MUMBAI: Western Railway (WR) has geared up for the monsoon by carrying out cleaning of culverts, desilting drains, increasing the level of tracks and identifying flood-prone spots. "We have indentified flood-prone areas. We will pay more attention to these sections near Marine Lines, Charni Road, Grant Road, Mumbai Central, Elphinstone Road, Dadar, Mahim, Andheri, Jogeshwari and Nalasopara-Virar," said WR chief public relations officer Sharat Chandrayan.

MUMBAI: For 480-odd farmers of Virur village in Chandrapur district, it was a pleasant surprise and a big relief when Coal India Ltd hiked the compensation for land acquisition from Rs 44,000 to Rs 10 lakh per acre and also offered job to a family member. The company will now shell out around Rs 125 crore to these farmers for acquiring 1,497 hectare for exploration of coal blocks.

MUMBAI: If the state is faced with a drought-like situation almost all year round, water experts suggest it's time to rise above party politics and conce n trate on core water resource po licies and cropping patterns. "State policies only pay lip service to equitable water distribution . They spell out water distribution for command areas (around dams and waterbodies ) and landholders, but fail to address pockets which fall outside either of these," says Mandar Sathe of voluntary organization Prayas that works on resource management .

MUMBAI: To get residents to take up rainwater harvesting, BMC officials will begin visiting housing societies and urge them to implement the project in their colonies. The civic body also plans to put up hoardings, advertisements and start awareness campaigns regarding the system. Besides, it has also introduced property tax rebates and water tax rebates for those building that have implemented rainwater harvesting.

MUMBAI: The first phase of the monorail from Chembur to Wadala is slated to be ready for the public in December but only if it gets the green signal on safety issues from its safety consultants from Singapore. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) commissioner, Rahul Asthana, admitted that the project could take some more time if the safety consultant, SMRT of Singapore, wanted some changes before certifying that it has passed all stringent tests.

MUMBAI: In his budget speech two months ago, the then municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar laid the grounds for additional water supply in the city. The completion of the Middle Vaitarna dam has spelled good news, with the BMC's hydraulic department preparing a circular to increase per capita water supply to new buildings from 45 litre per capita per day (lpcd) to 135 lpcd. The circular is likely to be released early next week and roughly 2,000 new constructions will benefit from it.

MUMBAI: BMC chief S J Kunte on Wednesday said the Adarsh building had come up without any Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance. Kunte said before the commission of Justice (retired) J A Patil and member P Subrahmanyam that the construction rights in the form of floor space index that was granted to the building exceeded the norms under CRZ rules.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday observed that anything affecting ecology and forests cannot be allowed. It was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) urging that work on the Kondhane irrigation dam, being built on the Ulhas river in Raigad district, be stopped. A division bench of Justices D D Sinha and V K Tahilramani was hearing a petition by four activists, including Mayank Gandhi, a coordinator of India Against Corruption , which said there had been large-scale corruption in the construction of dams in Maharashtra.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation recalls vaccine batch after baby dies MUMBAI: Civic officials are scrambling for answers after three-month-old Megha Devkari died on Thursday, hours after she was administered an oral polio vaccine and two injections for Hepatitis-B and DTP. The BMC conducted a health check on the eight children who, along with Megha , had been vaccinated from the same vial on Wednesday. Though all were found to be healthy, BMC has stopped usage of the batch. "The vaccines had a particular batch number.

Mumbai: The BMC has floated a Rs 121 crore proposal to buy flavoured milk for civic schools. To prevent any delays, the BMC plans to buy the milk directly from dairies rather than going through dealers in the market. The proposal is likely to be placed before the standing committee, which is scheduled to meet early this week.