Officials expect survival rate of more than 90 per cent

With Lok Sabha elections months away, Tamil Nadu's AIADMK government has moved the Supreme Court seeking scrapping of the Rs 25,000 crore Sethusamudram shipping channel project saying it would kill

A recent study taken up by a team of researchers from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Chennai, brought to light the serious threat of extinction the coral reef colonies and mangrove forests in the Palk Bay are facing. At present, only two per cent of the coral reefs survive in the area.

Global warming, siltation, release of untreated raw sewage into the water bodies and overgrowth of algae were stated to be the three important reasons for the possible disappearance of coral colonies and its associated organisms from the Palk Bay area.

The State Government will be taking over the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust from January 1, 2013.

Petitions challenge TNPCB and AERB orders

The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered notice to the Central government on two new writ petitions against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) — one seeking to quash a Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB)’s order of July 23 prescribing the tolerance limit of the project’s trade effluent and the other seeking to declare the AERB’s clearance for Initial Fuel Loading (IFL) as null and void.