Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a statutory body under the Union ministry of power, is planning to save 2,308 Mw of energy worth around Rs 11,540 crore during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) by mandating the labelling of electronic products. Of this, 400 Mw, worth Rs 2,000 crore, is expected to be saved from the air-conditioners segment.

The central government has already mandated four products – split air-conditioners, fluorescent lamps, transformers and frost-free refrigerators – under the energy efficiency star-labelling to reduce energy consumption, and identified 10 products on a voluntary basis.

AIZAWL, May 18 – The 4th Meeting of the Expert Consultative Committee held here on Saturday has called for the formulation of a separate textile policy for NE. The meeting was organised by the Indian Jute Industries Research Association (IJIRA) under the Ministry of Textiles. Zothankuma who is the Director of Industries chaired the meeting. Representatives from the states of Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura attended the event.

The discovery of over 100 bags of toxic solid waste buried in an agricultural land near Chennimalai has shocked the farming community and environmental activists.

A team of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board officials conducted a surprise check in a textile processing unit near Chennimalai following complaints from the public and found huge amount of solid waste generated in the unit had been buried deep in a nearby agricultural land. Officials found several bags of toxic, untreated solid waste buried in the land and excavated over 100 bags from the land.

Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has issued show-cause notices to three unauthorised dyeing units near Perur and action is to be taken on these units soon.

On the noise pollution reports, he pointed out that increasing urbanisation and rapid growth of industries had led to industries and houses coming up in the same area and noise level surveys were taken up based on specific complaints.

Says it would prefer basing its estimate on crop cutting method and not bale press method proposed by textiles ministry

The Union ministry of agriculture has rejected the draft Cotton Trade (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2012, proposed by the textile ministry for streamlining output estimates for the industry. The agri ministry says it would prefer to continue basing its estimate on what is termed the crop cutting method and not the bale press method as proposed by the textile ministry in its Bill.

No action taken to curb the menace, say farmers. The continuous dumping of untreated, toxic effluents by the textile processing units in the Bhavani river is now threatening to become an environment disaster harming the district's agricultural sector severely.

The absence of any serious action from the district administration and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has led to the establishment of hundreds of unauthorised textile processing units along the banks of Bhavani river and the water carrying channels in Bhavani and its surrounding areas.

The detention of a lorry carrying untreated effluents from a textile processing unit in Perundurai on Sunday has once again brought to light the lack of effective mechanism in the district to prevent the processing units from dumping their waste in the water sources.

In the preliminary inquiry, it was revealed that the vehicle was used to transport toxic effluents and dump them in the Cauvery River and other water sources.
It was said that many units in Perundurai and other parts of the district were continuing the practice of transporting the untreated effluents in tankers and discharging them in the water sources.

Committee to review demand-supply situation after three weeks to prevent abnormal rise in prices

The commerce ministry has decided to lift the ban on export of cotton and allow traders to apply afresh for registration. The ban was lifted barely hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was scheduled to chair a meeting on export of farm products, including cotton. However, the Prime Minister’s meeting was later postponed.