PANJIM: Even as Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar threw down a gauntlet to Indian Bureau of Mines to close mines in Goa, Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) officials began inspection of mining leases in Goa, on Wednesday, ahead of Minister Jayanti Natarajan’s visit to the state next week.

Sources stated that eight officials, four from MoEF and four from Central Pollution Control Board are down in Ponda and have begun inspection of mines to verify whether mining dumps are being handled by mining lease holders without obtaining environment clearances (ECs).

The Centre has ordered an inspection to ascertain whether dump mining is taking place in Goa amid complaints that the activity is being carried out in the state without obtaining environmental clea

Coal handling operations at the Vasco Port have been found to be polluting the town, forcing the pollution control board authorities to issue a show cause notice to the port trust.

PANJIM: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) in a stringent order has issued a show cause notice to the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) warning it to shut down their coal handling operations for failing to adhere to the board’s directives.

GSPCB Member Secretary Levinson Martins has, in an order issued on Wednesday, asked MPT to show cause why the order of consent to operate as issued to it by the GSPCB under the Air Act and the Water Act should not be revoked and as to why legal action as stipulated under the act should not be initiated against the management of the port for carrying out coal handling by violating directives.

After a year of partial respite from rising air pollution during last year, the city has seen a sharp rise in the level of air pollutants this year.

Extensive public and private construction and other related activities have led to a a rise in the level air pollution, according to the Environment Status Report (2011-12) of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The report also shows that levels of toxic pollutants like sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and suspended particulate matter (SPM) and ammonia (NH3) have increased drastically in all six BMC monitoring sites.

MUMBAI: The air you breathe has worsened over the last year.

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Central Pollution Control Board and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to investigate compliance of emission control and effluent treatment measures

Noida: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has found that presence of harmful pollutants in air within a range of 15km from Noida, which includes Mayur Vihar and portions of Ghaziabad, is mo

A cruel joke has been played out at the expense of the Bhopal victims of the world’s worst industrial disaster. The Supreme Court had ordered the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to file a report on the status of the ground water contamination at the Union Carbide plant site in Bhopal by June 4, 2012.

The CPCB has treated this entire exercise in a rather lackadaisical fashion and from the six samples tested by them, five were taken from the drinking water supply of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation. The sixth sample was taken from a borewell dug in Street No. 8 and being used by the Ayasha Hotel at Arif Nagar in Bhopal.