Gujarat Ecology Commission’s Survey Of 19 Coastal Spots Rings Alarm

Gandhinagar: Coastal tourism in Gujarat is proving to be a non-starter. More than the economic downturn, the main reason for this is the gross mismanagement of numerous beaches dotting the state’s huge coastline of 1,600 km. Experts who carried out a recent study of 19 major beaches along the state’s coastline have taken strong exception to complete mismanagement on the part of authorities towards the development of coastal tourism. The study is featured in a book which was released recently by the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC).

Mithivirdi, which literally means a ‘sweet well’, is a nondescript Gujarat coastal village about 50 km south of Bhavnagar city and next-door to Alang, Asia’s largest ship-recycling yard.

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat high court on Friday green-lighted the felling of trees to expand highways in Saurashtra by rejected a PIL which sought to restrain the administration from chopping down nearly 10,262 trees.

While dismissing the PIL, however, the bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala ordered the authorities to plant three times to the number of trees that will be chopped off in the road-widening process. This means the authorities will have to plant 30,000 trees.

Gandhinagar:In an oblique attempt to keep its vegetarian banner high, the Gujarat government is meandering into a so far unexplored area to fight higher malnutrition levels.

Well-placed Sachivalaya sources said the government is working out a complete plan of seaweed cultivation. Small farmers living next to the sea shore can venture into this cultivation in a big way, not just to earn highvalue-added incomes the produce can give, but also to improve nutrition. A top state official said the move comes close on the heels of a meeting chief minister Narendra Modi took some time back,

Environmentalist group, ToxicsWatch Alliance, has raised alarm bells against the permission being granted to a “hazardous” and “dead” US ship Exxon Valdez to dock in Alang beach, Gujarat.

US firm Westinghouse Electric and the NPCIL on Wednesday signed a preliminary pact for an Early Works Agreement (EWA) for installation of the first 1,000 MW American nuclear reactor in India under the historic 2008 Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

The announcement of the signing of the MoU, which represents a significant milestone towards the realisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, coincided with the third Indo-US strategic dialogue headed by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and external affairs minister S.M. Krishna.

Forest Department Says It Does Not Want To Lose Sympathy Of Locals

Rajkot: Gujarat’s forest department is facing a strange dilemma. Officials would like to book people who harass the Asiatic Lion in Gir and surrounding areas so that they can teach the pranksters a lesson and set an example. But if they do take legal recourse, they fear losing the sympathy of locals, an important factor in the successful conservation of the wild cat in its last home in the world.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank, will support Gujarat in the replication in five cities of the rooftop solar project, completed last month in Gandhinagar, in