Kochi will particularly feel the vibrations of massive earthquakes like the one that shook Indonesia on Wednesday as the city is largely landfill area, said Kusala Rajendran, well-known seismologist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Dr. Rajendran, who is Associate Professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences in IIS told The Hindu over telephone that the vibrations from an earthquake increase in areas of landfill.

Despite the Corporation’s attempts to control and prevent illegal disposal of waste along the roadside and in the open, the practice continues to be prevalent in the city. As the latest step to combat illegal dumping of waste, the civic body will soon install surveillance cameras at dump sites especially on roadsides, rural farm lands and abandoned properties.

Sheer apathy on the part of the local authorities towards preserving the green cover and the lack of clarity on felling of trees in public places threaten gradual degeneration of shade trees making the city hotter by the day.

The difference that shade trees could bring to surroundings could be gauged by taking a stroll down the Park Avenue near boat jetty full of shade trees and the M.G. Road largely devoid of them. While the former experience is a pleasure the latter could prove to be an energy sapping experience on a sunny day.

A meeting to review the status of the drinking water projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for Kochi will be held in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.

Convened by Water Resources Minister P J Joseph, the meeting is expected to discuss the initiatives for solving the portable water crisis faced by the city, especially the West Kochi area. The ministers from the district, the MLAs and Mayor Tony Chammany will attend the meeting.

The Tamil Nadu government is planning to set up two 500-Mw LNG-based power plants to address the electricity shortage in the state.

One of the plants would be set up near the five-million-tonne-per-annum Indian Oil Corporation terminal that was set up after a memorandum of understanding was signed. The second plant plans to take advantage of GAIL’s Kochi-Bangalore LNG pipeline, which passes through Tamil Nadu.

The United Democratic Front-led district panchayat has passed a surplus budget of Rs.50.06 crore on Thursday, which the four-member opposition Left Democratic Front dispelled as a dream budget cut off from reality.

In her second straight budget, vice-president Bindu George envisaged an income of Rs.920.17 crore against an expenditure of Rs.870.11 crore. The budget proposes a waste treatment plant for generating power on 30 cents of land at an estimated cost of Rs.150 crore.

A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the Irrigation Department to ensure that waste accumulated in the Pampa river was removed and the natural flow of the river was maintained.

The Bench comprising Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice C.T. Ravikumar directed the department to press into service appropriate machinery and material to ensure removal of the waste and free river flow.

The impact of the Kochi Skycity project on the ecosystem will be very high, Ian Mell, faculty member of the Department of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield in the U.K., has said.

An active researcher in landscape planning with specific focus on green infrastructure, Dr. Mell told The Hindu in an interview here that such a large investment is being proposed as a way of easing congestion and getting more people better apartments.

The Yashoram Infra Developers Private Limited has informed the Kerala High Court that the implementation of the proposed sky city project would not cause any damage to coastal ecosystems or the backwater system in the city.

In an affidavit, the company said that no reclamation of backwaters or wetland was needed. The affidavit said that there was no violation of Wetland (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2000. Sky city project envisaged construction of two flyovers over the Chilavanoor backwaters.

KOCHI: Though Kochi Corporation is spending crores to quench the thirst of various divisions under its limit, a majority of areas are still reeling under potable water crisis.

In West Kochi, divisions including Edakochi, Thazhappu, Fort Kochi, Kalvathy, Iraveli, Karipalam, Mattanchery and Cheralai are worst hit.