The Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced Thursday that central government-funded expenditures on energy savings and emission reductions as well as on renewable energies development will total 97.9 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) this year, up 25.1 billion yuan from 2011.

The government's accumulative "green" investment will hit 170 billion yuan in 2012, the MOF said.

Meanwhile, the central government has budgeted 25.5 billion yuan in subsidies for expanding the consumption of energy-saving household electrical appliances this year, according to the MOF.

LUCKNOW: Faced with a host of complaints pertaining to drainage and sewerage works executed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the Lucknow Municipal Corporation on Monday decided to get the works examined by a technical agency. Municipal commissioner NP Singh said that if possible the works will be examined under the technical guidance of experts from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K).

The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined a dyeing factory and a housing project in Narayanganj and Savar a total of Tk 37 lakh for violating environmental laws.

The dyeing factory Chaiti Composite Ltd in Sonargaon of Narayanganj was fined Tk 22 lakh for polluting the environment and a DoE team fined Ahmed Karim, owner of Nofel Digital City in Savar, Tk 15 for lakh grabbing public land at Senwalia in the upazila, said a press release.

Millions of Indians are facing a new health risk. Increasing water scarcity is forcing farmers to grow vegetables and fodder using untreated sewage waste water across urban and rural cities.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FAAI) has in the past issued several warnings on pesticide residues and crop contaminants, including aflatoxins, patulin and ochratoxin in Indian fruit and vegetables. These pesticides are known to adversely effect the nervous system and can result in lung damage and cancer

Pakistan is among the 17 countries of the world that may face severe shortage of water by 2025, therefore, reuse of wastewater after proper treatment will be the future option.

The green bench of the Lahore High Court directed Environment Protection Department and Water and Sanitation Agency to submit revised list of all the industries causing water pollution in the River Ravi by June 1.

Earlier Additional Secretary Environment submitted a list of industries mentioning 283 factories causing water pollution, while Wasa Director mentioned 520 factories in his report.

At this the court asked for revised and complete report having details of all the factories.

Despite efforts and “huge investments”, pollution level in Ganga and Yamuna continues to increase unabated, a Parliamentary panel on Friday said and slammed the environment ministry for only adopting an “engineering centric” approach to deal with the situation.

The standing committee on environment and forest in its latest report on demands for grants (2012-13) of the environment ministry said, “The quality of Ganga water is going down day by day.”

Consultants have submitted report to Pollution Control Committee

The Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC) will shortly take a decision on clearance for setting up a sewage treatment plant near ‘Kanaganeri' at Kadirgamam. The consultants — Green Chem Solutions Private Limited and Creative Environmental Consultants — appointed by Public Health Division of the Public Works Department have submitted a Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment (REIA) report to the PPCC.

The World Bank is lending the Philippines $275 million to tackle huge volumes of untreated sewage that threaten to swallow the capital Manila, the lender said Wednesday.
The loan would be reinvested by a government bank into Manila Water Co. and Maynilad Water Services projects to boost the two utilities' household wastewater collection and treatment systems, the World Bank said.