Chandigarh: Consumers in Punjab will have to shell out more than the Rs 7.50 per litre hike in petrol prices. Because of the high taxes imposed by Punjab on petrol, it will now cost Rs 8.19 per litre more. With the hike, petrol in Punjab will be the second most expensive in the country after Karnataka. It will now cost Rs 80.65 per litre as compared to Rs 81.07 per litre in Bangalaore. This is because the state government imposes heavy taxes on petrol, that is almost 31.25 per cent of the petrol cost.

Fazilka: The sarpanch of Harnam Chand village is a man shattered. He and his six brothers own 50 acres of land in Shajrana village which has turned barren. Reduced to penury, the family has been forced to take land on contract to earn a livelihood. There was time when the family would cultivate cotton on their land and earn more than Rs 6,000 per acre, producing over 30 monds of cotton per acre.

Patiala: The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has sealed a paper mill for violating pollution control norms. The power connection of the mill has also been disconnected. Highly placed sources said on specific information a PPCB team conducted a raid at the DSG Paper Mills Private Limited, located on the Main Road, Patiala, some 10 days ago. “In view of the violations, the mill was sealed a couple of days back,” said the board authorities.

India today denied that China had diverted any water from the mighty river Brahmaputra while asserting that it was keeping a close watch on Chinese activities so as to protect national interest. "Various agencies of the government, including the NTRO and the National Remote Sensing Centre, are keeping a continuous watch and alertness over the tributaries on the Chinese side,’’ Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told agitated members in the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.

National panel needed to save Ganga: Govt. The Government is working on a mechanism to monitor the discharge of domestic and industrial effluents into the Ganges and punish defaulters and will soon come to the Parliament to share the plan. This information was given to the Lok Sabha on Thursday when, while replying to an emotive debate on the fate of the sacred river, Environment Minister Jayanti Natarajan said India needed a "National Commission to Prevent Atrocities against the Ganges".

Govt marks another survey as consultants doubt feasibility of project. Jammu will not be supplied drinking water from the Chenab till 2025, as the government has decided to conduct another survey of the project, after consultants expressed doubts about its success. Sources said fears have been raised over the feasibility of the project after a study was conducted in 2009-10 in a bid to end the water crisis in Jammu and its surrounding districts. The project aimed at lifting 100 cusecs of water from the river to meet the future needs of the city.

Chandigarh: Aimed at creating awarness about environmental issues, the first-of-its kind Environment Training Institute at Gurgaon has proved to be non-starter due to resource crunch the Haryana Government. Proposed to be set up during the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12), the institute could not be set up “due to lack of funds”, official sources said. A budget of Rs 2 lakh for environment awareness programmes in the 2011-12 budget had been released for the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), Panchkula.

In a move to address the lack of strategic roads abutting the India-China frontier, India will bring in a legal provision to do away with self-created hurdles which are holding back progress on the much-needed roads used for movement of troops and equipment. Even as India struggles to construct roads along the India-China frontier, such desolate places in eastern Ladakh have been designated as wildlife reserves.

Cutting cross party lines, Congress, SAD and BJP MPs have welcomed the TAPI project that will provide a major boost to power plants and other gas-based ancillary units in the state. Minister Petroleum S Jaipal Reddy is slated to visit Turkmenistan next week to sign a sale and purchase agreement. Sukhbir Badal, Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, who was in Delhi today, said: “The TAPI project will revolutionise Punjab. It will help in industrialisation.” Punjab is already on the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) pipeline grid.

The Punjab Government has fixed a target to generate 1,000 MW through non-conventional energy resources. This was decided at a high-level meeting presided over by Renewal Energy and Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia. Reviewing the status of ongoing non-conventional energy programmes in the state, Majithia said the Punjab Government had introduced special incentives for such programmes under NRSC (New and Renewal Source of Energy) scheme 2012 so that the investors could invest in these projects in a big way.