Rejecting the Centre's claim that states were to be blamed for the power crisis, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today said it was not right to blame Uttar Pradesh for the recent grid failure.

LUCKNOW: Moderate to heavy rain on Tuesday improved the rainfall situation in the east UP, but the threat of drought looms large over the western parts of the state.

Uttar Pradesh, which has about 4,000 mines of coal, silica, bauxite and granite – mostly in Bundelkhand region, has mandated e-tendering for future allotment of mining leases in the state.

This step is aimed at preventing hitherto rampant illegal mining and ushering transparency in allotment of mining leases. Under the system, lease holder will have to get environment clearance for mining within 6 months if the land area is more than 5 hectares (ha), whereas, in case of lease for mining of area of less than 5 hectares, environment clearance will not be required.

Apprehensive that the now-infamous first-come, first-served policy for allocation of natural resources comes with risks, states are now wiser and embracing the safer option of auctions for these allocations.

The newly-elected Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh has introduced an e-tendering system for all leases on mining projects. The decision could impact the future of liquor baron-cum-mining czar Ponty Chaddha, who was seen as closely linked to the previous Mayawati government.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that a campaign would be launched to ensure that every village and city has its own water structure. Everyone has right over water.

The Bundelkhand package for Uttar Pradesh may be high on the agenda of every political party.

Perennial Jamni river will be linked to nearby lakes to assist in irrigation

The Madhya Pradesh government claims to have launched the country's first ever river-lake linking project in the water-scarce Bundelkhand region. The Harpura irrigation and river-lake link project, launched in the Tikamgarh district, will be implemented under the Centre's Rs.7266 crore Bundelkhand package. It will link the perennial Jamni river to the nearby lakes and water bodies built during the Chandel era. Under the project, an additional 1,980 hectares of land are expected to come under irrigation.

Lucknow Almost five years of frosty relations between the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government gave way to new-found bonhomie on Monday when leaders of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party shared the dais at the foundation stone laying ceremony for the R 11,088-crore, 1980 mw power plant in the state.

The project, which is likely to usher in brighter days in the state in the coming years, is a 51:49% joint venture between Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam, and is to come up at Ghatampur in Kanpur district.

LUCKNOW: Anticipating what farmers support could mean to Samajwadi Party in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Akhilesh government doled out sops worth Rs 5,432.37 crore for agriculture and allied a

LUCKNOW: The growing number of farmer suicides and water scarcity in Bundelkhand region is set to figure prominently in the coming session of national executive meeting of the BJP scheduled to be h