ALWAR: Just a few days after the Supreme Court issued notices to the state government over illegal mining in Alwar, a man was killed and another injured at an illegal mine Narayanpur area in the district on Tuesday.

Initially the police were saying that the victims were involved in illegal mining but later they changed the stand saying that the man was killed in a freak accident when the brakes of his truck broke down.

JAIPUR: Ten investment proposals worth Rs 9,800 crore will be tabled for approval by the state Cabinet committee in a meeting scheduled on Wednesday. If cleared, these companies, ranging form automobiles to automatic teller machines, cements and pharmaceuticals, will open their manufacturing units in the state.

The proposals include Brazilian firm Perto which plans to set up a manufacturing plant for automatic teller machines with an investment of Rs 200 crore. The unit will have a capacity of 1,000 machines per month and will come up in Mahindra Walled City.

JAIPUR: The national agriculture and rural development board (NABARD) is set to decide on the soft loans proposed by the public works department (PWD) of the state government on Wednesday. The department has forwarded projects worth Rs 1,562 crore to NABARD for refurbishing roads in the state.

NABARD chairman Prakash Bakshi will be on his two day visit to Jaipur starting from Tuesday and is scheduled to meet chief minister Ashok Gehlot and PWD department officials.

JAIPUR: The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has agreed to fund the drinking water supply projects in the Alwar district of Rajasthan worth Rs. 1,132 crore. The state government on Wednesday also gave its consent for these projects. The three schemes sanctioned by the state government are water supply to Alwar city from Chambal river, upgradation of distribution system, 24/7 water supply in urban areas of Tijara, Behror, Rajgarh and augmentation of urban water supply scheme at Bhiwadi.

Jaipur: The draft report of Rajasthan State Action Plan on Climate Change has brought out some alarming facts about the water situation in the state. According to the report, the state has the highest probability of drought occurrence in the country. It also falls within areas having greatest climate sensitivity, maximum vulnerability and lowest adaptive capacity.

According to the report, “high dependency on groundwater has resulted in its overexploitation, with nearly 80% of groundwater witnessing depletion. The quality of groundwater has also progressively deteriorated. The stage of groundwater exploitation which was 35% in 1984 has reached a level of 138% in 2008

The Rajasthan Government will shortly launch a pilot project under the Rajiv Awas Yojana at a cost of Rs.400 crore for providing housing facility to about 12,000 people living in Sanjay Nagar slum colony here. The project forms part of the drive for providing better infrastructure and amenities to the urban poor.

State Principal Urban Development Secretary G. S. Sandhu said at a consultation on urban poverty here that the pilot project would pave the way for full-fledged implementation of the Union Government's ambitious housing scheme. The State Government intends to give land title to slum dwellers and would bring an Act for this purpose, said Mr. Sandhu.

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Trees (Plantation and Protection) Bill 2010, framed to check shrinking green cover and to increase plantation in the state, is yet to be presented before the cabinet due to government's lackadaisical approach.

The bill, forwarded by advocate general's office, is moving at snail's pace in various departments despite several reminders. Sources in the AG's office said a covering letter along with a copy of the bill was forwarded to the local self-governance department on October 18, 2010. As the bill was not processed even after a year, a reminder was sent in November 2011 and then again in December 2011.

JAIPUR/ALWAR: After being pulled up by the Rajasthan High Court for failing to curb illegal mining, the Alwar police kicked off a campaign against the menace in Tapukada and Behror area late on Wednesday night. The authorities seized a large number of mining equipment and cordoned off a huge area where the illegal activities are being carried out.

Hindustan Zinc has decided to plant one lakh saplings at its sites in Rajasthan to mark World Environment Day. Its zinc-producing mine at Rampura Agucha in Bhilwara district has started plantation of 70,000 saplings as part of the ambitious drive.

Inaugurating the drive on Tuesday, Bhilwara Collector Onkar Singh said the district administration would make available wasteland to Hindustan Zinc to include it in its plantation drive. “This unique initiative will surely become a benchmark for other corporate groups to follow.”

The country’s largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp (HMCL) on Monday announced that the company will invest Rs 800 crore in Rajasthan for projects spanning across verticals like manufacturing, research and development (R&D) and a global sourcing hub.

“We will be setting up our fourth plant at Neemrana in Rajasthan. The company will invest Rs 400 crore for the plant, which will have an installed capacity of 7.5 lakh units per annum.