District houses thermal power plants, coal mines, chemical factory

The Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh is precariously perched on the threshold of an environment disaster with a new study having found high levels of mercury in the environment as well as in the bodies of local residents. Sonbhadra, which is co-terminous to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar, is the second largest district in the State after Lakhimpur Kheri.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and GAIL (India) are keen on picking up stake in the Rs.5,000-crore Kochi petrochemical project being executed by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in joint venture with LG Chemicals of South Korea.

“We have got written proposal from several companies to join the project. ONGC and GAIL have also shown interest in taking equity stake in the Kochi venture,” BPCL Chairman and Managing Director R. K. Singh told journalists on the sidelines of the Petrotech Conference here on Tuesday. The petrochemical complex is being built with LG Chemicals as the lead partner.

The ministry of chemicals and fertilisers had proposed to set up a national chemical centre to formulate environment and human-friendly policies and contain risks posed by chemicals.

This is aimed at streamlining legislation governing the industry and making entities concerned responsible for their acts. The industry, at present, is governed by multiple legislations under several ministries — the Environment Protection Act, 1986; Factories Act, 1948; Motor Vehicles Act, 1988; Explosives Act, 1884; Disaster Management Act, 2005; CWC Act, 2000 and Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

The expansion project to fire up BPCL’s Kochi refinery capacity to 15.5 million tonnes a year

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd’s integrated refinery expansion project in Kochi is expected to get environmental clearance anytime now with Tuesday’s meeting of the Expert Appraisal Committee (Industry) for Environmental Impact Assessment in New Delhi ending on a positive note. Union Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs K.V. Thomas told The Hindu on the telephone that the expert committee, which considered the project, was positive on its assessment though a formal announcement had not been made on the project getting the green signal.

State-run caustic soda major Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL) has joined hands with National Aluminium Company (Nalco) for setting up 200,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) caustic soda project at Dahej in Gujarat.

"The feasibility report for the proposed project is currently on and is likely to be completed by October-November this year. GACL will have majority stake in the project, which will come up at Dahej in Gujarat," said MS Dagur, managing director, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd, which is the largest caustic soda manufacturer in India.

The Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (IITR) has informed the Supreme Court that groundwater around the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal is contaminated.

In an interim report submitted before the Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and J. Chelameswar, the IITR said 30 samples were collected from the disaster site. Nitrate level in nine samples exceeded the permissible limit prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards for drinking water and lead beyond the limit was found in 24.

It’s back to square one in the mission to get rid of toxic waste from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, with German agency GIZ backing out of a proposal to airlift 350 tonnes of waste to Europe for safe disposal.

After three months of extensive contract negotiations with the Indian government, the firm has said: “Hazardous waste disposal through GIZ is no longer an option.” In a statement on why the contract did not materialise, GIZ said “uncertainties [which] extended to the German public” had grown during the months of struggling to close the deal.

Protests in Germany have ensured that the refuse cannot be taken to Europe either

It’s back to square one in the mission to get rid of toxic waste from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, with German agency GIZ backing out of a proposal to airlift 350 tonnes of waste to Europe for safe disposal. After three months of extensive contract negotiations with the Indian government, the firm on Monday said: “Hazardous waste disposal through GIZ is no longer an option.” In a statement on why the contract did not materialise, GIZ said “uncertainties [which] extended to the German public” had grown during the months of struggling to close the deal.

The survivors of Bhopal gas tragedy have termed the decision of German International Cooperation (GIZ) to backtrack from the project to incinerate over 350 tonnes of toxic waste from the Union Carb

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).