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.

Fossil fuel-based captive power plants (CPPs) with power demand of 1 MVA (mega volt-ampere) and above are now entitled to open access in Maharashtra. For this, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MahaVitaran) has laid down stringent conditions, including installation of special energy metre, joint metre reading, payment of additional demand charge of Rs 20 per unit during unplanned outages, 15-minute time block to be considered for energy accounting and billing for CPP outside Maharashtra or outside its area of supply.

Even as a letter from India’s Attorney General to the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said the Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link and the proposed coastal road cannot co-exist, officials maintained that the letter does not recommend that the project be scrapped.

Last week, Attorney General G E Vahanvati sent a letter to the MSRDC recommending the future course of action on the sea link, which has been stalled for two years now, after the latter asked him for his opinion.

The state has invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act in the textile town of Ichalkaranji in the wake of 12 Hepatitis E deaths and over 4,085 people infected in a month.