Delegation Submits Five-Point Memorandum To CM

Chief minister Oommen Chandy has responded positively to a demand by a collective of greens in the state to devise a mechanism to bring all activities related to sand mining under government control. The proposal, which is part of the five-point memorandum, submitted by the group led by Sugathakumari and V S Vijayan, would be looked into seriously, assured Chandy.

The Kerala River Protection Council has called upon K. Kasturirangan, chairman of the high-level working group on Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), not to dilute the recommendations of the Madhav Gadgil committee.

It claims the report marks the beginning of a totally different planning process involving the local people as envisaged in the Panchayati Raj system.
In a letter to Dr. Kasturirangan, council vice-president V.N. Gopinatha Pillai and environmentalist Thomas P. Thomas alleged that no government had given the required attention to the deteriorating environmental conditions of the Western Ghats.

27 e-toilets have been installed in Pathanamthitta district

The Additional District Magistrate H. Salimraj has directed the Keltron as well as the Eram Scientific Solutions Limited that had installed e-toilets in different parts of the district to ensure trouble-free functioning of all the 27 e-toilets in the district in the next one week itself.
The ADM, leading a team comprising Babu George, former District Panchayat president; P. N. Madhusoodhanan, Sanitation Mission district co-ordinator; Prasanth R. Nair of the private company, and Chinchu Prasad, Keltron representative, had inspected all the 27 e-toilets installed in the district on Saturday following complaints of certain technical snags at various toilets.

Notification converting 500 acres of wetland into industrial land also stayed

The National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, on Tuesday stayed all activities related to the construction of a greenfield airport at Aranmula until further orders. The tribunal also stayed a Kerala government notification converting 500 acres of wetland into industrial land in Pathanamthitta district and barred other connected activities of KGS Aranmula International Airport Ltd. It granted an interim injunction restraining the private company from proceeding with further construction on the land in question.

The tribunal stops construction work at the site and stays govt's order to convert 500 acres for industrial purpose till further orders

The National Green Tribunal has stayed the Rs 2,000-crore Aranmula private airport project in Kerala, which is being developed by Anil Ambani-backed KGS Group. The Tribunal has stopped any construction work at the site and stayed the government's order to convert 500 acres for industrial purpose till further orders.

Bank’s pre-appraisal mission says worrying increases in cost estimates need serious review

The World Bank has expressed reservation on the ‘slow progress’ in completing acquisition of the remaining land needed for the second phase of the Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP) that aims at world-class development of 367 km of State highways. The pre-appraisal mission led by World Bank senior transport economist Simon D. Ellis, who was in the State recently to review the project, said the “progress on land acquisition which has not progressed since the last mission and the worrying increases in cost estimates need serious review.”

Alarmed by this year’s scanty rainfall and the drying up of water reserves in several parts of the State, the office of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has forwarded a recommendation to the State government to this effect.

The scarce northeast monsoon has failed to make up for the shortfall in the southwest spell during the past two years. The southwest monsoon’s share of rainfall this year was the lowest in the last seven years.

Punyam Poonkavanom, Orumudikkettu to keep forest environs serene

The devotees, staff on duty, and every person visiting Sabarimala is bound to keep the hillock clean and protect the serene forest environs of the sacred grove, says P. Vijayan, City Police Commissioner of Thrissur, who has been posted as the Police Special Officer at Sabarimala. Mr. Vijayan, who had successfully implemented the ‘Punyam Poonkavanom’ cleaning drive, making the devotees and the staff an integral part of the daily cleaning drive at the Sannidhanam, has re-launched the project this time too, with added vigour.

Tense situation prevailing at Paipad, agitators attack migrant workers’ dwelling

A tense situation prevailed at Paipad, near Thiruvalla, on Wednesday after a violent protest by the local people against the dumping of waste collected from a colony of migrant workers on the Kothachirappara-Paipad stretch of the Paipad-Kaviyur Road on Wednesday. The protesters, including women and children, blocked the road and flayed the alleged inaction on the part of the officials concerned to address the health risk posed by the “unhygienic” living conditions of migrant workers in and around Paipad.

Amalabharathom programme at Sabarimala concludes

Over 3,200 volunteers of the Amalabharathom campaign, attached to Mata Amritanandamayi Math, took part in a two-day cleaning drive which concluded at Sabarimala here on Sunday. A host of prominent people, including former union Minister O. Rajagopal; Amrita University vice chancellor P. Venkat Rangan; and a good number of professionals from India and abroad took part in the campaign.

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