Desert sand, sea salt, volcanic ash and other forms of natural pollution are adding to rising levels of man-made dirt sullying the air and making it harder, especially for Mediterranean countries,

New Delhi: Worried over scarcity in supply of stone and sand for construction of roads and highways, the Centre has asked chief ministers of five states — Punjab, Haryana, Jhakhand, Bihar and Tamil

Chandigarh: The powerful sand mining mafia has thwarted attempts by the government to bring down the prices of sand and gravel.

The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday ordered for production of licences granted by the Collectors of Namakkal, Karur, Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts to the Public Works Department for quarrying sand along the stretches of rivers Cauvery, Amaravathi and Kollidam flowing through the six districts.

A Division Bench comprising Justice R. Banumathi and Justice G. . Akbar Ali passed the direction after it felt that the counter affidavits filed by the officials did not contain information sufficient for disposing of the case.

National Legal Services Authority To File PIL, Seek A Stop To Incessant Digging Of Rivers.

The National Legal Services Authority will file a social justice litigation petition in the Supreme Court for protection of rivers from sand mining operations.

The decision was taken at a meeting held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Justice Altamas Kabir of the Supreme Court and NALSA executive chairman. According to NALSA member-secretary U. Saratchandran, “Rivers are the important lifelines for water requirements of riparian lands and also for the watershed areas of such rivers.

Impact: The prices of sand and gravel will come down.

V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, executive vice-president, Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), inaugurated a one-day workshop on Conservation of Rivers and Lakes organised here on Thursday by the Pampa Parirakshana Samithy (PPS), in association with Kuttanad Vikasana Samithy (KVS) and Alappuzha Press Club.

Mr. Pillai said that the problems regarding the conservation of water bodies were as well known as the solutions. Experts and resources were also available. The only problem was to decide who would take up the initiative and how to go about the process.

PANJIM: Cleansing government departments will be a hard task, despite claims of transparency and zero tolerance for corruption, as a committed government official of the mines department learnt.

A senior officer in the mines department recently warned senior officials of the PWD department of stern action for allowing use of its (PWD) land for large scale illegal sand extraction and stacking it below Amona and Khandola bridge. To his horror, instead of being applauded, the officer was shunted out of the department, and given a lower posting.

A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court Bench here to forbear the Public Works Department from carrying out sand quarrying operations along the stretches of rivers Cauvery, Amaravathi and Kollidam flowing through Namakkal, Karur, Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts.

When the case came up for hearing before a Division Bench comprising Justice R. Banumathi and Justice G.M. Akbar Ali on Monday, the judges adjourned the case to July 9 as the lawyers representing the PIL petitioner, B. Juliaan (31) of Lalgudi Taluk in Tiruchi district, were not present in the court due to a boycott call given by one of the advocates’ association.