhav Gadgil last year, was further delaying the Rs 30,000-crore refinery project of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) in Maharashtra, a senior official of the state-run oil marketing firm said. The project has already been delayed due to bureaucratic red tape.

The National Committee in Solidarity with Jaitapur Struggle — a group of like-minded political people opposed to setting up nuclear power projects — has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to cancel the proposed plant in the coastal town of Maharashtra.

Citing concerns over the safety of the proposed reactors at Jaitapur and the financial credentials of the French company building them, the Committee has said the Centre and the Maharashtra government do not seem to have paid due attention to the serious objections raised by experts, parliamentarians, public figures and the local people.

With the monsoon not showing any signs of improvement, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday declared 123 talukas in the State as drought-hit.

The decision was taken here during a meeting of the Cabinet. The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, especially focused on the setting up of fodder camps in the affected villages. Officials said the State Relief and Rehabilitation Department identified the drought-hit areas according to norms stipulated in the Drought Prone Areas Programme.

New Delhi The Centre has sought details from the Maharashtra government about reasons for cancelling the licence of private seed firm Mahyco to sell Bt cotton seeds in the state.

The Union Agriculture Ministry has also asked Mahyco to submit its views, a senior government official said. On August 8, the state government had issued an order cancelling the licence of Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) to sell Bt cotton seeds with immediate effect, following various complaints against the company for creating artificial shortage and charging higher prices.

Eve-teasing, only one of the many offshoots of illegal parking in Mumbai’s suburbs, recently became the subject of a PIL in the Bombay High Court. But there are other concomitant problems too, ranging from pollution to traffic pile-ups and even clogged stormwater drains. Subhash Gupta, a resident of Kurla (West), says: “Illegal parking along the road leading to LBS junction has caused traffic chaos and pollution. We are witnessing a growing number of asthma cases here.”

Maharashtra recorded the maximum number of deaths due to serious adverse events (SAEs) during drug trials, while Madhya Pradesh saw the least number of such deaths.

According to data disclosed by the Drug Controller-General of India, during the 49-month period (January 2008-January 2012), the country recorded 2,061 drug trial-related deaths. But data has been given only for 1,603 of the 2,061 deaths.

The state government will spend a Rs 23 as premium to insure crops of 137 lakh farmers in the state, the state government's agricultural department said here on Friday. An official at the divisional agricultural office here said that a sum of Rs 3151 lakh has been already been provided as insurance premium for farmers whose crops will be insured during this year against any eventuality.

The programme known as 'Shetkari Janta Abghat Vima Yojana' has been continued by the state government this year as well.

Engineering major BHEL plans to set up a new manufacturing facility in Maharashtra for which it would invest Rs 159 crore, a top company official said here on Friday.

BHEL Tiruchirapalli Complex Executive Director A V Krishnan said BHEL, which has a special focus on power plant equipment, plans a 90,000 tonne capacity production facility of seamless tubes products at Bandara in Maharashtra.

Amid reports that Maoists are against according bamboo rights to Adivasis in Gadchiroli, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has asked the Chief Ministers of six Naxal-hit States to emulate the success of Mendha Lekha village in that Maharashtra district.

Mendha Lekha became the first village with Community Forest Rights (CFR) to be given transit passbooks to harvest and sell bamboo in April 2011. Since then other villages in Gadchiroli have applied for and got transit passbooks. Mendha Lekha collected Rs. 93.31 lakh in bamboo sales and has been putting the funds into community development.

A group of doctors from Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) here on Thursday filed an intervening application in support of Maharashtra government's decision to ban gutkha and pan masala, which was challenged by companies manufacturing these products.

Tata Memorial Hospital is one of the largest cancer treatment and research centres in the country. Admitting the petition, a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Nitin Jamdar, which was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by the manufacturers of gutkha and pan masala challenging the ban,