coastal clearances: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests issued the second draft of the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) notification, which allows green-field airports on coasts.

Karaikudi: Non-ferrous metals major Vedanta Resources is in talks with three steel companies from Japan, Europe and India to be its partner for its proposed entry into steelmaking. The London-based Vedanta's chairperson Anil Agarwal said the group is even open to offering a majority stake in the venture to the new partner who would be bringing in the technology for making steel. The steel venture would mark Vedanta's foray into ferrous metals.

London-based Vedanta Resources's chairman Anil Agarwal may be claiming that his projects in Orissa are well on schedule, but the ground reality is somewhat different. The group's Rs 8,400 crore aluminium project in Orissa is in serious trouble. With locals snapping the water supplyline to the project, work on the site at Jharsuguda has been affected.

Vedanta is planning a 600,500 tonne aluminium smelter and a 1,200-1,300 megawatt power plant in West Bengal's Burdwan district. The company is likely to sign an agreement with the state government soon. State commerce and industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen told Down to Earth the proposed project was "still in the talks phase' and that the company was "looking into the corporate social responsibility aspect' of the project. He didn't clarify how much land would be required for the project, but said the company's subsidiary, Balco, has over 80 ha of unused land in the district.

The Niyamgiri reserve forests are home to spotted deer, sambar, wild boar and leopards. People complain that the Vedanta refinery and its staff quarters and the guesthouse near the hill are