The bench asked the state government to be "serious" on the safety issue and directed it to conduct mock drills in the villages on a regular basis.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear to the government that all safety measures for handling disaster must be put in place at the Kudankulam power plant before it is operationalised saying there can be no compromise on it. A bench of justices K S Radhakrishanan and Deepak Misra also asked the government to submit disaster management plan before it and directed the Tamil Nadu government to carry out mock drills covering all the 40 villages situated within 16 Km radius of the plant.

Seeks Time Frame On Amanishah

Jaipur: The “selective approach” of the state government in removing encroachments in the Amanishah Nullah made the Rajasthan high court see red on Monday with the bench asking, “Are we in a jungle raj in Rajasthan?” Pulling up the state for tardy governance, a division bench of Rajasthan HC asked chief secretary C K Mathew to file an affidavit by Wednesday on a time frame to remove the remaining encroachments.

Acquisition of land for private purposes would require the consent of 80 per cent of the owners, goes the Bill finalised today, according to sources.

Under consideration of a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, it will soon be placed before the Cabinet and is expected to make it to Parliament’s winter session. Last month, Pawar had said a proposal to seek the consent of 80 per cent of owners, along with many other broad principles, were being circulated among ministers and a consensus was being arrived at. Today, sources said the land Bill had been finalised and the proposal to seek consent of 80 per cent of owners before any acquisition for private projects had been approved.

Agartala: Tripura government will set up two elephant reserves for preservation of the species whose numbers have vastly depleted due to large-scale poaching and migration to neighbouring Bangladesh.

State Forest Minister Jitendra Chowdhury on Saturday said the two reserves would be part of elephant conservation projects and land for one at Gandhari in Amarpur sub-division of Gomati district has already been already identified.

The Endosulfan Peeditha Janakeeya Munnani on Thursday took out a march to the District Collector’s office seeking the implementation of the relief and rehabilitation package for victims.

Hectic Parleys Begin

Jaisalmer: The habitats of thousands of chinkaras, cobras, desert fox, cats and other beasts are likely to be severely affected if the proposed refinery is set up in Lelana area of Barmer, according to the forest department. The HPCL, which will set up the refinery, will be sending a special team to study the eco system of the area in December and prepare a report for the Centre.

New DelhiThe Land Acquisition Bill, which has been surrounded by controversies, is set for further delay as the Cabinet is unlikely to take it up at its meeting tomorrow despite the group of ministers (GoM) approving it.

Sources said the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, is not on the agenda of Thursday's Cabinet meeting even though the government intends to introduce it in Parliament in the Winter Session beginning November 22.

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.

Kolkata Yet another case of land-related unrest is roiling West Bengal, this time around developing a coal mine allotted to Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) in 2004.

At least 27 policemen, including three officers, and six villagers were injured in a pitched battle early on Tuesday at Dubrajpur in Birbhum district, 226 km from Kolkata. Clashes erupted when policemen turned up to retrieve an excavator seized a few days back by villagers protesting against land acquisition for an open-cast mine. Coal from the mine is expected to power the 2x500 MW Durgapur Steel Thermal Power Project.