Navdanya, the People’s Science Institute and the Friends of Doon — all local environment protection groups — have urged Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to immediately cancel the memorandum of understanding signed with Coca-Cola that plans to set up a unit in Vikas Nagar area near here.

“We will never allow Coca-Cola to set up its plant in the ecologically sensitive Doon Valley as the plant, besides stealing our water, will pollute the groundwater with highly dangerous chemicals and metals causing untold misery to the local community and convert the neighbouring agricultural lands into wastelands,” said Vandana Shiva of Navdanya.

After a series of review meetings, the government has found the performance of these companies to be ‘not satisfactory’

The solid waste management (SWM) projects in Uttarakhand under the public private partnership (PPP) are not yielding satisfactory results despite a series of review meetings by top government officials. Under the Rs 50 crore Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme, the government awarded contracts to private companies for picking up wastes from thethree cities of Dehradun, Haridwar and Nainital. All the projects have been delayed considerably.

The Union Government on Thursday signed an agreement for a $100-million loan with Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the second tranche of Uttarakhand’s urban sector development investment programme.

According to an official release here, the loan assistance will support rehabilitation and expansion of basic urban infrastructure in five major urban towns of the State and ensure sustainable municipal service delivery.

JAIPUR: It has been about three years since the first tiger was re-located to Sariska National Park from Ranthambhore.

PRASHANT PANDEY

Three more cities -- Ambala, Kanpur and Dehra Dun -- were on Wednesday included on the list of counter-magnet cities for the national capital region (NCR) with the aim to check migration in Delhi.