Visakhapatnam, Aug. 13: The district administration is making all arrangements for distributing forest land to the tribal farmers who have been cultivating there since generations. In the first phase an extent of 60,000 acre in Paderu revenue division alone would be distributed and the process would be launched by the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, during his visit to the district on August 17.

Adopts Resolution Day After SC Verdict Declaring Forests

Special Correspondent

Group of Ministers recommends private players buy 70% of land at market rates

CHENNAI: Land acquisition for Special Economic Zones could soon be regulated, with an Empowered Group of Ministers recommending that private players buy 70 per cent of the land at the prevailing market prices and the government acquire the rest, according to R. Gopalan, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce.

Special Correspondent

Himachal, Rajasthan to sign MoU to resolve the issue
Pong dam is the main source of water for the Indira Gandhi Canal Project
2,631 remaining oustees will be rehabilitated in IGNP's second phase region

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh Governments have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to resolve the three-decade-old contentious issue of rehabilitation of oustees of the Pong dam, which is the main source of water for the Indira Gandhi Canal Project (IGNP).

Kadapa, Aug. 9: The Telugu Desam (TD) president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, alleged that the government was taking land from the poor in the name of establishing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and demanded the release of a white paper on SEZs.

Speaking to newsmen at Potladurthy in Yerraguntla mandal in Kadapa district on Saturday, he said the white paper should include details on purchase of land in various parts of the state, their market rate, amount paid to farmers, fees paid in registrar offices and allocation of lands.

DH News Service, Bangalore:

In a landmark judgement, the Karnataka High Court on Thursday ordered a total ban on mining activities in forest areas.

Hearing a petition by MSPL Ltd, a Hospet-based mining firm, questioning the mining lease issued by the state government to a private company on March 15, 2003, Justice Shylendra Kumar quashed the lease. The Court observed that the State had neglected the Forest Conservation Act 1983 and Karnataka Forest Act 1963 while issuing the notification, and suggested nationalisation of mining activities.

NEW DELHI

A controversy is likely to break out in Jahangirpuri area of the city after Delhi government gave its nod to convert one of the largest water bodies in the city for building residential colonies. The government has identified the land as "not fit to be restored for water purpose', a move that doesn't gel with the "Green Delhi' plans of Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government.

KOTTAYAM: With the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) submitting a negative Environment Impact Study (EIS) report on the Sabari Rail from Angamali to Azhutha, the meeting scheduled by the district and Railway authorities on August 4 at Pala to hear the complaints of the aggrieved in the land acquisition for the railway line, may turn out to be a noisy affair.

BY PARWEZ HAFEEZ and DIBYAJYOTI CHAUDHURI

Kolkata,July 31: A day after Tata Motors' managing director Ravikant expressed serious concerns over the continuing disturbances around Nano's plant at Singur and warned that their patience was running out, the state government invited Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for talks. She contemptuously rejected the invitation.

It is the Trinamul Congress-led Save Farmland Committee which has threatened that it would not allow the Tatas to roll out Nano in October as planned.