Makarand Gadgil / Vasuli Shinde (pune) July 30, 2008, 0:51 IST

Battle lines are drawn here in village Vasuli Shinde on the banks of river Sudha, near Chakan

Mumbai, July 28 The Bombay High Court on Monday gave the go-ahead for the development and infrastructure projects which do not involve destruction of mangroves in the Navi Mumbai area.
A division bench comprising Justice J N Patel and Justice K U Chandiwal permitted the CIDCO and the Central Railways to go ahead with those projects which pertain to public utility infrastructures, development of land, and cleaning and maintenance of artificial water channels and sewage systems.

Pune, July 28 Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will soon be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek central aid to counter the drought-like situation prevailing in the state, despite the intermittent rains in the last few days. As a first step towards this, divisional commissioners of the six revenue divisions in Maharashtra have been asked to draft assessment and suggestion reports to be forwarded to the chief minister's office by next Monday.

Pune, July 27 After a long gap, the monsoon has made its reappearance in the city, but its delay has hit the ambitious "Green Pune campaign' of the Pune Municipal Corporation. During the campaign, the PMC had planned to plant 1.85 lakh saplings.
"The campaign was planned keeping in mind the entire monsoon season, but the poor rainfall in the first half of the season has hampered the Green Pune campaign,' civic tree officer Balasaheb Jagzap told this paper on Sunday. He said the survival of trees is maximum during the monsoon and the drive was planned keeping that in mind.

Mumbaikars may wake up to another wet spell on Monday as the weather bureau has warned of very heavy showers in the next 48 hours.

"Intermittent rain or thundershowers with possibility of heavy to very heavy rain in parts of city and suburbs is expected during next 48 hours,' K Sathidevi, deputy director of Regional Meteorological Centre said.

A landslide at Kapaswadi in Kurla injured one Wasima Sheikh Hassan, who was taken to Sion Hospital. The civic authorities have asked people living in the affected area to move to safer places.

Ramlal, a rickshaw puller in Delhi, regrets his decision four years ago to vote for the Congress. He felt then that the Congress

Pune, July 24 In view of the rising tree-felling, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator in Pune Municipal Corporation, Anil Shirole, alleged that the civic body itself is failing to plant more trees against each tree cut during the road development work. This way, the PMC is yet to plant 9,909 trees against 3,303 trees cut on 18 different roads.

Pune, July 24 32 tankers now serving 60,000 hit by drought-like situation; 25 more to be pressed into service in a week

With most parts of eastern Pune facing a drought-like situation, Pune district collector Chandrakant Dalvi has sought Rs 3 crore from the state government to address water scarcity issues. With an affected population of nearly 60,000 in the district, at present 32 tankers with a minimum capacity of 10,000 litres, are being sent to these areas.

Mumbai, July 24 Even as the construction of first metro rail between Versova and Ghatkopar via Andheri is under way, the displaced shop owners and tenants at the J P Road in Andheri are still breathing nervously due to the "vagueness' on their rehabilitation.

Mumbai, July 24 A training on e-waste for members of several urban municipal corporations from the western region on Thursday turned into a brainstorming session of sorts when the civic officials highlighted their difficulties in handling not just electronic wastes but also bio-medical wastes in their cities due to absence of proper regulation.