India Cements is looking at expanding its capacity in Rajasthan with an investment of Rs 650-700 crore. The plan comes in view of the growing demand in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

N Srinivasan, vice chairman and managing director, India Cements, said, “We are examining whether we can expand the capacity at the Rajasthan plant.” The present capacity of the plant is 1.3 million tonnes, and the company is planning to add one more line with similar capacity.

Maximum Number Of Cases Were In The Past 60 Days

Jaipur: Eighteen pregnant women have died of swine flu in the state in the current financial year so far, with most of them dying in the past two months. So far 136 people have succumbed to swine flu in the current financial year but 102 deaths have been reported in the past 60 days. The health department officials said that 18 pregnant women have died of swine flu so far.

JAIPUR: Targeting a revenue of more than Rs 800 crore for the financial year 2013-14 , the Jaipur Municipal Corporation ( JMC) on Monday presented the budget with a total outlay of Rs 1,015 crore. Mayor JyotiKhandelwal read out the details amid uproar and protest in hall.

In the budget, Rs 444 cr has been proposed for development work in the city. The JMC will arrange Rs 363 cr while an assistance of Rs 81 cr will be asked from the state government for the development in peripheries of JMC.

JAIPUR: In a major relief to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in Rajasthan, the forest advisory committee (FAC) on February 4 granted clearance for widening of the Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway. With the approval, work on the project is expected to begin soon.

FAC, the statutory body for advising on forest clearances, has given the long pending nod for diversion of 78 hectare of forest land to widen the Kishangarh-Udaipur- Ahmedabad section of NH 79A, NH 79, NH 76 and NH8 from four lane to six lane in favour of NHAI. The permission was granted after the concessionaire in the project, GMR, terminated its contract in the absence of forest clearance.

Mining Destroys Habitat; 78 Spotted In 1992

Ajmer: Owing to massive mining in the Sokhliya grassland of Nasirabad block of Ajmer, only two Great Indian Bustards were spotted in the survey which ended on Monday night. In 1990s, more than 75 bustards were spotted here. The department is preparing to restore the habitat of these birds after which it will conduct the second phase of the survey in June. Around 35 teams of forest department were out in the region all long day to spot the state bird (GIB). “Sokhaliya is the natural habitat of this bird but in the last ten years their numbers have drastically dropped in the area,” said the sarpanch of Deratu village.

Tamiflu Still Effective Against H1N1: Virology Institute

Jaipur: The strain of the H1N1 influenza virus has not mutated since 2009 when cases of swine flu were first reported in the state. The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, in a reply to the medical health and family welfare department, said that swine flu’s viral sequencing was done here and the results revealed that the strain has not mutated and the virus is still susceptible to Oseltamivir (tamiflu) tablets.

Jaipur: A screening for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in seven districts of Rajasthan, conducted by the health department, has found that Bikaner and Jodhpur are most vulnerable to NCDs such as diabetes and hypertension.

The survey also revealed that Barmer, Jaisalmer and Nagaur have the least cases of NCDs. In these three districts, less than 3% of the population screened by the department was found to be suffering from diabetes or hypertension.

Jaipur:The natural and manmade lakes in the state are at varying states of degradation and some have become history. Waking up to the crisis, the state government will now table the Rajasthan Lake Development Authority Bill, 2013 in the coming session of the assembly.

The proposed bill would provide for the establishment of an authority for the purposes of protection, conservation, restoration, regeneration and integrated development of the lakes of the state.

Jaipur: The higher level of fluoride content in water, causing dental and skeleton fluorosis, will be measured by fluoride ion meters in Jaipur. A state government report says that quality of water will further deteriorate with climate change.

The medical, health and family welfare department has purchased fluoride ion meter for door-to-door survey to test water, blood and urine to find out if the excessive exposure to high concentrations of fluoride causing dental and skeleton fluorosis among the people in Jaipur and 15 other districts of the state.

494 Cases Reported In North India

New Delhi: North India suddenly finds itself facing a sharp upsurge of swine flu cases, with the virus having claimed 95 lives in just four states of the region so far this year. As per health ministry data, 64 people have died due to H1N1 influenza in Rajasthan while 18 deaths have been reported from Haryana, 10 from Punjab and three in Delhi till Wednesday. As many as 494 cases have come to light in these states in the