Guwahati, April 26: The forest advisory committee under the ministry of environment and forests has expressed “disappointment” on the report prepared by Water and Power Consultancy Services (India)

Help of local self-government institutions to be sought

The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is preparing to launch a campaign highlighting the need to prevent the destruction of plants during sanitation drives taken up by local self-government institutions.Board chairman R.V. Varma told The Hindu that directions would be communicated to local bodies to sensitise workers engaged for projects taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) .

GUWAHATI, April 17 – Governor JB Patnaik today asked the authorities concerned to take urgent steps for making the Majuli Cultural Landscape Management Authority (MCLMA) fully functional.

The Survey of India, compiled in 1975, marked around 1,000 water bodies with unique aquatic flora and fauna in the state capital. In fact, Hyderabad then was called the “City of Lakes”. But that was then.

When the HMDA did a count a year ago for the Lake Protection Committee, the officials could list only about 400 lakes in areas within its jurisdiction. Signi-ficantly, experts said, the number of waterbodies that have disappeared would be higher, considering HMDA’s jurisdiction comprises four districts. And if the ‘disappearance’ of about 600 lakes in 35-odd years isn’t alarming enough, even waterbodies that still exist have shrunk, with encroachments on the periphery.

Grappling with the Supreme Court order to set up a special committee for implementation of the rivers inter-linking project, the Water Resources Ministry is consulting the Law Ministry on seeking a review of the order.

The Ministry, it is reliably learnt, is seeking opinion for review of the mammoth committee that has to be set up under the directions of the court. Not only does it want the numbers pruned but also keep non-official members out so that the secrecy of the decisions can be maintained.

NEW DELHI: India's first bird monitoring system for common birds was on Tuesday launched by Mumbai-based Nature Forever Society (NFS), an organisation working for the protection of common sparrows

The High Court has directed the petitioners to file a report regarding the impact on wildlife, if one of the mini-hydel power projects is allowed to continue at Kencha­nk­umari and Yedakkumari reserve forests of the Western Ghats.

Hearing a petition by Prashanth Yavagal and Western Ghats Environmental Forum, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna continued the status quo order in connection with establishing the plant by the respondent power company - Maruthi Powergen Private Limited - and directed the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests (MoEF)