Mumbai: Lending rates for infrastructure projects should be between 7 and 8 per cent for projects to be viable and the necessary investments to flow into the economy so as to boost growth.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has reduced the cut-off age for child labour in hazardous industries from 18 to 14.

A government resolution issued by the state labour department on March 2 stated that anyone employing children below 14 in hazardous industries will be prosecuted and fined Rs20,000 for each child employed.

The state's "regressive" step has shocked child labour activists.

The Maharashtra government has offered some respite for the troubled Dabhol Power Project by agreeing to provide a guarantee for a Rs 300 crore loan that owner Ratnagiri Gas and Power Project Ltd (RGPPL) is seeking from the Power Finance Corporation (PFC).

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and its Tree Authority to state how many trees were cut and how many were planted last year.

ANURADHA MASCARENHAS
PUNE, MARCH 19

THE child sex ratio (below six years) has been on the decline in the country and villages and districts are now hitting a new low. Pune city, and district, has clearly made its choice and opted for the male child.

Mumbai: Forest dept says fire was doused in half-an-hour, no animal injured

A fresh fire broke out at the tiger safari enclosure in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on Wednesday evening, but was extinguished soon, said D Rathod, superintendent of lion/tiger safari. About half-an-acre within the enclosure was gutted in the fire, said the forest officials.

Mumbai: In an effort to focus on

MUMBAI: Prominent environmental groups in the city will meet on Thursday to protest against the redevelopment plan for Jijamata Udyan, which they say will destroy the zoo's heritage botanical garden. The masterplan for the redevelopment of the Byculla Zoo is currently awaiting the approval of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC).

NAVI MUMBAI: A large patch of lush mangroves adjacent to the railway tracks near Vashi station has been chopped indiscriminately. No official complaint has been lodged yet, but the hacked mangroves make for a jarring sight amid the healthy ones, claim commuters.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday allowed the BMC to go ahead with its plans to set up sewage treatment plants and lay pipelines on coastal areas in the city, which house mangroves. A division bench of Justices J N Patel and Vijaya Kapse-Tahilramani asked the municipal corporation to ensure "minimal intervention'' so that mangroves are cut only if absolutely necessary.