Jaipur: The state government would soon come up with a new policy for construction of roads, minister for public works department (PWD) Bharat Singh announced in the assembly on Thursday. The present policy has been there since 1994.

The minister also announced to connect nearly 3,000 villages, which could not be covered by the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana, with the tar roads under the newly framed Mahatma Gandhi State Sadak Yojana.

Cairn can raise output from its largest oilfield in Rajasthan block by 25,000 barrels per day to 150,000 bpd

After more than six-month wait, the Government today gave approval to Cairn India to raise output from its largest oilfield in Rajasthan block by 25,000 barrels per day to 150,000 bpd. Rajasthan block oversight committee, called Management Committee, at its meeting today approved raising Mangala oil field production from 125,000 bpd to 150,000 bpd, sources privy to the deliberations at the MC meeting said.

Court Asks Govt To Comply With Supreme Court Guidelines While Allowing Gravel Mining

Jaipur: The Jaipur bench of the Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday gave conditional sanction to sand mining from Banas river. The court asked the state government to comply with the Supreme Court guidelines while allowing mining of sand from the river.

The Supreme Court today asked the Jaipur Metro Development Authority to seek permission from the Ministry of Environment and Forests for carrying out sand mining from river bed for its metro rail project.

A special forest bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and C K Prasad said the MoEF shall consider within 10 days any application moved by the metro corporation for excavating sand from the river bed. The apex court passed the direction after Attorney General G E Vahanvati told the bench that the project development had been adversely affected after the Rajasthan High Court recently restrained any type of mining activities from Banas river.

JAIPUR: Though the Public Health and Engineering Department is claiming that the 'yellow water' is safe for drinking, the health and medical department is yet to give its approval on the quality of the yellow water, which is being supplied to the city from Bisalpur.

The medical, health and family welfare department collected samples from various parts of the city on Monday. It has sent the samples to the Jaipuria laboratory for testing its quality.

The Jaipur Metro Project on Monday rushed to the Supreme Court complaining that its construction work was badly hit by an order of the Rajasthan High Court extending the SC's ban on mining in Aravalli hill range to extraction of sand from Banas river bed.

Appearing for the metro project, scheduled to be completed by June 2013, attorney general G E Vahanvati informed a bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and C K Prasad that there never was a ban on extraction of sand from the river bed.

Urban planners attached to an advocacy group on Panchayati Raj here on Monday called upon the Rajasthan Government to pay greater attention to the Centre's flagship scheme, Rajiv Awas Yojana, for providing affordable housing to slum dwellers in the cities. The focus of the Yojana is on according property rights to people living in slums.

JAIPUR: To curb illegal mining in the state, the Rajasthan government will start a campaign from April 16th to June 15th. The two-month drive will be carried out in all the districts of the state, with a special focus on regions where the illegal activities are rampant.

Task forces at district and at sub-divisional levels have been formed. Focus will be in areas like Bharatpur, Alwar, Karauli and Bhilwara.
"All the districts in the state have been informed to carry out the inspections at mining sites. Authorities will take strict and effective action against the culprits," said Sudhanshu Pant, secretary, mines and petroleum.

Central Audit Body Pulls Up State Govt & Departments For Huge Losses Incurred

Jaipur: Rajasthan State Mines and Minerals Limited (RSMML), a public sector undertaking of the state government, has incurred a loss of Rs 1.10 crore for non-compliance of legal requirements which led to unproductive expenditure towards land tax and dead rent. It also incurred loss of Rs. 1.92 core for keeping 12 areas without any plan to undertake mining having paid premium charges on it.

Jaipur: Those development projects which came to a halt for want of bajari (sand) will be anxiously looking forward to the Supreme Court decision on Monday as there is a desperate need to resume the work soon to meet the deadline.

The Supreme Court has fixed the hearing for Monday after a team of officials from the Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) and the Jaipur Development Authority filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court, following a Rajasthan High Court order against mining sand from the Banas river.