Bokakhat: Union Environment and Tourism Minister Jayanti Natarajan announced a Rs 1 crore package for world-famed Kaziranga National Park on Wednesday to tackle the situation arising there out of waves of flood and consequent death of animals this year. The money was sanctioned from the Tiger Reserve Fund for the world famous Park where a total 39 rhinos have been killed in and around it in less than 10 months.
Natarajan, who reviewed the situation in the Park following the devastating floods and recent incidents of rhino poaching, also announced that five country boats and four speed boats would be immediately sanctioned to the Park to help in the rescue and protection of animals.
The union minister, who was accompanied by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, also stressed the need to strengthen the network between different agencies engaged in wildlife protection. Referring to recent incidents of poaching in the Park, she said the Wildlife Crime Control Board was conducting an inquiry into the killings and necessary action would be taken after the submission of the report.
The involvement of militants in poaching has been established and the concerned department was taking steps accordingly. Measures were also being taken to increase the number of forest guards to ensure increased vigil and patrolling in...
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11:46 PM, Oct 10, 2012
New Delhi: The Environment Ministry has said no to a defence project in the Andamans after CNN-IBN reported how it would have threatened the existence of an endangered bird. The Coast Guard was planning to construct a road and a diesel power station to set up a surveillance radar system. This meant the dense forests of the Narcondam island would have to go. Environmentalists had pressed the alarm button as...
01:56 PM, Sep 06, 2012
Bhubaneswar: An expert team reviewing the environmental impact assessment of Posco's proposed $12 billion steel plant in Odisha will submit its report by October, the team said in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. "We will submit the report by October," team leader K Roy Paul said after visiting the project site in Jagatsinghpur district and meeting senior state officials in Bhubaneswar. The former civil aviation secretary said the panel led by him...
01:02 AM, Aug 23, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Wednesday consider its recent ruling banning tourism in the core areas of tiger sanctuaries. It is expected to decide whether or not to lift the ban. Sources say that the Environment Ministry has already gone back on its proposal to ban tourism in core areas of tiger reserves and is looking to ask for a review of its own guidelines on eco-tourism. The...
10:16 AM, Aug 22, 2012
New Delhi: Environment Ministry feels radiation emitted by mobile towers has ill effects on wildlife, especially birds and bees, and has asked the Department of Telecommunication not to permit such structures within one-km radius of each other. In an advisory, the Ministry has said that there is an "urgent need" to refine the Indian standard on safe limits of exposure to electro-magnetic radiations (EMR). Till it is reformed, "a precautionary...
05:42 PM, Aug 10, 2012
New Delhi: Taming a wild elephant is not easy. Neither for the tamer, nor for the animal itself. The elephant is first chained and then mercilessly beaten till it gives in. However, the Environment Ministry has given the West Bengal government permission to do precisely this. An RTI application filed by CNN-IBN revealed that the Environment Ministry gave the go-ahead for the capture of four wild elephants that had been...
09:55 AM, Jul 28, 2012
New Delhi: The Environment Ministry has landed in a soup. An RTI query filed by CNN-IBN has revealed that the ministry approved the West Bengal government's controversial decision to capture a herd of wild elephants and force them into captivity, a practice that is banned under wildlife laws. The RTI application showed that the Environment Ministry gave the go ahead for the capture of four wild elephants that had been...
07:35 AM, Jul 28, 2012
New Delhi: The Narcondam Hornbill is found at only one place in the world - Narcondam, in the Andamans. The Nicobar Megapod, a wingless bird, is found in the Tillanchong Sanctuary, again in the Andamans. Both these birds and the fragile ecology of the Andamans are now facing a direct threat from proposals floated by the Coast Guard and the Indian Navy. The Navy wants to construct a structure for...
01:48 PM, Jul 16, 2012
New Delhi: The Environment Ministry swung into action and decided to send a special team to the Kaziranga National Park in Assam after CNN-IBN highlighted how the animals at the park were fast dying due to floods and poaching. The floods and poaching have resulted in death of over 500 animals in the national reserve. The ministry will also be sending an official from the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Assam...
