The U.S. Energy Department will award nearly $300 million to a clean cities program to help communities buy alternative-fuel vehicles, Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Wednesday.

Diversified U.S. manufacturer SPX Corp and Indian engineering firm Thermax Ltd will jointly make air pollution control systems in India, in a venture that could bring in annual revenues of up to $100 million in five to 10 years.

Athletes and officials staying at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Village may get to travel on vehicles that will run on a newage green fuel. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has asked the government for land at the Village site to set up a hydrogen-CNG (HCNG) filling station.

Industrial and Infrast-ructure Development Finance Company (IIDFC) Limited yesterday signed two agreements with the Denmark government and World Bank to help brick making sector use efficient and clean energy.

Melvyn Thomas | TNN

Surat: The city of diamonds and textile may have earned the distinction of being one of the cleanest cities in the country, but it lags behind when it comes to keeping a check on industrial pollution.

HELP INDEED: Divisional Railway Manager Anil Singhal inaugurating battery-operated car service at Madurai railway station.

MADURAI: In an effort to help the differently abled, elderly and sick passengers navigate easily among the crowd at the railway station and to transport their luggage, a battery operated four-seater car service was launched at the railway station here on Monday.

An international web site giving information about Kandy to tourists had this to say in its concluding paragraph "the city is ugly and its air pollution unbearable". This is a serious matter since tourism in Kandy is affected by such adverse comments and furthermore, this situation greatly endangers the health of the citizens of Kandy, especially school children.

Hiroko Tabuchi

Despite Toyota

After the pink auto rickshaws called 'Tuk-Tuk', the city administration is now looking for a new avatar of cycle rickshaws.

It has asked a university here to modernise the good old pollution-free vehicle and present it as an attractive option for tourists in the coming months.