Will be valid for a period of five years

The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has granted environment clearance for 11 more sand quarries in the Cauvery-Coleroon river basin. A few days ago, the SEIAA had granted clearance for 10 new sand quarries in Tiruchi, Karur, Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Namakkal districts. In the second batch of clearance, 11 quarries have been approved, sources told The Hindu on Friday.

The district administration will soon chalk out recommendations on royalty for farm land use by the ONGC for its oil pipelines in the district.

This was among the significant agreements chalked out at ‘peace talks’ held between the stakeholders, in the presence of the Revenue Divisional Officer here late on Tuesday, ringing in a closure to the long-drawn struggle by farmers seeking damages for oil spill from the ONGC pipeline at Keezhvelur. “Provision for royalty to farmers will be in line with the policy of payment of royalty to the government for pipelines laid below a certain depth, and which was denied to farmers until now,” said Kaveri Danapalan of the Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, after the meeting.

Environment ministry could review the rules for green clearances and regulation of more than 40,000 km of oil and gas pipelines spread across the country.

The Union Environment and Forests Ministry will take up with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas the issue of according systemic protocol for monitoring pipelines to prevent oil spill, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan said here on Tuesday.

Taking suo motu cognisance of a report in The Hindu on the oil spill from an ONGC pipeline destroying paddy fields for the third consecutive year in Nagapattinam, she arrived here to inspect and ascertain the facts from the farmers.

Taking stock of the oil spill in Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu where a leak from an abandoned ONGC pipeline affected a large area of under-cultivation farmland, Union Environment Minister Jay

Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan rushed to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu on Monday night to inspect a massive crude oil spill from a pipeline belonging to the Oil and Natural Gas Commission.

The Madras High Court has permitted 10 sand quarries on the Cauvery-Coleroon river beds to continue its operations for a further period of two months.

The cyclone has left two people dead so far

The coastal districts of Tamil Nadu were hit by Cyclone Nilam this evening. With wind speeds of up to 100 km/hour, it severely affected many areas in Tamil Nadu, as well as Andhra Pradesh. According to PTI reports, the cyclone left two people dead. Most industrial houses, schools and offices in the coastal districts were closed on Wednesday. Heavy winds damaged roads here, as well as those in other coastal areas. Power cuts were also reported. Initial estimates pegged economic losses from the storm at Rs 70-80 crore. Government officials said the figure was expected to rise.

Coastal Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are bracing up to face cyclone Nilam.

A deep depression hovering over the Bay of Bengal may intensify into a cyclonic storm by Tuesday morning and is likely to cross the north Tamil Nadu coast and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh by October 31 midnight, the Met office said.

The deep depression lay over the southwest Bay of Bengal, about 550 km south-southeast of Chennai and 200 km east-northeast of Trincomalee. If it intensifies into a cyclonic storm, it would be the season’s first cyclone to strike the State.