Kalamassery municipality asked to ensure scientific treatment of refuse The State Level Monitoring Committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal has said that the Kalamassery municipality can
Local bodies reluctant to take stringent action against polluters Health activists have raised serious questions about the quality of water supplied to rural homes since many establishments, including those of official agencies, have been found to release, often clandestinely, their wastes into rivers and other water sources. Complaints are also rife that water supplied under rural water schemes is not properly treated and that contaminated water reaching rural households triggers water-borne diseases like jaundice. Large quantities of water from private sources are also supplied to hostels and lodges before treating it properly.
The budget proposal to aid local bodies in taking up waste-to-energy projects in public-private partnership mode is expected to improve urban waste management in Kochi and other cities. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had proposed “to support municipalities implementing waste-to-energy projects by offering viability gap funding, repayable grant and low-cost capital”.
Secretaries of all grama panchayats have been directed to tighten vigil against illegal sand-mining practices and enforce provisions of the laws related to protection of rivers and mining of river sand. The directive comes in response to complaints from the Chaliyar Agitation Committee that sand-miners often resorted to practices harmful to river, its fish, and other organisms. P.K.M. Chekku, secretary of the committee, had complained to the District Collector that river sand was being extracted from 30 to 40 ft deep into the river bed.
The Kozhikode Monorail Project is completely investment-oriented and not people-oriented, environmentalist A. Achuthan has said. Speaking at a discussion on ‘Monorail: expectations and apprehensions’ organised by the Citizen’s Voice here on Wednesday, he said all tall claims made about its viability and environment-friendly nature were an eyewash. Citing the project report by the Kerala Monorail Corporation which said that around 1.48 lakh people would use monorail each day in 2015-16, he said even Mumbai, which had a population of 1.19 crore was expecting only 1.25 lakh people to use monorail each day.
Indefinite relay satyagraha in front of panchayat office A joint action council of environmental activists and people of Kalanjur panchayat, near Pathanapuram, in the district began an indefinite relay Satyagraha in front of the panchayat office on Monday demanding immediate closure of three granite quarries and a manufactured sand plant (sand making plant) operating there. The quarries are at Kalliparamala, Inchapara and Rakshasanpara, and the sand plant is at Pothupara.
Mothers of endosulfan victims and other protesters blocked the National Highway near the new bus station here on Monday, intensifying an agitation demanding the implementation of a rehabilitation package
Indefinite relay satyagraha in front of panchayat office A joint action council of environmental activists and people of Kalanjur panchayat, near Pathanapuram, in the district began an indefinite relay
Even amid the hue and cry of environmentalists over the shrinking wetlands, an effort initiated by the Revenue Department to prepare a revised data bank of the actual area of wetlands in the district has reached nowhere. Though the updated list was expected to be completed by the end of 2012 in the district, many of the villages failed to furnish the latest records other than just forwarding the old records containing smooth figures.
Urban sewage, hospital waste, and pesticide residues are polluting kole lands, the ecologically fragile wetland ecosystems in Malappuram and Thrissur noted for the integrated farming of rice and fish. An expert committee appointed by the State government has found that sewage pollution from urban areas was being directly discharged into the main canals in the kole lands. This, it observed, often led to mass mortality of fish. Organic waste from urban areas, hospital waste, and pesticide residue from paddy fields were identified as other sources of pollution.
The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has decided not to grant environmental clearance to any proposals coming under the Ecologically Sensitive Zone-1 of the Western Ghats. The decision comes in the wake of a direction issued by the National Green Tribunal that the recommendations of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report should be considered while granting environmental clearance to projects in the ESZ-1 in the Western Ghats. ESZ-I areas are those which fall outside the boundaries of wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests but have been given the status of a protected area in the WGEEP report.
