Wilting under pressure from the Centre and after constant raps by the Supreme Court, the state government has now put a step forward in stopping illegal mining. A special 1000-member team, to be christened Mining Protection Force, will be set up to curb illegal mining in the state.

The state has long been battling illegal mining right from Alwar to Jaisalmer but in vain. While the police had recently detained over 100 people in Bharatpur engaged in illegal extraction of stones, in Jaisalmer mining near the airport has become a threat to its existence.

Rajasthan govt issue fraud certificates to Cong MP for solar projects

JAISALMER: Viewing the security scenario and the frequent threats, an integrated security system is being put in place covering 202 railway stations across the country. This includes Jaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner.

In addition to this, three trains-Thar Express, Palace on Wheels and Atari Express will be a part of the system, informed Railway Protection Force director General P K Mehta during his visit to Jaisalmer on Tuesday.

JAISALMER: Railway stations under the Jodhpur division will be lit up using solar energy soon under a plan being made in this regard. Discussions for the pilot project have already started and initially a few railway stations will be selected for this experiment, where solar panels will be put up to generate power supply.

Apart from this, work will be started on three types of action plan to eliminate unmanned railway crossings by 2015, Jodhpur division rail manager (DRM) R K Jain said.

River Saraswati is believed to have flown through the Thar Desert, as reconstructed by several experts based on critical data gathered by them. A careful observation of the channel shows that in most of the places these are fault-controlled. Studies of palaeochannels in many parts of the world proved successful in identifying high-yielding freshwater zones. Presence of fault system accelerates the recharge process and down-flow of water gets maximized through fault planes during the wet period.

Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s much-favoured Project Cheetah is in doldrums.

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) sanctioned `25 lakhs for a feasibility study conducted by chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India Dr M.K. Ranjisinh and wildlife biologist Dr Y.V. Jhala. Three sites in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were selected as proposed homes of the cheetahs. Mr Ramesh even visited South Africa in 2010 and claimed on his return that within a period of three years, cheetahs would be relocated from South Africa to India.

NVVN recovers Rs 28 crore from erring firms. Acting tough on companies that did not commission solar power projects on time, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) Limited has encashed a part of bank guarantee of 14 of them. The companies were awarded projects under batch one of the first phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). The last date of commissioning was January 9. About Rs 28 crores have been encashed from these firms located in Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

AJMER: The forest department has on its hands the task of finding the number of remaining Great Indian Bustard (GIB), the state bird, to chalk out a conservation plan for them.

CSE probe details alleged rigging of bids to favour Lanco, shell firms ministry says will examine evidence, Lanco denies CSE allegations

Concern over decline of Rajasthan's State bird population

The critically-endangered grassland species, the Great Indian Bustard, will be counted in the desert terrain of Rajasthan in the second week of February. Rajasthan, specially its desert region, accounts for maximum population of the bird which is globally threatened and listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

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