AHMEDABAD: The recommendations for a cleaner and sustainable environment compiled at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad will be presented at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development called 'Rio +20,' which will be held in Rio de Janeiro in June. The recommendations at CEE have been developed by a team of around 80 children and youth from across the world at an event called 'Asia-Pacific UNEP TUNZA Children and Youth International Conference'.

The green cover in the state has declined by 554 sq km. This was revealed on Wednesday in the report of the Forest Survey of India. The forest cover (sanctuaries and protected area) recorded a nominal decline of just one sq km while the trees outside the forest area recorded a decrease of 553 sq km. Additional principal chief conservator of forest, social forestry, H S Singh, said, "The data released in the report 2011 is for the year 2008-09.

On eve of World Cancer Day on Friday, there were a number of young men who were battling for life in hospitals because they could not kick the addiction of tobacco.

In Ahmedabad as well as in Gujarat, spread of oral cancer is alarming. “Oral cancer accounts for 40 per cent cancers in men in the state. This is because of high addiction to gutkha,” said noted head and neck cancer surgeon of HCG Medisurge, Dr Kaustubh Patel.

AHMEDABAD: In an attempt to cut down on "soaring" electricity bills, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has decided to use green and energy-efficient techniques to reduce power consumption by almost 35 per cent. The AMC has decided to construct all its new projects as green buildings, convert its main energy consuming establishment to solar powered one and change all the city street lights from high pressure sodium vapour lamps to energy efficient LED lights.

Gandhinagar: Gujarat government may have to go in for major changes in the state’s land-related laws which are currently being applied for regularizing land titles – in case it wants to apply the new impact fee law, passed in the state assembly in September 2011 for legalizing illegal structures constructed on plots of land without necessary clearances. Top Sachivalaya sources said this is particularly crucial as of 15-lakh-odd illegal structures, which the law seeks to regularize, two-thirds are land related.

Ahmedabad: A conservation activist found 33 severed heads and legs of lesser flamingos in Gujarat’s Little Rann of Kutch. Bodies of the birds were missing though leading to the suspicion that they had been killed for meat. Flamingo is on the list of near-threatened birds.

State-run integrated energy company Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has asked Adani Gas, an Adani Group subsidiary, to source natural gas from some other sources, a GSPC official said today.

GSPC is the sole supplier of natural gas to Adani Gas, a city gas distributor (CGD), operating a network of around 57 CNG stations in Ahmedabad and Vadodara, besides having a PNG network for domestic supply here.

In a major crackdown, the vigilance team of Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) unearthed illegal discharge of hazardous effluents into Sabarmati and a nearby lake by certain textile processing firms in Narol-Piplaj industrial area.

Six units - Shraddha Processors, Geeta Processors, Vinod Denims, Harekrushna Fabrics, Blue Blend Denims and Mahak Processors - are facing a closure for this unscrupulous discharge. "These units will be closed for at least 15 days," GPCB member-secretary Hardik Shah told TOI.

AHMEDABAD: Here is another instance of a suspected cover up by the state health department.

If the figures given out by the directorate of national vectorborne disease control program (NVBDCP) are to be believed then there were just 14 malaria deaths in the state between January and October this year.

Bald Tyres, Dirty Interiors, Broken Glasses A Common Sight

Jaipur: The introduction of low-floor buses as an effort to get the public transport system streamlined, a couple of years ago, had been welcomed by all. However, now only 30% in the fleet of 280 low-floor buses plying on Jaipur roads are in perfect condition.