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
Ecologist says sustained campaign to create awareness essential The proposed ban and boycott on plastic carry bags in the city can be a good idea, but requires proper groundwork and a sustained campaign to ensure its success, feels ecologist S. Faizi. Reacting to the concept mooted by political parties, proposing to implement the ban and boycott with government support, Mr. Faizi said the plastic ban issue was a complex one and to have it enforced overnight, though not impossible, would require preparations, including creation of awareness among the public and more importantly, ensuring availability of alternatives.
Improving and optimising human resources for health, infrastructure building, trauma care and prevention and management of lifestyle diseases are some of the thrust areas identified for the State’s health sector when the 12th Plan is implemented. There would be no scarcity of resources for health sector in the 12th Plan as there was a 322 per cent increase in the allocation for health over the 11th Plan. It was up to the State to ensure that its healthcare moved up a higher level and that the funds were utilised effectively, Principal Secretary (Health), Rajeev Sadanandan, said.
Chandy seeks a balance between development, eco-protection Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Friday that the government would enforce the restrictions on quarrying and on construction of buildings under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms. Replying to a submission moved by V.D. Satheesan in the Assembly, he stressed the need to strike a balance between development needs and environment protection.
Initially, 15,000 litres will be treated a day for which a cost effective technology has been developed. The State government has on Wednesday given in-principle approval to the district administration’s proposal to treat the water accumulated in abandoned stone quarries and distribute it as drinking water using the reverse osmosis technology. A meeting to discuss the proposal in detail will be held towards the end of this month, District Collector P.I. Sheikh Pareed told The Hindu after meeting Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash. Fund for the project has been sought from the drought relief fund.
The Kerala Assembly on Thursday adopted a substantive motion proposing that the Madhav Gadgil Committee report recommending measures for conservation of the Western Ghats should be implemented only after wider consultations, and with public participation. The impractical proposals in the expert panel report should not be approved. A practical approach incorporating the developmental needs of the people and localities should be adopted while taking measures for protection of the Western Ghats.
The Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation has installed nine public toilets for the exclusive use of women in the city. The new “she-toilets” have been installed at the Government Women’s College; the Women and Children Hospital, Thycaud; the Government Ayurveda College; the Veli tourist village; the Kaimanam polytechnic; the Sreekanteswaram temple, University College; the homoeopathy college, East Fort; and opposite the Hindu Prachara Sabha, Vazhuthacaud. They will start functioning by December-end, P. Kulsu, Chairperson of the corporation, said.
Refuse piles up by roadsides as government and Corporation slug it out On December 20, 2011, when the last truckloads of garbage from the capital city rolled into the solid waste treatment plant at Vilappilsala, not many in the city thought that the next day would be any different. Harsh reality dawned the next morning. The city could not longer ‘export’ its garbage. A year later, most of the high-rises in the city have their own solid-waste treatment systems, thousands of houses have a pipe-compost facility, five schools in the city have a biogas plant each, and even the headquarters of the city Corporation will have a biogas plant up and running in less than two weeks. That is the sunny side of the story.
Greens have again locked horns with the State Pollution Control Board here over the alleged pollution of Periyar waters. Environmentalists on Wednesday alleged that the board officials at the environment surveillance centre in Eloor failed to collect samples from near Edayar where discolouration of the river was reported on Tuesday. Purushan Eloor, spokesperson of the Periyar Malineekarana Virudha Samithi, said the board officials refused to collect the samples stating that there was only a patch of white discharge near the region close to Merchem company. We had alerted the board officials immediately after detecting the discolouration but they were late to reach the site, he said.
Biometric cards to be issued to fishermen in the area The government will not declare a ban on fishing in the area around the LNG terminal at Puthuvypeen as part of security measures, Minister for Fisheries K. Babu has said. Replying to a calling attention motion moved by S.Sharma in the Assembly on Tuesday, he said the Indian Navy had not sought a ban on fishing in the area around the terminal. “They have only asked the State government to take steps for proper surveillance,” he said.
Education Minister P.K. Abdu Rabb has said that Kerala was the ideal choice as location for energy conservation projects and for testing renewable energy sources, the use of which was on the increase in the State. Inaugurating an international conference on ‘Green Technologies’, organised jointly by the Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology; University of Dayton, USA; and the India chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Mr. Rabb said there was a need of increased focus, research and development on reducing greenhouse emissions. Newer technologies had to evolve and governments should pursue policies that stressed on low carbon emissions, he said.
