Illegal stone quarrying near Almatti can have disastrous consequences, fear greens. Stone quarrying goes on unhindered on the banks of River Krishna, even as locals allege that officials of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) are turning a blind eye to the illegality.

The national river policy stipulates that stone quarrying should not be conducted on the banks of any river. It is feared that the quarrying may cause damage to the nearby bridges on the Parvati Katta road (a road bridge and the railway bridge) and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. The dawn to dusk stone quarrying in and around the Krishna river basin has invited the wrath of environmentalists.

KOCHI: Ending a long delay in setting up the bridge cum regulator project across the Periyar River at Pathalam and Purappillikkavu, the irrigation department has finally fixed the dates for opening tenders.

The prequalification tenders for setting up the Pathalam bridge will be opened on Monday. At a time when fish deaths is becoming a frequent phenomenon in Periyar, the ambitious project which could have been a permanent solution in containing the issue of fish deaths, has been facing an inordinate delay.

Despite efforts and “huge investments”, pollution level in Ganga and Yamuna continues to increase unabated, a Parliamentary panel on Friday said and slammed the environment ministry for only adopting an “engineering centric” approach to deal with the situation.

The standing committee on environment and forest in its latest report on demands for grants (2012-13) of the environment ministry said, “The quality of Ganga water is going down day by day.”

PCB sitting on schemes to check dumping of waste into river

The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has been sitting on two key projects meant to check dumping of industrial and other effluents into the Periyar river, pointing to negligence on the part of the agency on a matter of utmost importance.Frequent fish kills and discolouration of the river has already earned several brickbats for the monitoring agency.

COIMBATORE: Even as they face stiff resistance from the government departments and agencies, the green activists in the city had something to cheer for after the state forest minister KT Patchaimal

KOCHI: Expressing concern over the increasing incidents of fish deaths in the Periyar River, environmentalists brushed aside the claims made by Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) that the

Environmental activists Monday threatened to take to the streets if the government did not come out with “concrete measures” to save the “dying” Ganga by May 20.

The discovery of over 100 bags of toxic solid waste buried in an agricultural land near Chennimalai has shocked the farming community and environmental activists.

A team of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board officials conducted a surprise check in a textile processing unit near Chennimalai following complaints from the public and found huge amount of solid waste generated in the unit had been buried deep in a nearby agricultural land. Officials found several bags of toxic, untreated solid waste buried in the land and excavated over 100 bags from the land.

The Biodiversity Management Committees of the coastal local bodies will be actively involved in the campaign. Information on declining marine biodiversity, threats faced by the marine ecosystem, sustainable livelihood and conservation measures will be highlighted, he said.

The Kerala campaign will be led by the district coordinators of the board in association with experts in conservation, ecology and environment. The programme is funded by the National Biodiversity Authority.

Himachal Pradesh-based environmental organisations are elated over the recent High Court judgment against cement majors Jaiprakash Associates Limited for flouting environmental norms and illegally acquiring land for setting up their mega business ventures.

Non-governmental organisation Him Parivesh that had filed the petition in the High Court had said: “The years of struggle of the communities and their stand against the Jaypee power project and cement plant has been vindicated by the High Court's decision.”