NEW DELHI, Feb 7 – The eight States of the Northeastern region (NER) have witnessed loss of green cover to the extent of 549 square km. Assam has lost 19 square km of forest cover. Painting a dismal picture of the forest cover in the North East, the India State of Forest Report 2011 released on Tuesday by Union Environment and Forest Secretary Dr P Chatterjee said the main reasons for the decrease is attributed to the biotic pressure and shifting cultivation in the region.

Gangtok, Feb. 3: The Sikkim forest department will receive Rs 13.12 crore from a Japanese government agency to rebuild the infrastructure damaged in last year’s earthquake. The amount has been sanctioned by the Japanese International Co-operation Agency that is funding a project to ensure alternative livelihood for people living on forest fringes in Sikkim. The release of the amount was announced by JICA representative Vineet Sarin during a review of the Sikkim Biodiversity Conservation and Forest Management Project (SBFP) here today.

KOLKATA, 3 FEB: The state government will give compensation to the tea garden workers, whose property and buildings have been damaged by elephants. State forest minister Hiten Burman said this after a meeting with several tea gardens' associations today. The state government and tea garden owners will jointly pay the compensation to the labourers.

Gangtok, Jan. 31: Seven government buildings, including the Raj Bhavan and the Sikkim Assembly, will be powered by solar energy from April this year.
The project to install solar lights will be implemented under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission of the ministry of new and renewable energy.
Officials said the Raj Bhavan and the Assembly would draw a daily solar power of 30KW and 20KW respectively.

GUWAHATI: Union Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal on Wednesday said though the Central Government has no role to play in water related issues concerning the states as water is a state subject, it has been acting as a catalyst in ironing out the differences.

Attending the sixth High Powered Review Board Meeting of Brahmaputra Board here, Bansal called for a holistic approach towards integrated development of water resources and management of ground water systems.

The Centre has sanctioned Rs 70 crore for the phase-wise renovation of NH31A at a time the Sikkim government has expressed its displeasure over the tardy pace of repair of the highway by the Border Roads Organisation. The national highway is the only road link between the Himalayan state and the rest of the country. The BRO said as much as Rs 51 crore would be spent to convert a 10km stretch from near Kali Jhora to a spot close to Lohapool under Kalimpong subdivision into a two-lane road.

Jalpaiguri, Jan. 16: The Centre has released nearly Rs 13 crore for the construction of spurs on the Teesta a few kilometres from here, where the river changed its course last monsoon and threatened to flood Jalpaiguri town. River expert Kalyan Rudra has termed the measure temporary and suggested that dredging could be an option. Subdivisional engineer of the irrigation department Keshab Roy said the Teesta had broken its bank at Gourikone last year and veered to the right, 5km off course towards Rangdhamalirhat, a densely populated area.

Calling for urgent measures to provide sanitation facility across the country, Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has pointed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that in addition to malnutrition another distressing national shame which India can't live with is open defecation.

It is a known fact that Meghalaya faces perennial shortage of milk. But now official reports have confirmed a worse fear — there is rampant adulteration in this vital drink in the State.

In its first-ever national survey on milk adulteration, the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) found that of the total 1,791 samples tested throughout the country including Meghalaya, at least over 68 per cent i.e. 1,226 samples were either diluted with water or mixed with harmful detergent.