Collector can order closure of buildings not conforming with safety parameters

The district administration is gearing up to crack down on high rise buildings in the city functioning with scant regard for fire safety measures. District Collector P.I. Sheikh Pareed told The Hindu that suo motu inspections will be carried out randomly in high rise buildings to verify whether they conformed to the mandatory fire safety parameters. The District Collector can order the closure of buildings not confirming with safety parameters invoking his authority as Executive Magistrate.

A mega information technology project at the Infopark and a multi-crore hospital-cum-convention centre in Ernakulam district are among the first nine projects in the State to get environment clearance from the newly-constituted State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA).

The SEIAA has approved the projects based on the recommendation given by the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC). Among the nine projects that have received the environment clearance, four are in Ernakulam.

The authority has recommended that the Kochi Corporation could approach the Department of Social Forestry to monitor and implement the compensatory afforestation programme.

The Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority (KSCZMA) has directed the Kochi Corporation to submit a proposal for a large-scale afforestation programme to compensate the loss of about 16,000 square metre of coastal regulation zone (CRZ) area for its sewage treatment plant (STP) at Mundamveli.

PCB clueless on source of dumping of chemicals

About 2.48 crore litres of effluents generated by nearly 55 industrial units in Eloor and Edayar are let out into the Periyar River daily after primary treatment, against the prescribed norm of ‘zero discharge’ by industries to prevent pollution of rivers. According to the official data available with the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, there are 270 industrial units in the Eloor and Edayar region.

PCB clueless on source of illegal dumping of chemicals

About 2.48 crore litres of effluents generated by nearly 55 industrial units in Eloor and Edayar are let out into the Periyar River daily after primary treatment, against the prescribed norm of ‘zero discharge’ by industries to prevent pollution of rivers. According to the official data available with the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, there are 270 industrial units in the Eloor and Edayar region.

PCB sitting on schemes to check dumping of waste into river

The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has been sitting on two key projects meant to check dumping of industrial and other effluents into the Periyar river, pointing to negligence on the part of the agency on a matter of utmost importance.Frequent fish kills and discolouration of the river has already earned several brickbats for the monitoring agency.

Kochi will particularly feel the vibrations of massive earthquakes like the one that shook Indonesia on Wednesday as the city is largely landfill area, said Kusala Rajendran, well-known seismologist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Dr. Rajendran, who is Associate Professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences in IIS told The Hindu over telephone that the vibrations from an earthquake increase in areas of landfill.

Two major Information Technology (IT) buildings in the State, work on which had been taken up without obtaining the mandatory environment clearance, are among the six ventures that have sought approval from the newly constituted State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC).

The first meeting of SEAC, to be held in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday, will consider the applications of Leela Lace Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (Leela Soft Pvt. Ltd.) at Infopark Special Economic Zone, Kakkanad; Infopark's project at Cherthala; Cyberpark - IT building project at Kozhikod

Eighteen ‘sarpakavus' spread over nearly 35 acres will be covered under the Kerala Forest Department's scheme to protect and conserve the sacred groves in Ernakulam district this year.

The government move to protect the natural resource comes in the wake of rampant urbanisation threatening the ecology of the sacred groves across the State. Considered as miniature forests and having attributes of large forests, sacred groves are traditionally protected by the local communities as ‘kavus or sarpakavus'.

5.5 km road runs through an environmentally fragile area

The Kerala State Coastal Zone Management Authority (KSCZMA) has recommended that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) provide clearance for the Goshree Island Development Authority's (GIDA) Rs. 97-crore Moolamppilly-Pizhala, Valiya Kadamakkudi-Chathanad Road.