Groundwater in the entire areas has turned saline, say protesters

Residents of Neendakara and Ezhupunna in the northern tip of the district have joined hands to protest against the large-scale aquaculture farms in their region, which they say has not only brought paddy farming to a halt in the area, but also rendered the entire groundwater table there saline.

SALEPUR: There is just one tubewell in Budukunia village under Mahanga gram panchayat to cater to a population of 150 people. However, the tubewell discharges water with high iron content which is unfit for consumption. A long-standing demand for a tubewell has gone unheeded. Under these circumstances, people are forced to drink polluted water from natural water channels.

Contrary to its public posturing on the cow, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has swept under the carpet a scam in a Central scheme that saw hundreds of mortalities mainly because old cows were purchased. Kamdhenu Integrated Tribal Dairy Development Scheme, for which the Centre had provided Rs 54.09 crore between 2006 and 2009 to purchase cattle, failed in each of the 11 tribal districts where it was in operation. While a few better breed cows were bought from Haryana, most animals were purchased from cattle fairs in the state or were supplied by the state livestock corporation.

Rs.99.63 crore from the agency constitutes 85 per cent of approved projects

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has decided to sanction nearly Rs.100 crore to implement a special package for upgrading infrastructure in 11 endosulfan-hit panchayats in the district.

Advocating the setting up of a Trans-Himalayan Development Authority for the ecological maintenance and sustenance of the Himalayan eco system, Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said Himachal would become the first carbon-neutral state in the country by 2020 by undertaking “carbon smart growth”. He was speaking at the 12th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit organised by the Energy and Resource Institute on “Protecting the global commons: 20 years post-Rio” in New Delhi today.

Reopening the waste treatment plant at Villappilsala at the earliest, entrusting its running to competent agencies, and rescheduling door-to-door waste collection to the evenings. These are some of the proposals in a 10-point agenda chalked out by the State unit of the WWF- India to resolve the issue of solid waste management (SWM) in the city Corporation limits.

JEYPORE: Rural electrification works are in full swing in Jeypore block. Call it ignorance of the election Code of Conduct or a deliberate act, these works are somewhere aimed at fetching votes. Sources said Rajiv Gandhi Gramya Kutir Jyoti programme for BPL families in different villages under Jeypore block was allotted a year back but it could not materialise for unknown reasons. Now that the panchayat elections have come, the contractors are expediting the works by getting poles and conductors erected in Amabaguda and Dhanpur panchayats in Jeypore block.

A couple of cases of Hepatitis B were reported from Palamel near Mavelikkara and isolated cases from neighbouring places in the district recently, according to the District Medical Officer (in-charge), Jacob Varghese.

Mr. Varghese was speaking at a meeting to discuss the action plan for prevention and control of communicable diseases here on Wednesday. Later speaking to The Hindu he said that the real cause of the disease in the area has not been ascertained yet.

The traders of Chungathara in the district are leading the way in creating a clean and garbage-free village.

Aiming at total cleanliness, the traders, under the banner of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti (KVVES), secured the assistance of the Chungathara grama panchayat, the Total Sanitation and Health Mission (TSHM), the Mar Thoma College, and the National Service Scheme (NSS) unit of Mar Thoma Higher Secondary School in its effort to devise a cleanliness project titled ‘clean village, beautiful village.'

Bhubaneswar: A World Bank team on Monday praised the Odisha government for the overall progress in three of its projects being implemented with an estimated $404.8 million. However, it advised the government to speed up utilisation of funds.