Wildlife activist Bandu Dhotre on Wednesday evening ended his hunger strike that he began on July 2, demanding effective steps for protection of tigers in the Vidarbha region, after the Maharashtra government agreed to accept almost all his demands.

“Chandrapur will be declared as a ‘tiger district’ and tigers in the non- protected areas will also be protected,” said Swanand Soni, who participated in the negotiations.

The state government is ready to spend as much as `2,625 crore to tackle the drought-like situation in the various talukas. Relief and rehabilitation minister Patangrao Kadam on Wednesday made this announcement in the legislative Assembly.

“The government is with the people of the state and will ensure that it helps people,” said the minister. Around 38 MLAs participated in the discussion and some of these MLAs made allegations that the government was biased toward Western Maharashtra while problems in Vidarbha, Marathwada and northern Maharashtra were being neglected. Mr Kadam, however, denied the allegations.

Of the deceased, seven were boys and six girls. “The clinical presentation of the cases suggest that these are cases of Chandipura virus. Encephalitis syndrome, sudden fever with convulsions and the affected age group of 1-15 years are strong indicators of Chandipura virus,” Assistant Director (Malaria), Health Services, V R Zare told The Indian Express. “Of course, we have sent about 75 serums for test to the National Institute of Virology, Pune and the results are expected soon,” he added.

The Congress-led government in Maharashtra will formally take a decision banning production, distribution and consumption of gutka in the state.

Plant is set to come at Ruchi's Washim unit, will also generate income for the local community

Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd (RSIL), India’s largest edible oil player, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Thermax Ltd, a leading company in energy and environment solutions, to set up a one megawatt fluidised bed biomass gasification plant, laying the foundation for large-scale commercialisation of biomass power in the country. The proposed plant is set to come at Ruchi’s Washim unit in Maharashtra.

The farmers, whose huge chunk of land was acquired to build Navi Mumbai, got a marginal relief from the Supreme Court after a 42 year-long legal battle as it enhanced the compensation for them to `25 per square metre.

The Maharashtra government had fixed the award for their land at `1.75 and 2.50 per square metre in 1972 after the notification for acquiring 3,86,790 square metres of land from Roadpali village was issued in February 1970.

Member of Parliament Maneka Gandhi has written to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan alleging that a company has begun illegal construction near Karnala bird sanctuary in Panvel.

In the letter, Gandhi said a private company had sought permission to set up a factory within 10 kilometres of the sanctuary, which houses 147 species of Indian birds and 37 migratory bird species, including some endangered species. She said the company intended to dispose its effluent into the sea.

Land acquisition proceedings will become illegal if the Government fails to observe the mandatory requirement of issuing public notices to the affected parties, the Supreme Court has held, quashing the Maharashtra Government’s acquisition of a piece of land for a defence unit.

A Bench of Justices H. L. Dattu and A. R. Dave said that besides notifying the acquisition in the official Gazette, the authorities were bound to notify the affected persons through at least two newspapers in the local region.

Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (MahaGenco) says it would have to pay an extra Rs 201 crore yearly, due to the 10-15 per cent rise in supply rates from Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL, a Coal India arm.

The rise announced by WCL is for the entire western region. “The rise was made when pricing was shifted to a Gross Calorific Value (basis) from (the earlier) Useful Heat Value basis,” said a WCL official. “Due to the power ministry’s demand, the hike was rolled back.” The roll back had been reversed, he said.

Interested in replicating Mumbai’s model for rehabilitating families affected by infrastructure projects, a delegation from Brazil visited the city on Wednesday and went to construction sites of major projects such as the Metro, Sahar Elevated Road and the Milan subway over-bridge.

Alessandra Campanaro, infrastructure finance specialist at World Bank in Washington DC, led a three-member team from the metropolitan planning authority at Rio de Janeiro. The delegation is in Mumbai for a workshop on metropolitan planning organised by the Mumbai Transformation Support Unit on June 29.