Farmers’ protest against the proposed 1,980-MW power plant in the trans-Yamuna Karchhna tehsil of Allahabad district entered its 777th day on Tuesday.

While the district administration recently served a month’s ultimatum on the farmers to return the compensation they had received for land acquisition, the farmers told The Hindu that they would not be able to repay the amount, regardless of the ultimatum. Meanwhile, they say they will continue agitating at the proposed site, where they assemble daily under the banner of Punrvas Kisan Kalyan Sahayata Samiti. “On Tuesday, it is 777 days,” said Kisan Andolan president Raj Bahadur Patel.

There is good news for dolphin lovers. From 600 in 2005, the number of Gangetic river dolphins in Uttar Pradesh has risen to 671, according to the latest dolphin census report.

The first biggest single census of the Gangetic river dolphins was held by the state forest department, WWF-India and 18 other NGOs and supported by HSBC. UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav who released the report at a function, said that the efforts to create awareness about the need to conserve Gangetic river dolphins was ‘praiseworthy.’

Central public sector company Neyveli Lignite Corp Ltd (NLC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidhyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRVUNL) to set up a power project in the state at an estimated investment of Rs 14,858 crore.

A joint venture company between NLC and UPRVUNL will set up the 1,980-Megawatt (3x660 Mw) coal-based super critical thermal power station in Ghatampur, Kanpur Nagar, in five years. The capital investment of Rs 14,858 crore would be shared in the ratio of 51:49 by NLC and UPRVUNL.

Lucknow With the Uttar Pradesh cabinet giving its nod to the Agra-Lucknow greenfield eco-friendly expressway last week, work on the ambitious project has started picking pace.

A public-private partnership monitoring committee (PPPMC), headed by Infrastructure & Industrial Development Commissioner (IIDC) Anil K Gupta, on Wednesday accepted and approved the concept report submitted by Redicon India and decided that the process for the selection of the project development consultant will start soon and that a request for qualification (RFQ) and request for proposal (RFP) would be invited in a week.

Will cut travel time to three hours from the present seven

The Samajwadi Party government’s first major road project — the 270-kilometre Agra-Lucknow Greenfield Expressway — will be built through the PPP (public-private participation) mode. The green signal for the ambitious project was given at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday.

Environmentalists want a cap imposed on the number of visitors to the Taj Mahal, the epitome of Mughal heritage, citing concerns on the growing industrial and vehicular pollution threatening the eq

Parts of North India received heavy rain which claimed 18 lives in Uttar Pradesh in the past 24 hours even as a cloudburst washed away many shops and vehicles in Himachal Pradesh.

Ten persons died in Gorakhpur followed by three each in Lakhimpur and Amethi and two in Basti in mishaps like wall collapse. Rain and thundershowers are likely at a few places in the next 24 hours, said the weatherman.

At least 13 people were killed in rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh as heavy showers lashed North India on Monday.

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 31.5 degrees Celsius, three less than normal, while the minimum was recorded at 26.5 degrees Celsius. The city received 2.2 mm of rainfall. In Uttar Pradesh, three people died after being struck by lightning in Azamgarh, two each died in Firozabad, Barabanki, Ambedkarnagar and Lakhimpur and one each in Bhadohi and Sultanpur in other rain-related incidents, including house collapse.

Those who have been using illegal power connections — popularly known as “katia” connection in the local parlance — will now get to see the writing on the wall. Almost, literally.

The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited will be writing the names of regular and honest consumers on the walls of their houses in black, thereby embarrassing the ones who use electricity without paying bills.

With a number states deciding to ban use and sale of gutka, the Union health ministry has urged the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to follow its counterparts in rest of the country in banning sale of such products in the state.

So far, states of Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Delhi have implemented the provision as envisaged under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulation and enforced enforce ban on manufacture, sale and storage of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco and nicotine in their states. Chandigarh also followed the suit and banned the sale, manufacture and storage of gutka.