Burning cowdung cakes can be 10 times more harmful than burning wood in poorly ventilated kitchens, something that can damage the lungs, a study comparing the two widely used kitchen fuels has found. Women who spend many hours cooking food in poorly ventilated homes can develop chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), asthma, tuberculosis and lung cancer, says Dr Sundeep Salvi, director of Pune’s Chest Research Foundation. Exposure to biomass fuel smoke, he says, is a bigger risk factor for COPD than smoking.

Girish Sant, founder of NGO Prayas, a policy advocacy group in the power sector, died of a heart attack in a hotel in New Delhi on Thursday. He was 46.
Sant completed his BTech in chemical engineering from IIT-Bombay in 1986, followed by a Master’s degree in energy systems engineering in 1988. But instead of pursuing a corporate career like most other IIT graduates, `Bandya’, as he was known to friends, chose to become an analyst in public policy. Prayas was a think tank that contributed greatly to the debate on power sector policy.

The much touted 24x7 scheme for equal distribution of water in Pune seems to have slipped out of the political radar in the heat of the upcoming elections for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). As per the official website of the PMC, 650MlD of water is supplied to the city by the irrigation department. However, irregular and erratic supply of water has been a major concern for the Puneites. Water crisis is acute mostly in the newly developed fringe areas of the city like Vimannagar, Kalyaninagar and Kharadi.

The extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XXDR-TB) strain in 11 patients in the city has inadvertently highlighted the deplorable condition of hospitals treating the disease, giving them a new lease of life. The state government with help from the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has decided to pump in Rs80 lakh as initial assistance for upkeep and modernisation of these hospitals.

Pune Lavasa Corporation has said it will be filing a writ petition in the Bombay High Court to set aside the orders of the Pune court.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate N T Ghadge had ordered Lavasa Corporation and 15 others including promoters and directors to appear in the Pune court on January 30, 2012 to defend themselves in the criminal case filed by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for environment violations.

The future of biodiversity parks (BDPs) is in limbo, thanks to petty politics by parties, bureaucrats and those who will benefit from its constructions on the hills.
The environmentalists insist that no construction be allowed on these hills. However, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said he wants 4% construction on the hills. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) city chief, Vandana Chavan, joined the activists, but the party leadership favours 4% construction.

Acts of spitting in public places, which is one of biggest problems in tuberculosis (TB) control, continues unabated in the city. Lack of public awareness and poor monitoring by health agencies have led to the appalling condition. With the growing fear of contracting the extensively drug resistant (XXDR) form of TB, doctors want the civic body to step up efforts to carry out a massive public awareness campaign. After speaking with health officials of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) DNA found that implementation of the rule against spitting in public places was negligible.

Days after two tribals from Pune district filed a petition in the Bombay High Court challenging a government notification which empowers Lavasa Corp to act as a special planning authority, the company termed the move as “motivated and malafide”. The realty firm, constructing a hill city (called Lavasa) near Pune, said the tribals, residents of Mulshi taluka, have no locus to file the petition since they are not owners of land in the area where the project is coming up.

There is an institutional gap in rural areas, and thus it is difficult to implement the green rating for integrated habitat assessment (Griha) scheme in those areas, said Nobel prize laureate Rajendra Pachauri, who is also director of The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri). He was talking to media persons on Wednesday after a meeting with Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) members on environmental issues and eco-housing.