Steel plants in West Bengal are blatantly “flouting environmental norms” by polluting land, water and air, according to a green rating survey.

The State Government has sought a detailed Action Taken Report (ATR) from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) on the pollution allegedly caused by various chemical industries to water bodies including River Cauvery, and villages and hamlets in and around Mettur.

In response to the Madras High Court’s direction, N. Thirumurthy, Deputy Secretary, Department of Environment and Forests, Government of Tamil Nadu asked the TNPCB Chairman to “send an action taken report on the complaints of pollution (due to chemical industries in and around Mettur) to Government immediately.”

Says Central and State Governments have taken safety measures and it is high time steps were taken for starting production

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board have applied their mind in all clearances and statutorily passed various orders relating to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP). There is no scope for the Madras High Court to presume that the orders are arbitrary, a Division Bench has held.

In the light of careless handling of hazardous material by private companies at Cuncolim Industrial Estate, the government has been forced to step in and work out a solution. But shouldn’t stringent environmental safeguards be built into the industrial and investment policies to arrest fly-by-night operators, asks Guilherme Almeida

MARGAO: A whopping 25,000 tons of hazardous waste generated by Sunrise Zinc Ltd is ticking like a time bomb at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate and neither the present firm occupying the plot- the Axis, nor the State Bank of India has cared to act responsibly in disposing off the waste, with the result that the Goa State Industrial Development Corporation (GSIDC)

JAMMU: The Stone Crusher Owner Association (SCOA) has expressed resentment against the order issued by State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) for closure of BN Stone Crusher.

In a meeting held here in this regard, president, SCOA Vikram Randhawa described the report given by Additional DDC Jammu frivolous and misleading. He said that the Unit has valid NOC till May 2012 and has been continuously running its business for last 22 years. No proper hearing was given to the aggrieved unit holder, he added

Steel plants in West Bengal are blatantly "flouting environmental norms" by polluting land, water and air, according to a green rating survey. New Delhi-based research body Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) studied 21 large steelmakers, 16 of which are from the eastern part of the country, to find out how green and clean the sector is.

"West Bengal accounts for three of these, and all three have fared miserably in the rating," said Chandra Bhushan, CSE's deputy director general and the head of the project. The report was released here on Friday by state Environment Minister Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar.

The Madras High Court today gave its go-ahead for the commissioning and fuel loading of the unit 1 of the two 1,000 Mw Russian reactors at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project, coming up at Tirunelveli district in Chennai.

The green signal is a boost to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd, setting up the units, against which there have been agitations by locals. Dismissing the petitions filed by eight different petitioners on environment safety, the court upheld the recent clearance granted by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).

The Madras High Court on Friday gave the green signal for the commissioning of the units one and two of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tirunelveli district. However, it made it clear that the regulatory authorities should periodically oversee the compliance and maintenance of standards of pollution.

“By taking note of the overall situation, we are of the view that the KKNPP in respect of units 1 and 2 do not suffer from any infirmities either for want of any clearance from any of the authorities, including the MoEF, AERB, TNPCB and the Department of Atomic Energy, and there is absolutely no impediment for the NPCIL to proceed with the project,”

Coal handling operations at the Vasco Port have been found to be polluting the town, forcing the pollution control board authorities to issue a show cause notice to the port trust.

Sesa Goa, a Vedanta Group company, said it has received directions from Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) to stop the activity of the metallurgical coke plant expansion.