NGT saw red, government plans to ease green norms for reality

Union environment ministry approved changes in Environment Impact Assessment to exempt realty projects below 50,000 square metres of built-up area from seeking prior environment clearance (EC).

New buildings or expansion projects less than 50,000 square meters would not require environment clearance.

None of the relaxations would cover coastal zones, forest area and protected area which would continue to be regulated under the respective Acts.

RIVER POLLUTION: NGT directs the state to act

The news all about the increased in polluted river stretches in the country, the national green tribunal(NGT) has directed all states and union territories to prepare action plans within two months,

also, they introduce what was happened like they had to failed to check pollution, and they have not been able to stop dumping of waste, discharge of effluents in rivers and water bodies.

BOMBAY HIGH COURT ORDERS TOTAL FREEZE ON MANGROVE DESTRUCTION

The news was published on 18th september, 2018 in THE INDIAN EXPRESS.
The bombay high court ordered a total freeze on the destruction of mangroves in the state.The court said that the destruction of mangroves across the state cannot be permitted for any use unless it is necessary for the public good. A 50m buffer zone should be created around mangrove land in which no constuction activity or dumping of debris should be allowed.The bench said that the developement plan in the future will be in consideration above judgement.The court further directed the state Government to constitute a committe for the preservation of mangroves in the state within aperiod of 1 month and this committee will be responsible for the preservations and restoration of mangrove and check violation and ensure that all the directions in the  judgement are implemented. The state will have to notify all private mangrove land as protected forest land within 18 months.

Alarm! A change for the best is neccessary for the planet.

The UN has called the crisis urgent and decried the lack of global leadership to address the issue of Global Warming. Secretary General, Antonio Gutteres, warned that the world is facing a " direct existential threat" and must rapidly reduce or stop usage of fossil fuel by 2020 to prevent "runaway climate change".

Renewable energy is the alternative for fossil fuels. It must be promoted to reduce the Social Cost of Carbon incurred by the nation of the world. Use of renewable energy will significantly and dramatically minimise and mitigate the backlash of damage done to the environment which led to the global temperature increase.

Alarm bells!

Science and Tourism grapples over coral reefs down under.

The portion of  The Great Barrier Reef near to Australia and New Zealand have been a local source of huge revenue in forms of Snorkeling and Scuba diving  protagonists. However, due to the man made rise in global temperature, the reefs have suffered damage. This lead to interventions by the local scientific community to cut off all tourist activities.

A  timely restriction has somehow resulted in the repair of the reef to a humble extent. But, the science folk says its too early to conclude and precaution must be on point for further mitigation, The constraint has affected almost 64000 jobs and has led to pandemonium onshore. The Aussies are divided in their opinion on the issue and are seeking refute over the conundrum.

Tourism vs Science

Greater Chennai corporation ,CREDAI sign a MoU to restore 10 waterbodies( 28 Sep 2018  -TOI)

The greater Chennai corporation and CREDAI Chennai have signed a memorandum of understanding for the restoration of 10 water bodies. CREDAI Chennai engaged EFI to carry out restoration work and it will be completed within 6 months. Under this initiative ,the floor of  lakes and ponds will be cleaned .They will be made accessible, the bunds will be strengthened ,fenced and trees will be planted around the water body.

The water bodies taken up includes Arraa kulam,, Ayyankulam ,Vairavan Kulam ,Mayttukuppam Ganga Nagar Pond ,Appaduraipillai street pond in valasarvakkam. Aalavancherry kulam,Mandapam Kuttai,Amara pond in perungudi ,Thalikulam and sarayakulam in Sholinganallur . The storm water drain department has taken up the restoration of these water bodies The city based NGO ,Chennai city coordinates the effort.

NOTES

EFI - Environmentalist Foundation of India

TN Pollution Control Boards refusal to renew consent for operating Sterlite copper plant.

