Demand for implementation of relief package

Accusing the government of “moving slow” on its promise to disburse the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)-assured compensation and of omitting a few identified endosulfan victims from the list of persons to be compensated, yet another indefinite relay hunger strike will begin here from February 18. Social and cultural activists and the mothers of the victims will take part in the agitation, spearheaded by the Endosulfan Peedhitha Janakeeya Munnani in their bid to force the government to swiftly implement the NHRC-suggested rehabilitation package, Munnani convener Ambalathara Kunhikrishnan said.

PANJIM: While admitting that a financial package is not a ‘permanent’ solution for rehabilitating mining affected people, Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday turned its guns on the Prime Minister, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Minister of Environment and Forests, in renewed inter party mug slinging on the mining suspension issue which has taken centrestage.

Prime Minister is incapable of giving financial aid to the State”, BJP spokesman Dr Wilfred Mesquita told media persons, and termed Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar’s move to lead an all party delegation to Delhi on February 18 as a ‘publicity stunt’.

27,000 families in Satara on an indefinitesit-in at Koyna dam site

First, a dam, then an earthquake and finally a tiger reserve — families in Satara district’s Koyna have been displaced thrice in one generation. In 1960, the people had to move, paving the way for the Koyna dam; in 1967 following the earthquake and then for the Koyna tiger reserve in 1985, says Jagannath Vibhute, an activist of the Shramik Mukti Dal and one of the many farmers displaced by dam projects.

To benefit about 2,300 affected people Nuclear Power Corporation reiterates readiness to spend more on relief, rehabilitation

People who stand to lose their land to the Jaitapur nuclear power project in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district are to get compensation of Rs 22.5 lakh a hectare, instead of the earlier Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh a hectare, the state government has announced, as a “special case”.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) has envisioned a Rs5,000-crore project to redevelop its housing colonies on its own, instead of letting private developers walk away with profits.

It will utilize portions of the sprawling housing societies to build 10,000 affordable homes after rehabilitating its tenants. But housing industry sources are sceptical about Mhada’s plan taking off, as tenants have got more lucrative offers from builders, including larger homes.

The indefinite agitation by people of Jarada village, who lost their land and houses for Kaniha open-cast coalmine, entered its 12th day on Tuesday. Coal production is disrupted as the agitators are not allowing any employees to work.

More than 700 families were affected and 750 acres acquired by the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited(MCL) in 1995. Sources said though 450 families have been provided jobs till now, another 150 affected families are yet to get employment. Demanding jobs and resettlement, the villagers have been staging a sit-in in front of the coalmine main gate at Kaniha since January 24.

Mumbai: The city’s skyline may have more skyscrapers in future if the state authorities consider the central government’s recommendation to review the FSI policy for Mumbai to meet the affordable housing demand. The recommendation came on Monday.

Union housing minister Ajay Maken said megacities like Mumbai needed to review the FSI (floor space index) policy to encourage more affordable housing. He said affordable housing should now be accorded the status of basic infrastructure to facilitate more stock of affordable houses for the urban populace. He was addressing a meet on ‘Challenges in Megacity Governance’, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi. CII president Adi Godrej presided over the inaugural session.

The Planning Commission’s Appraisal Has Stressed On Consistent Implementation Of Reforms And Holistic Urban Renewal

Pune: Urban planners and activists have criticized the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for their inapt handling of works done under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM). The PMC has spent crores of rupees meant for renewal of infrastructure to cover up the backlog in the provision of basic urban services, they said.

MUMBAI: The National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC) held a review meeting in Mumbai on Thursday.

Lucknow: Have Dudhwa tigers shunned their preferred prey - the cheetals and sambhars - to hunt the mighty rhinos? The killing of a 35-yearold female rhino by a tiger in Dudhwa national park and the subsequent eating of the carcass has raised a doubt if the behaviour of Dudhwa tigers is changing.

The experts are not ready to buy the argument that the declining prey base is the reason why tigers are hunting and eating rhinos. "If tiger population in the park is increasing, prey base can not decline," said Tito Joseph from the wildlife protection society of India (WPSI). The tiger sneaked into the rhino rehabilitation area to kill the 35-year-old female rhino Pavitri, brought to Dudhwa in 1984 under the rhino rehabilitation programme.