SmartCity Kochi has failed to secure environment clearance within 45 days as declared by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on January 31. The company has not even filed a fresh application for environment clearance.

The Hindu had reported on January 30 that the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) had deferred its recommendation for environmental clearance for the first phase of the project.

Work could soon begin in a clutch of stranded highway projects with likely combined investments of over R20,000 crore, as the Union environment ministry is set to give them approvals in one go.

A high-level Environment Ministry panel has recommended granting green clearance to the proposed international airport at north Kerala’s Kannur district.

THE National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to make certain it uploads on its website all orders on granting environment clearances within seven days of approval, enabling public to be aware of such orders and raise appropriate objections timely.

The tribunal, led by Justice Swatanter Kumar, reminded the ministry that it was not just an administrative duty but a "statutory obligation of the MoEF" to put such orders in the public domain so that people are made sentient of the approvals as well as conditions and safeguards to be followed by the project proponent i.e the entity receiving the clearance".

THE proposed 1,320-megawatt Rampal power plant is an outcome of the Bangladesh prime minister’s visit to India from January 10-12, 2010.

Within just two months of the Union Environment Ministry issuing guidelines to take stricter action against those violating green norms, the state environment panel has stalled nearly 50 projects a

The Justice M B Shah Commission, inquiring into illegal mining in Odisha and some other states, on Monday asked the state government and the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) to infor

Justice M B Shah Commission, probing illegal mining activities in Odisha, today asked the state government and Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to clear their stands on issues relating to m

Miners plead innocence as clarity on demarcation between buffer, eco-sensitive zones inadequate

The M B Shah Commission of enquiry probing into illegal mining on Monday asked Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) and the state forest department to submit affidavits regarding their stand on mining in adjacent areas of wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forest area. “All of you should submit an affidavit regarding your interpretation of rules related to mining in adjacent areas of sanctuaries and reserve forest,” Justice M B Shah, the commission chairman told officials of MoEF and state forest department while hearing the matter related to B C Dagara mines.

In a move that could give a fillip to India's unconventional gas production, the ministry of environment and forests has given the phase-III clearance for Essar Oil's Raniganj block in West Bengal. The company will now be able to drill up to 650 wells, compared with the current 135.

The clearances would help Essar Oil invest another Rs 2,500 crore to increase the number of drilled wells to 300 by the end of this year and also rise production to three million standard cubic metres of gas per day (scmd), up from around 60,000 scmd.