Monday Feature: Green News and Media Roundup for Week 04, 2012

Weekly environmental news roundup from across different media networks for week 04 (starting January 23) 2012.

1. The Aravalli policy lesson: Aravalli’s real problem may not be miners but a real estate boom

October this year will mark the 10-year anniversary of the Supreme Court banning mining in the Aravalli region in Haryana. It is an anniversary that will be greeted with decidedly mixed feelings among local villagers, but with fondness on the part of the many real estate speculators who have seen the value of their landholdings skyrocket in recent years.

2. MCD sitting on SC panel orders to seal biomedical waste incinerator

The biomedical waste incinerator in Okhla will be shut soon. The Supreme Court-constituted monitoring committee had issued sealing orders to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in October 2011 but the civic body has so far been sitting on it.

3. HC reprieve for 39 ‘polluting’ buildings

The Delhi high court has granted relief to 39 malls, commercial buildings and residential complexes that were fined by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee for causing air and water pollution.

4. Transporting Delhi to future

The transport revolution in Delhi began with the opening of an 8.5-km Metro corridor between Shahdara and Tis Hazari in December 2002. Then came the cherry and green-coloured low-floor buses in the government-run DTC fleet in 2008. And by giving an in-principle nod to the first monorail corridor in east Delhi, the Delhi government has taken a bigger leap forward.

5. Conservation – Green is our heritage

Across many colonies in Delhi that house some of the Capital’s very old trees, one can often spot isolated “crying” trees, ruined by human action. Some have their branches mercilessly chopped off, while a few of them are almost reduced to dead structures.

6. Hike taxes on diesel cars: Greens

The clamour for making diesel cars dearer is getting louder just ahead of the Budget, with environment lobbyists and sections of the government advocating higher taxes to compensate for the subsidy the fuel enjoys.

7. Vendanta to meet MoEF officials regarding Orissa refinery

Vedanta Aluminum plans to meet officials of the environment ministry “soon” to chalk out its strategy related to expansion of alumina refinery in Orissa, following rejection of its review petition by the Orissa high court last week.

8. Environment Ministry to take call on hydel project in Arunachal Pradesh soon

Amid protests from green activists, the Environment Ministry is expected to take a call shortly on a proposed mega hydel project across Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit river, which originates from China.

9. Power Ministry forwards 12th Plan capacity additional proposal to Planning Commission

The Ministry of Power is believed to have sent its proposal for addition of 76,000 MW of power capacity in the 12th Five-Year Plan to the Planning Commission, even as the sector battles acute fuel shortages and environmental issues.

10. Jayanthi Natarajan turns down proposal seeking Rs 1K crore under CAMPA

Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to review the spending of the funds of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). The move is an effort to ensure transparency in implementation of the compensatory afforestation and sustainable forestry programme.