Company jumped the gun to feed refinery starved of bauxite, they allege IN THE dead of night on January 7, two earthmoving vehicles were seen moving up the forest road of Niyamgiri Hills. Villagers of Semalbhatta were quick to conclude that the heavy vehicles were from the nearby Lanjigarh refinery owned by Vedanta Alumina Ltd. They alerted nearby villages. By 3.30 am a crowd of 800 people

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government has conveyed its objections to the Centre on the draft Regulatory Framework for Wetlands Conservation notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Court committee stops road expansion in sanctuary THE Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee (cec) has halted a road expansion project on the periphery of the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The National Highway Authority of India (nhai) had started cutting trees in the sanctuary for upgrading the existing highway into a four-lane one. The trees were being cut

2003: Sponge iron plant proposed Mid-2004: Project gets green signal Early 2005: Plant becomes functional (see

Environment ministry admits bacteria is major river pollutant MAJOR rivers in India have high bacterial contamination, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (moef) said in a press release dated December 24, 2008. Yamuna and Ganga top the list of most polluted rivers (see graph below). Bacterial contamination in water is indicated by the presence of coliform bacteria that find

Over sponge iron plants in Goa THE long-drawn legal tussle over sponge iron units in Goa

HERALD REPORTER

The Bombay High Court at Goa on Thursday directed the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to file a reply clarifying whether any mine having a forest on it, and whose lease has expired, can still continue its operations without the approval of the Central Government under Forest Conservation Act (FCA).