07:13 AM, Jul 10, 2012
Lucknow: An ambitious project by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to start a lion safari in his hometown of Safai in Etawah has now hit a green hurdle. The regional office of the Environment Ministry has issued a showcause notice, stopping all construction till the project gets all green clearances. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has asked his government to flatten and develop a 50-hectare patch of forest...
07:23 PM, Jul 06, 2012
New Delhi: As the country battles coal shortage, the Prime Minister's Office on Friday sought to give a push to its production by directing the Environment Ministry to grant clearances to 12 projects which would lead to an additional output of 10 million tonnes per year. The PMO took stock of the coal production at a meeting attended by representatives of the Ministries of Coal, Power and Environment and Forest...
07:10 PM, Jul 06, 2012
New Delhi: A dream project of UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav - the Lion Safari in Etawah - has been ordered to be halted by the Environment Ministry. The ministry on Friday sent a show cause notice to Akhilesh with regard to the matter. It red-flagged the project asking the state government to immediately stop all construction work in the area. The ministry asked the state government to file a...
09:50 AM, Jul 06, 2012
New Delhi: Deforestation in some states has remained a serious concern, according to the the Environment Ministry's India forest report. The report says India's forest cover is down by 367 square kilometre as compared to the last survey in 2009. This came despite the fact that 15 states have increased their forest cover in this period. The forest cover in 12 states has decreased considerably. The maximum loss of forest...
08:51 PM, Feb 07, 2012
New Delhi: The Environment Ministry has reacted to a CNN-IBN report about how the UP government had violated environment rules and diverted wetlands in Greater Noida's Dadri to the Ansal group. The ministry has ordered that the work on the project should be stopped. It has also issued a show cause notice. The Uttar Pradesh government sold 2400 acre of wetlands, home to over 5,000 migratory birds. As the area...
07:31 PM, Feb 04, 2012
Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan denied acting under political pressure on the Lavasa issue. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, he said he worked according to the rules. Chavan's statement came hours after the Environment Ministry gave the controversial hill city project a go-ahead. He said that there was a misconception that political heavyweights pushed for the clearance announced in the court, maintaining that the meeting between the NCP leadership and...
07:25 AM, Nov 10, 2011
Mumbai: Lavasa, India's first planned hill city, being built in Maharshtra's Pune district, is now one step closer to reality. The Union Environment Ministry on Wednesday gave conditional clearance to the project. The Lavasa township got the clearance to the Environment Ministry, subject to additional conditions, after several months of being mired in controversy. It's a project that has seen many legal twists and turns in the last two years....
07:44 PM, Nov 09, 2011
Pune: A district court will hear the Maharashtra government's application against Lavasa, the ambitious hill city project set in the outskirts of Pune city, on Tuesday. The Prithviraj Chavan government had filed a criminal complaint against Lavasa Corporation and its promoters for alleged violations of the Environment Protection Act. The Maharashtra government initiated proceedings against Lavasa promoters. They have named six officers and all nine directors of Lavasa including Ajit...
08:41 AM, Nov 08, 2011
New Delhi: The Indian Navy's plans to test fire missiles from Andaman and Nicobar Islands appear to have hit a hurdle with the Environment Ministry concerned over the impact of the exercise on an endangered bird species found only in the ecologically sensitive area. The Environment Ministry, which is examining a proposal of the Navy for missile testing in Tillanchang Island, has been told by a panel of experts that...
08:19 PM, Nov 07, 2011
New Delhi: A Pune court adjourned the hearing of the case against Lavasa promoters on Friday. The court said it will hear the case on Saturday after scrutinising the application filed by the Maharashtra government. The Maharashtra government initiated proceedings against Lavasa promoters in a Pune court, sources said on Friday. They claim that six officers and all nine directors of Lavasa including Ajit Gulabchand and Annirudha Deshpande have been...
02:33 PM, Nov 04, 2011
As the Maharashtra government is set to begin criminal proceedings against Lavasa, chief Ajit Gulabchand says injustice is being done. ...
11:45 PM, Nov 01, 2011
