LUCKNOW: Ganga has been chosen as abode for the young ghariyals this year too. The Kukrail Rehabilitation Centre will release 150 ghariyals in Hastinapur sanctuary along the Ganga. The first lot of 75 ghariyals was released towards the start of the month, while the second lot will be released by the end of December. The forest department releases the artificially-reared young ghariyals, every winter, in the wild. As part of the routine exercise, young reptiles will be released in the Hastinapur sanctuary of Meerut division which exists along the Ganga, this year.

More than 2,500 raids by the forest department and over 100 FIRs have failed to dampen the spirits of the unauthorised saw mills, which mushrooming virtually in every nook and corner of the state.
As per the official assessment for the year 2011-12, till October 2011, forest department had conducted 2,587 raids against illegal saw mills and veneer/plywood units, lodged 116 FIRs, and 403 complaints. It also sealed 502 saw mills and dismantled another 235 mills, and closed down 59 veneer/plywood units.

The Urban Development Ministry has given in-principle approval to three Regional Rapid Transit System corridors which will vastly improve Delhi's connectivity with Alwar, Panipat and Meerut.

The Urban Development Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, “approved in-principle the concept proposal of implementing Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) in three important corridors in the NCR,” a press release said.

The corridors for which the approval has been given are Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar, Delhi-Sonepat-Panipat and Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut, the press release said.

High-speed connectivity between the regional centres of the National Capital Region will soon become reality, with Minister of Urban Development Kamal Nath giving in-principle approval to the concept proposal of implementing the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) along three important corridors.
The RRTS will come along the Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar, Delhi-Sonepat-Panipat and Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridors. According to Urban Development officials, work on the corridors will start by early next year, and is likely to be wrapped up by 2016. The RRTS is a rail-based transit system.

The government today said it has approved building over 1,000 kilometre of expressways under its flagship road building programme NHDP, entailing an investment of Rs 16,680 crore.

The projects include 400 km long Vadodara-Mumbai, 66 km long Delhi-Meerut, 334 km long Bangalore-Chennai, and 277 km Kolkata-Dhanbad expressways.

India’s densely populated cities with poorly designed buildings makes 68 per cent of our urban population vulnerable to earthquakes.
“There are 344 towns which fall in the Zone 5 category (high risk category) making them amongst the most damage prone cities in the planet,” pointed out Shashidhar Reddy, vice-chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority.

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh felt low-intensity tremors after an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale jolted north India at around 6.15 pm on Sunday. No causality was reported in the state till reports last came in. The epicentre of the earthquake was in Sikkim.

Unconfirmed reports said the earthquake measured 3.2 on the Richter scale in north India.

LUCKNOW: The Sunday earthquake, which jolted almost the entire north India, has once again raised questions on the safety aspect of the city's multi-storied buildings.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research is working on a scheme to increase agricultural productivity by providing exact information to farmers on the type of crops they should grow, fertiliser and water requirements through the use of GPS technology.

Under the project, ICAR has collected global positioning system (GPS)-based soil samples across the country on the nutrient status and acidic reaction of soil in agri-regions to build a database on the appropriate farming methods to be employed for maximum productivity.

The country’s premier agri-research body ICAR is working on a scheme to increase agricultural productivity by providing exact information to farmers on the type of crops they should grow, fertiliser and water requirements through the use of GPS technology.