Published in : FIRSTPOST
Dated : Sep 25, 2018

Vedanta being the parent company of sterlite told a panel which was constituted by the National Green Tribunal and headed by the Former Chief Justice of Meghalaya Highcourt that the TN pollution control board refused to renew the consent for operating its sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin. According to sources they said that it was operating against the law such as producing beyond the prescribed capacity, using second hand equipments, leakage of waste resources into the waterbodies and streams, emmission of harmful waste toxins causing lot of pollution. The plant didn't follow any ethics as they didn't gave any serious concern for their employees working there, no safety were there and due to that some fellow employees were killed by an accident which occured inside the plant. There were a lot of protests which demanded the closure of the plant. A public relation official of sterlite said that there were around 45,000 petitions in favour of re-opening the sterlite plant which was raised and submitted by villagers, contractors, workmen and vendors.He also said that such petitions were authenticated with supporting documents like Aadhar card.Moreover, MDMK chief Vaiko, one of the respondents in the NGT said the panel that "Sterlite is an environmental disaster". 

For further reference go through the link :

https://www.firstpost.com/india/tn-pollution-control-boards-refusal-to-renew-consent-for-operating-sterlite-copper-plant-bad-in-law-vedanta-tells-ngt-panel-5254471.html

The dam crisis

the govt decision to allocate an additional 34.66 billion to strengthen dams is a good step to protecting against any future hazard or dam failure.

the dam safety issue merits urgent attention because over 75% of the countries dams are over 25 years old with the majority of them exceeding their lifespan of 50:60 years.

the mullperiyar dam located in Kerala but owned by Tamilnadu is typical case in this point

Thiruvananthapuram corporation plans tie-up with cement factories

Thiruvananthapuram corporation plans tie-up with cement factories. 

The move is to explore possibilities for processing non-recyclable plastic waste generated in the city

A lasting solution for the problem of non -recyclable plastic waste in the city could be at hand if corporations plans for a tie-up with cement factories to process this waste materials workout.

As per the central pollution control board guidelines issued in 2017, cement factories are permitted to use such materials as fuel in furnaces.

Corporation to hold talks with Tirunelveli based company. And “since Tirunelveli is closer the corporation is expecting a low transportation cost”.

Environmental Ministry seeks better pollution management

This news was published in Business Standard on June 26 2018.

• The Union Environment Ministry held meeting with expert institution including ISRO to discuss satellite based measurement for improving Air Quality Information and Management ahead of the winters.
• During meeting experts discussed use of satellite based Aerosol Optical Depth data for estimating ground based PM 2.5 or particle with diameter less than 2.5 macrons.
• The monitoring aims at early warning system and dissemination protocol to inform public and enforcing agencies about episodic high polution events in advance.
• In November 2016-2017 the Air pollution levels  Delhi has crossed the level,compelling government to impose several restrictions on industrial and construction activities ,close down the schools and warn people to avoid outdoor activities including morning walk.
• They discussed assessment of air pollution mitigation technologies and implementing solutions found feasible on a pilot basis before the onset of winter.
• The idea explored of setting up system for certification of air quality emission monitoring instruments as calibration and certification could be done domestically.
• National Physical Laboratories will be the certification agency for air quality measurement instrument.Certification of PM 2.5 and PM 10 volume sampler will commence from' September 2018'.

Pollution regulator issues notices to Coal India for environmental non-compliance.

This article was published on 07-Sep-2018 in Economic Times. This news talks about the mismatch in the regulations prescribed by the authorities and what Coal India actually has. The pollution regulator issued a notice to Coal India in August for non-compliance of environmental norms. The notice says like the sludge treatment plant in one of the mines was found to be defective and moreover, the water sprinkling systems to keep the dust under control was inadequate. The Pollution Control Board also alleged that a coal fire was observed in one of the mines also the fire fighting measures were also found to be inadequate.

The pollution regulator for the central Indian state of Odisha issued notices to Coal Indiamines with a combined annual capacity of 20 million tonnes for non-compliance on environmental norms

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/65719783.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

The pollution regulator for the central Indian state of Odisha issued notices to Coal Indiamines with a combined annual capacity of 20 million tonnes for non-compliance on environmental norms

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/65719783.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

The pollution regulator for the central Indian state of Odisha issued notices to Coal Indiamines with a combined annual capacity of 20 million tonnes for non-compliance on environmental norms

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/65719783.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst