NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has succeeded in getting the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agree to the state’s high-end infrastructure dreams of having a high-speed rail corridor and railway coach factory. Chandy was here on a day’s visit with a long itinerary which included meeting the Prime Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi.

KOCHI: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has cleared the Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore pipeline project. Though the MoEF has given the ‘go ahead’, the details are yet to be received, a top official with the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) said.“The implementation of the project is a joint effort involving different departments. Clearance by the MoEF is a primary step towards the realisation of the project,” Vandana Chanana, general manager, (corporate communication), GAIL, told Express.

KOCHI: The attempt of the Kochi Corporation to set up a bio-gas plants for decentralised treatment of biodegradable waste has failed to yield results despite spending Rs 61.61 lakh. This was owing to the lack of proper monitoring and timely remedial action.

The State Government has given the nod for installing garbage processing units based on modern technology in all the districts of the state. Local bodies will have to provide the necessary land and the full expenditure of installation of units will be borne by the State Government.

Briefing mediapersons on the cabinet decisions here on Thursday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that the government had succeeded in identifying four effective models for garbage treatment.

The second half of 2012 will prove critical for the Vizhinjam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) project. The three-season Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project will be completed in July.

Before the port can come up on the 110 hectares of land reclaimed from the sea, the EIA report has to be published and public hearings held. Next, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has to give its nod.

The Forest Department would enforce strict monitoring mechanism at Ponmudi Eco-Tourism counter to check the dumping of plastic waste and bottles at the tourism spot. As part of this, the department had introduced the collection of caution deposit at the checkpost to ensure that bottles are not left in the Ponmudi region.

The officials would collect Rs 50 for each bottle that would be carried by a tourist to Ponmudi which would be reimbursed on their return.

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed three weeks’ time to the Union Government to file its reply regarding the ban of endosulfan. The bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia ordered the government to file its reply within three weeks at the court proceedings which lasted only two minutes.

Mullaperiyar issue is not a conventional inter-state water dispute as visualised in Article 162 of the Constitution. As an extraordinary and ageing dam, the useful life period of which is clearly over, it poses questions of safety which precisely mean questions of survival for the people in at least four districts in Kerala. Safety of the dam is the need of Tamil Nadu as well, as only a sustaining dam can provide water to them.

KOCHI: The disaster management measures to be adopted in the district in case of a Mullaperiyar disaster will be decided based on the impact-assessment report being prepared by IIT Roorkee. A decision to this effect was taken at the District Development Council meeting held in Kochi on Saturday.

A high-level meeting of all the departments concerned will be held as soon as the report is ready. The university has already prepared such a report for Idukki.

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday held that the government of India should think of prohibiting the import, manufacture and use of asbestos to prevent health hazards. “Asbestos, including the fibre and its products, is banned in all developed countries as it is known to be hazardous to health and is one of the causes of lung cancer. So India should think of its prohibition,” the court said. The court also asked the Central Government and the Customs Commissioner to file a report in this regard.