*Not only are levels of Suspended Particulate Matter above permissible limits in Mumbai, but the worst pollutant after vehicular emissions has grown at an alarming rate. *Construction work among main causes; respiratory diseases are on the rise, say doctors Despite all the efforts to reign in pollution in the financial capital, data collected by a slew of mobile air quality monitoring vans across the city have some alarming news: The levels of Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM), or dust, in Mumbai's air have continued to increase over the past three years.

There is every possibility that the Thane-Belapur industrial zone could become the state's first special economic zone (SEZ). The state government has appointed Pricewaterhousecoopers as consultants to explore the establishment of an SEZ in the belt. While the government is hardselling Dronagiri in Navi Mumbai as its first-ever SEZ, sources say that the Thane-Belapur area could get off the ground quicker because it already has the infrastructure and in place.

During super dense crush load condition, 570 passengers travel in a coach and that generates 10 cubic metre per hour (m3/hr) of CO2- Report of Nidhi Jamwal Mumbai's suburban railway network may earn some brownie points in its efforts to overhaul the system to make it energy-efficient and travel-friendly. New braking and duct systems have been introduced in some coaches. But grey areas remain.

Dec 26 2004 TSUNAMI At least 230,000 people are killed and 43,000 are missing after a tsunami sparked by a magnitude 9.15 earthquake smashes into 13 Indian Ocean countries. More than half the victims are Indonesians, with Sri Lanka and India next worst hit. March 2005 INDONESIA Nearly 1,000 people are killed after an earthquake of magnitude 8.7 strikes off the island of Sumatra. July/Aug 2005 INDIA More than 1,000 people are killed after the heaviest rainfall recorded drenches the western state of Maharashtra. Oct 8 2005 PAKISTAN

The government is considering awarding a grant from the funds of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to meet a funding gap in the Mumbai metro project's first corridor that is being built by the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG). If the decision is approved, the Mumbai metro will be the first project involving private participation to receive a JNNURM grant. Currently, JNNURM grants are mainly given to local bodies or city corporations for drinking water, drainage and sewage projects.

To tie up with traffic department, railways and cellphone companies to keep citizens informed This monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will rope in a brand new slew of initiatives to cause minimum inconvenience to citizens during emergencies or major floods. While civic officials seeking to monitor water-logging will soon approach the Traffic Police to set up a mechanism to obtain video feeds from 64 important traffic junctions that the traffic department's CCTVs monitor for traffic offences, real-time weather updates will also be uploaded on the BMC's all-new portal.

In a breather for nearly five lakh families residing in over 100 acres of

Seven years ago, the Jatias, a Mumbai hotelier family, bought land in the city's derelict former textile mills district that was partly occupied by slums and was faced by a large shanty town - hardly where most would site a five-star hotel. But this week, after years of navigating red tape, the 202-room Four Seasons Mumbai became the first luxury hotel of its size to launch in the city's south in about 20 years.

Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), has announced that its entire sub 100 HP range of Massey Ferguson and TAFE tractors, barring one model, has been made compatible for use with bio diesel. These tractors can use the current 5% blend of regular diesel with diesel produced by esterising vegetable oils obtained from Corn, Jatropha, Rape Seed, etc. Since use of edible oil for this purpose is banned in our country, oil from Jatropha is normally used for making bio diesel which is a green fuel, bio degradable and environmental friendly.

Suicides continue in the land of white gold. It has been 8 two months since Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced a Rs 60,000-crore loan waiver for farmers. It was meant to prevent debt-ridden ryots from committing suicide. But in Vidarbha, where a large number of cotton farmers have committed suicide, the script has not changed.