The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday upheld the National Environment Appellate Authority decision to suspend environmental clearance for the proposed 2640 mw thermal plant of NCC Ltd.

The implementation of the thermal plant at Sompeta in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh has hit the environmental hurdle and faced with resistance from local villagers.

The tribunal has directed fresh hearing on the project. Local organisations have welcomed the order.

Mumbai has emerged as the second-most liveable city in the world, according to an Ericsson ConsumerLab survey. The liveability factor has been tied to connectivity. Stockholm topped the list.

India's business capital has in the survey outranked cities such as New York, London and Los Angeles.

The 30-minute online survey (with 1,500 participants per city) was carried out in Cairo, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Stockholm, Beijing, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, Seoul, London, Los Angeles, New York and Hong Kong.

The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) on Monday signed a contract with the Council of Scientific Industrial Research–National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI) to implement a pilot project on using advanced geophysical techniques to map shallow and deep aquifers. The project is being implemented under World Bank-funded hydrology project and would be implemented in Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over a period of 15 months. The total project cost is about Rs 44.39 crore, out of which the CGWB component is about Rs 16.98 crore and NGRI's is about Rs.

Kerala State Industrial Enterprises (KSIE), a public sector unit, will tie up with the UN to spearhead a major drive aimed at reducing the State's carbon footprint.

The idea is to get the State rid itself of kerosene lamps that lit up the rural landscape and replace them with light-emitting diode (LED) lamps.
FIRST STATE

If implemented, Kerala will become the first State to get rid of the kerosene lamp. This will also lead to significant fuel savings, Mr M. C. Mayin Haji, chairman, and Mr Febi Varghese, managing director, KSIE, told Business Line.

India on Monday signed joint resolutions with Nepal and Russia on trans-border co-operation to conserve the tiger. The resolutions were signed during the three-day Global Tiger Recovery Programme conference held in New Delhi.

The global conference of 13 tiger range countries for the first time took stock of efforts to double the number of wild tigers by 2022. While reporting a significant progress, the meeting recognised the need for intensive action to halt poaching.

The Rajya Sabha witnessed frequent disruptions following the Opposition uproar over CAG reportedly pointing to a loss of over Rs 1,80,000 crore to the exchequer in the allotment of coal blocks to private companies.

The Coal Minister, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, has been describing the findings in the draft report on allocation of coal blocks without auction as “illogical”, asking by that yardstick even water used in the hydro projects should be charged.

The National Biodiversity Authority will come out with targets for protecting the diversity of living organisms in time for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, to be held in India in October, according to its Chairman, Dr Balakrishna Pisupati.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency plans to add more products under the mandatory energy efficiency labelling drive bringing in water heaters, direct cool refrigerators and television sets.

However, it is yet to finalise the timeline for bringing them into the mandatory products as manufacturers would also need to gear up to make such products.

In a bid to increase green cover, Odisha government has set a target to undertake plantation in over two lakh hectare ahead of the monsoon at an expenditure of Rs 183 crore.

Compared to plantation undertaken over 1,82 lakh hectare with an expenditure of Rs 160 crore during 2011-12, it has been decided to fix the plantation target for 2012-13 at two lakh hectares, official sources said here today.

Further, the target for avenue plantation during the current fiscal was fixed at 1,600 km as against 769 km done during 2011-2012, they said.

The School of Management Studies, CUSAT, has submitted the interim report on parking at Metro stations to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd.

The report suggests that the need of parking facility is more in the suburban areas and it decreases towards the inner parts of the city. The final report on the same will be submitted in 3 to 4 weeks' time.