Sri Lanka is geared to generate 100 MW of power from wind on Mannar Island, Chairman of the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) Dr. Kithsiri Dissanayake said yesterday.

He said: "Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the world. The Government of Sri Lanka is planning to scaling up the privately owned 30 MW Wind Farms in Kalpitiya by threefold within the next year."

An earth tremor was experienced by people in Badulla and Nuwara Eliya districts during early hours yesterday.

Geologist H.D.N. Sanjeewa of the Geological Surveys and Mines Bureau (GMSB) said the tremor had been felt by people in Bandarawela, Badulla, Kandy, Minipe, Wattegama, Maturata, Padiyapelalla, Rikillagaskada, Hanguranketha and Welimada areas around 1.45 am yesterday, but there had been no damage.

British MPs and members of the European Parliament have signed a letter from South Asian anti-nuclear groups to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing "deep concern" over human rights and environmental issues around the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) which they argue "violates" the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s safety guidelines.

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year. More than 600,000 people are exposed to passive smoking. Unless the countries take action promptly to arrest tobacco use, the death rate will rise to eight million people by 2030. Of them more than 80 per cent live in low and middle-income countries," Professor Carlo Fonseka told The Island.

The Nangyang Technological University of Singapore has offered assistance to rehabilitate the Kandy Lake.

A team of environmental engineers from the Nangyang University, led by its President Professor Bartill Anderson, pledged to extend support to renovate the Kandy Lake by providing funds and knowhow. The lake is polluted and partially silted up and parts of its banks are faced with threat of collapse.

Mayor of Colombo A. J. M. Muzammil said yesterday (30) that the floods in some parts of the city would soon be a thing of the past as the World Bank had granted US$ 180 million to upgrade the city drainage system, including the storm water system.

The Mayor told The Island that the project would be implemented in collaboration with the Urban Development Authority (UDA) which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.

Due to rampant illicit sand mining in Ma Oya the lands on either side of it have been eroded and washed into the stream and the sea at Kochchikade.Hence thousands of people who make a livelihood from the Oya are in dire straits.The number of acres that have been subjected to soil erosion exceeds tens and thousands of acres.

The residents on either side of the banks of the Oya urge the authorities to stop illicit sand mining and punish those engage in the illegal activity.

Environmentalists are protesting against what they term a massive land grab by some government politicians in the Buttala forest reserve. They have placed the extent of state land allegedly acquired by politicians at 500 acres.

The Environment Conservation Trust (ECT) has written to the Wildlife Conservation Department that a minister and a Pradeshiya Sabha member from Moneragala have forcibly

The Wildlife Department has failed to submit the comprehensive report on the first national survey of Sri Lanka’s wild elephants which took place in August 2011.

The report was to be handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa last September but is yet to be completed.

Wildlife Department Director Operations H. D. Ratnayake told The Island yesterday that the report was delayed due to the absence of one of the key conservationists.

He said that Professor Charles Santhiapillai would soon return to the country to put the final touches and the last chapter.

India has agreed to a public discussion with Sri Lanka on safety aspects of the nuclear plants being built in South India, reports in the local media said today.

India wants to allay any Lankan fears on the issue, The Times of India quoted official sources as saying.

The Indian government and its Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) have agreed to have a public discussion with Sri Lanka on all the safety aspects of the nuclear plants in South India. The DAE is expected to answer all queries by the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Authority, officials said.