KOLKATA, 7 FEB: Although Tata Motors Limited (TML) and the vendors are similarly placed, the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act discriminates between the two, counsel of the vendors at TML's Singur site, Mr SK Kapur, submitted before the Division Bench of Mr Justice Pinaki Ghosh and Mr Justice Mrinalkanti Choudhury of Calcutta High Court today.

New Delhi India’s forest cover has shrunk marginally, says the latest government report. The reduction of 367 sq km (about the size of the Ranthambore National Park) means that the total forested land in the country is 23.81% of the geographical area.

The reduction implies the ministry of environment and forests will be even more uncomfortable with industrial projects in green areas. The ‘India State of Forest Report, 2011’ shows that while 12 states registered a fall in forest and tree cover, 15 states — led by Punjab – showed an increase.

Work on the survey of land at Gorakhpur village — the site for Haryana’s first nuclear power plant — came to a halt on Monday after irate villagers held three engineers of a private company hostage for five hours. According to sources, the engineers of DBM Geo-Technology and Construction Company, working for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, had gone to the village without taking the local administration into confidence. For the last six days, they had been collecting soil and water samples. Farmers are not ready to part with their land for the project.

SHILLONG: A joint investigation committee (JIC) comprising State Chief Conservator of Forest and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest from the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment, Regional Office has been constituted to relook into the alleged random exploitation of forest land by the cement industries in Jaintia Hills district.

The constitution of the JIC came even after the State constituted high level committee’s (HLC) findings submitted in November 2011 acknowledged that the cement industries have intruded into the forest land.

The Supreme Court has directed the Bangalore City Cooperative Housing Society Ltd to return the vacant portion of the land it had acquired years ago to its rightful owners, holding that the land acquisition procedure by the state government was “illegal.”

A Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly dismissed the society’s appeal against judgments by the Karnataka High Court in the case.

It is another Greater Noida project gone wrong, as the Uttar Pradesh government is in the middle of a new land deal controversy, and coming just ahead of the assembly polls in the state.

The latest controversy is about the Union environment ministry asking the state government and private builder Ansal API to stop work at the 2,400-acre ‘wetland’ area at Dadri in Greater Noida. This land was sold by the UP government to Ansals for a housing project. The ministry had earlier slammed the UP government for polluting the Ami river.

All large residential, commercial and retail projects, projects involving redevelopment of slums, cessed or dilapidated building and public infrastructure projects that fall within the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) will henceforth be required to go through a detailed public hearing in order to get a CRZ clearance.

Bhushan Steel has put its proposed Rs 20,000-crore steel plant project in West Bengal on hold, stonewalled by the Mamata Banerjee government's policy of not acquiring land for the industry, a senior company official said. “Land acquisition in the state is an uphill task for industries, we cannot do it alone. It is difficult for us to acquire such a vast area on our own,” the company director (finance) Mr Nittin Johari said.

AGARTALA:The proposed up-gradation of Agartala airport to an international airstrip has run into rough weather with the dispute over land acquisition for expansion of the runway and other mandatory infrastructure.

Officials here on Saturday said that the state government had been demanding an international airport for the past two years but the Airport Authority of India(AAI) sought land as the state’s contribution.

After a nine-month survey and demarcation of mining areas in three mineral-rich districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur; the Supreme Court-constituted Central Empowered Committee (CEC) investigating illegal mining in the state, is likely to submit its final report to the apex court on Monday.

The final report is believed to contain significant recommendations that would decide the future of once-powerful iron ore mining lobby in the state. One of the most important suggestions is auctioning of mining leases that had been recommended for cancellation by CEC for illegalities.