3,000 More May Get Partially-Hit Tag In Saurashtra

Gandhinagar: On Wednesday morning, residents in Amreli left every other chore so that they could store water. The Saurashtra town received water supply after a gap of 20 days! Fearing that situation may get out of hands, the state government plans to declare about 1,000 villages as drought affected and an additional 3,000 villages as partially-affected. The move comes after MLAs from Saurashtra and Kutch —the two regions have received just 35% of the average rainfall — raised issues like drinking water scarcity, fodder shortage and migration on the sidelines of the two-day assembly session.

One of the leading wind turbine makers in the world Suzlon Group's wind park in Kutch district of Gujarat has crossed 1000 Mw of installed capacity. This makes the company's Kutch wind park one of the largest of its kind in India.

Suzlon currently has a total installed capacity of over 1,500 Mw in Gujarat. Apart from Kutch, the company's other installations in the state are at Jamanagar, Porbandar, Rajkot and Bhavnagar. "Suzlon's maiden project for this (Kutch) wind park was initiated in August 2005 at Changdai site in Gujarat.

Rajkot: Crores of gallons of precious water, which could have irrigated at least 10,000 acres of farmland and provided drinking water to lakhs of households for months, is simply flowing into the arid saltpans of Little Rann of Kutch.

Locals say the water has been overflowing from the sub canals of the Zinzuwada branch canal for the past 45 days, but authorities have turned a blind eye to the waste. The water from the sub-canals is given to farmers but there is no system of conserving the excess, which is allowed to drain out into the Little Rann.

A BSF proposal to divert forest land in wildlife sanctuaries in areas bordering Pakistan is facing stiff resistance from conservationists who feel that road construction in the protected site will

Veer Energy & Infrastructure Ltd, a Mumbai-based wind power developer, plans to invest Rs 500 crore to augment capacity on its existing projects and also to diversify into solar energy.

The company has successfully completed a 200-Mw wind farm project and another 115-Mw project is currently in pipeline. The firm also plans to launch a 200-Mw of project in Gujarat.

It stoutly opposes Gujarat Forest Department proposal to divert land

The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBW) has put its foot down against the laying of a road across the Kutch desert sanctuary — the largest breeding ground of flamingos in the entire Indian subcontinent — following a site report by an experts panel that the construction would wipe out the population of the already endangered bird.

As many as four companies have evinced interest in buying bauxite calcination plant run by state-owned mining major Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC). The plant having a production capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year is located in Kutch district.

The state PSU had floated tenders to sell this plant, which is in working condition, in September this year. "Four companies have shown interests in buying the plant from GMDC," said sources close to the development. While the plant is in working condition, it is not producing at optimum levels, making it financially unviable. The current output is 160 tonnes a day.

AHMEDABAD: The inspection of Adani Power Ltd (APL) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) by a special committee of Ministry of Environment and Forest is likely to begin in Kutch from October 29.

A five-member team headed by Sunita Narain was formed by the ministry last month after allegations of violation of environmental and coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) norms were leveled against these two companies by a local fishermen's association - Machhimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan (MASS) and another NGO named Kheti Vikas Sewa Trust (KVST).