SHILLONG, Sept 11 – The Centre is planning to double the fish production in North-eastern region and aims at increasing its per capita availability to 15 kg by 2020.

SHILLONG: There is a decrease in the forest cover in the State as per an official report. The decline is a cause of concern considering the ecological impact it could have in the area.

While the forest cover in the State was 77.23 per cent as per the report in 2009, the percentage stands at 77.02 in 2011 showing a decline of 0.23 per cent. Rampant felling of trees in West Khasi Hills coupled with encroachment of forest areas by people in parts of Garo Hills have resulted in the loss of forest cover. There are also reports of deforestation in Garo Hills.

State power utilities have been penalised for not complying with the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, while drawing power under the unscheduled interchange mechanism.

In a path-breaking order, the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC) has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each on utilities in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Madhya Pradesh, and Rs 90,000 each on utilities in Punjab and Tamil Nadu for not having letters of credit and thereby causing non-compliance.

KOHIMA: A State level workshop on preparedness for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), jointly organized by TERI New Delhi and State’s department of Forest, was held in the State capital on Wednesday. The workshop was organized with the objective to create financial value for carbon stored in forests, reduce emissions from forested lands and induce investment for sustainable development.

Nagaland principal chief conservator of Forests, Dr CL Goel, in his address informed that REDD+ goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation and includes conservation, sustainable management of forest and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The PCCF said REDD Plus and sustainable forest management can prove to be important tools through which the State of Nagaland can reap benefits of the co-benefits of forests.

‘Green India Mission aims at responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures, which would help enhancing carbon sinks in sustainably managed forests• and other ecosystems, adaptation of vulnerable species/ecosystems, and adaptation of forest-dependent communities’

KOHIMA: A State level workshop on Green India Mission was held at the conference hall of Hotel Japfu Kohima on Monday. In a message from the Minister for Forests, Ecology, Environment & Wildlife M C Konyak which was read out in the function, he stated that the Green India Mission aims at responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures, which would help enhancing carbon sinks in sustainably managed forests•

North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) plans to add 950 MW to its existing power generation capacity in the region in the next five years.

"We are already generating 1,130 MW in the region. Seventy per cent houses are powered by NEEPCO. We shall add 950 MW by the next 5 years in the region. If we get new projects, we might give more," NEEPCO Chief Managing Director P C Pankaj said.

New Delhi: India has lost hundreds of acres of forest cover, mostly in North East but this was largely due to various reasons like shifting cultivation, rotational harvesting and biotic pressures besides tree felling.

The largest dip in forest cover was in the North East which lost 550 sq km. This loss was very partially made up elsewhere, even as there was an overall negative growth in green cover, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, has said in Parliament recently.

DIMAPUR: Y Patton, Nagaland Parliamentary Secretary for Geology & Mining, I&FC and Border Affairs, has warned that immediate eviction drives should be carried out against individuals and government employees encroaching upon government land.

This parliamentary secretary’s caution comes in the wake of reported random encroachment of land and buildings belonging to the State Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department in Dimapur.

Contractor had to complete the project in 36 months, but not a single km has been built.

DIMAPUR: In an effort to meet the increasing power demand in rural Nagaland, the department of New and Renewable Energy (NRE), Nagaland, inaugurated another biomass gasifier power plant at Medziphema village today.

The Medziphema plant (2 X 100 KW) is the fifth biomass gasifier power plant in rural Nagaland under NRE department, a nascent department created three years back. Dedicating the new power plant to Medziphema villagers, Advisor for NRE, Deo Nukhu, MLA, in his address said that though NRE is a relatively new department, but the department had undertaken many initiatives to make tangible achievements in new and renewable energy.