Unlikely to be able to achieve its iron ore production target of 15 mn metric tonne for FY13

Sesa Goa, a Vedanta Group firm, is unlikely to achieve its iron ore production target of 15 million metric tonne for FY13 owing to the mining ban in Goa and the expiry of its lease in Karnataka. The company’s operations are currently in limbo due to the recent action by the Goa government and expiry of its lease in Karnataka.

New Delhi A week ahead of the next meeting of the WHO framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC), the tobacco farmers world over have sought representation in the meeting scheduled for discussing the issue of shifting to alternative crop because of health hazards due to rising tobacco consumption.

Articles 17 and 18 of FCTC, which India is a signatory, deal with provisions related to taking up of alternative crop by tobacco growers and environmental impact of tobacco crop.

Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash on Sunday said that a renewed representation demanding a compensation worth Rs 150 crore for the victims of monsoon disasters would be submitted to the Central Government.

He was addressing reporters at the Government Guest House, Ernakulam, after conducting talks with the Central committee that came to evaluate the loss in the state owing to the monsoon.

The govt is treading cautiously inorder to develop infrastructure for the tribal community and at the same time maintains no human habitat near the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary

The State government will have to strike a fine balance between human and animal welfare, as it plans to develop infrastructure for the tribal community located within the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) in Canacona.

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Karnataka government to consider and take a decision on the applications for mining leases within a month.

New Delhi By defining “public purpose” very broadly in the relevant legislation, the government will ensure private investors in state-controlled infrastructure projects almost always receive its help in mobilising the land required.

The land Bill vetted by a group of ministers earlier and set to to taken up by the Union Cabinet after Diwali will contain an exhaustive list of 29 infrastructure areas as involving public purpose. This means that the government can acquire land for public-private partnership (PPP) projects in these areas, provided the projects are majority-owned by the government and two-thirds of the land owners give their consent. Such public-purpose PPP projects are also eligible for some concessions from state governments, which could reduce the cost of acquisition.

Initiates land acquisition process in five villages at Srikakulam

Paving the way for land acquisition to set up the first-ever nuclear power project in Andhra Pradesh, the state government on Thursday declared the land identified in five villages in north coastal district of Srikakulam as project-affected zone. It may be recalled that the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) had proposed to set up a 6,000 Mw power plant of light water reactors at Kovvada five years ago. The latest move will facilitate the government's land acquisition unit to acquire 2,436 acre identified for the project in the above location.

Accused of allowing huge cost overruns in award of work for revamping the water transmission and distribution system in the Capital’s Nangloi area on a public-private partnership basis, the Delhi Jal Board on Thursday vehemently denied the charges and said comparisons could not be drawn between the Nangloi project and other similar works.

A non-government organisation, Citizens’ Front for Water Democracy, had accused the DJB recently of allowing work to be carried out on inflated rates and comparing the Nangloi project with a similar one in Patna, saying the cost difference between the two was a whopping Rs. 1,000 crore.