After repeated squabbles with the civic administration over desilting of the Mithi river, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has now sent an ultimatum to the BMC that it will be doing the desilting work this year for the last time.

Both agencies have been at loggerheads for the past seven years over the desilting of a six-km stretch of the Mithi river, resulting in a delay in desilting and waterlogging in areas around that patch.

Hearing a petition against transportation of effluents from industries manufacturing H-acid, the Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to specify particulars about such industrial units and details of sale price of their products.

The MPCB has also been asked to furnish information on whether such industries are located within the limits of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) or not.

The civic administration will soon visit residential societies to urge residents to implement rainwater harvesting technology. With the slow progress of the rainwater harvesting technology, the civic body will also plan hoardings, advertisements and awareness campaigns to advocate residents regarding the project.

A senior official said ward level officials would be asked to visit residential societies to explain and urge citizens to implement the rainwater harvesting scheme in their colonies.

The Delhi High Court has upheld the Central Information Commission (CIC) order to make the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) public by publishing it on Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) website. The court on May 17 dismissed an MoEF petition seeking not to disclose the report, saying it could affect economic and scientific interest of the states concerned — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The report, prepared by a panel chaired by ecology expert Madhav Gadgil, had been submitted to the MoEF in August 2011. Last year, RTI applicant G Krishnan had filed an application with the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the MoEF to obtain a summary of the report,

The plan to convert vast swathes of no development zone (NDZ) in the coastal regions of Gorai, Manori and Uttan into a Tourism Development Zone has come in for severe criticism from activists, who have suggested that the belt be opened up for creation of affordable housing instead.

The Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) has written to the Chief Minister, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner and the principal secretary of the state urban development department about the ‘flawed’ policy that is currently under consideration.

In a move that aims at providing more land for construction and increased sops to builders in the ecologically sensitive Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) areas, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked the state government to allow the new relaxed building norms to be applicable in such areas. As per existing rules, the Floor Space Index (FSI) that determines the extent of construction that can be carried out on a plot is restricted in CRZ areas.

The state government on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that close to 6,500 autorickshaws in the city have been fitted with electronic meters following a notification issued in February.

The statement was made in a compliance report filed before the court by joint transport commissioner Satish Sahasrabudhhe. The report states that 2,598 new autorickshaws have been fitted with e-meters. The figure for vehicles which have come forward for renewal of fitness certificates is 3,839.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday expressed reservations about the new Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2011, saying it would in particular pose hurdles in setting up industries and creating new dams.

The Bill was cleared by the Union cabinet in September and has now been sent to the joint legislative committee. Quoting provisions of the Bill, such as the promise to pay five times the market price of land acquired, returning 20 per cent developed land to the owner and job guarantee for next 20 years, Pawar said that the Bill would hamper development work in the country and state. The Bill also provides that there should be 70 per cent consent of land owners for the acquisition and the state can step in for the remaining 30 percent.

The Bombay High Court last week has asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to give a fresh hearing to pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline involving a land dispute in Worli.

Ruling in favour of the company, a division bench of Justice S J Vazifdar and Justice A R Joshi questioned why the civic body passed a one-sided order against them.

The Adarsh housing society does not have any clearance from the Central environment ministry, and the construction of the building is therefore illegal, the director of the ministry told the Adarsh commission looking into the controversy on Thursday.

The statement has brought the issue of environmental violations in the society to prominence, barely two weeks after the issue of ownership of the land reached a degree of closure with the commission’s report holding that it belongs to the state government.