Weekly Green News Update for Week 32 (Aug 3 to 9), 2015
Weekly green news roundup from across different media networks for week 32 (between Aug 3 to 9) 2015.
1. Delhi among 100 dirtiest municipalities
It may be the nation’s capital but Delhi is so filthy that it ranks among the bottom 100 in a list of 476 municipal areas of India assessed for cleanliness.
2. Research raises concerns about CNG exhaust gases
Compressed natural gas was pitched as a silver bullet for Delhi’s air pollution problem, but new research suggests exhaust emissions of CNG vehicles may also be harmful.
3. Your second car to cost more?
The Delhi government has submitted to National Green Tribunal on Friday that there is a proposal to increase registration fee of the second or third vehicle purchased by an individual.
4. DJB to use solar energy to power its installations
Taking a step towards reducing its expenditure on electricity, the Delhi Jal Board on Sunday announced that it was considering solar energy as an alternate source of power for running its installations.
5. NGT to govt: What will be the state of roads if you add 10,000 buses?
While criticising the Delhi government’s proposal to introduce 10,000 DTC buses in the city, the National Green Tribunal said Delhi was adding thousands of cars every day and that it takes an hour to travel 10 km.
6. Trees on this CR Park stretch are falling
If any evidence of the pathetic state of trees in Delhi was needed, here it is.
7. New microbe may help remove pollutants and clean up Yamuna
The microbe, which according to experts was successful in removing 96% of contaminants from river water samples in which it was tested, can be immensely useful in cleaning up Delhi’s lifeline Yamuna.
8. Will make Yamuna bank like Sabarmati front: Uma Bharti
Even as they exchange jibes and letters over a series of endless tiffs, the Centre and Delhi government seem to be on the same page on one issue — the quest for a cleaner Yamuna.
9. New species of spider found in Delhi sanctuary
A new species of spider has been discovered from Delhi’s Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.
10. TOI Green Drive launched by Governor Najeeb Jung
The TOI Green Drive was launched on Tuesday by lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung at Sanjay Lake in east Delhi.
11. Service stations under NGT lens
As streams of hazardous chemicals and lubricants from service stations that have mushroomed across Delhi finally flow into Yamuna, the National Green Tribunal has sought to know if these stations have sources to deal with pollutants like oil and grease.
12. Sewer charges to hit Delhi hard
The failure of the Sheila Dikshit government to provide sewer connections to each household is going to prove costly for Delhiites.
13. NDMC seeks 2 sites for waste management
With landfill sites filled to capacity, but waste generation increasing daily, municipal agencies are urgently demanding more land.
14. Delhi awaits its first-ever tree census
Ever wondered how many and what types of trees Delhi has? Or how healthy they are?
15. HC raps govt for no details of trees supplied to crematoriums
The Delhi High Court today rapped the city government for the failure of its forest department to give details of the amount of wood consumed in crematoriums in the national capital and the number of trees that have been cut which were then supplied to them.
16. Concrete choking trees even two years after NGT order
In April 2013, the National Green Tribunal directed authorities to remove concrete from within 1.25m radius of the base of every tree in the capital.
17. AAP govt prefers bus depot over Yamuna revival
The Aam Aadmi Party government has planned to legitimise an illegal depot with 1,000 state-run buses currently eating into and polluting 60 acres of ecologically-fragile Yamuna riverbed.
18. Toxic air choked 35,000 to death in 10 years: Ministry
Union environment ministry, which generally avoids sharing details of air pollution-linked deaths, made an exception on Thursday when it said in Parliament that more than 35,000 people had died due to acute respiratory infections across India in close to 10 years.
19. Naming Indian lions may help attract world’s attention to their condition
On the eve of World Lion Day (August 10), it’s fitting to remember Elsa, the Kenyan lioness who was Born Free, famously adopted by Joy and George Adamson, and reared and coached by them to go back into the wild.
Central Pollution Control Board has been keeping a vigilant eye on Industrial Units polluting river Ganga. CPCB, under the Pollution Inventorization Assessment and Surveillance Project (PIAS), has inventorised 764 Grossly Polluting Industries along the main stem of River Ganga.
21. Intel working with government on pilot project for Clean Ganga initiative
Global chipmaker Intel is working with the government on a pilot project for using sensors to collect information as part of the Clean Ganga initiative.
22. New STP will stop Yamuna pollution, DTCP to NGT
The additional chief secretary of the department of town and country planning on July 28, notified the National Green Tribunal about the construction of a 175 million litres per day-sewage treatment plant on a 53-acre plot, tenders for which have already been floated by HUDA.
23. Government notifies 162 areas with declining groundwater levels
The Central Ground Water Authority has notified 162 areas across the country where groundwater withdrawal is more than annual replenishment, leading to decline in groundwater levels.
24. Elephants restricted to half of Karnataka’s Western Ghats
The presence of elephants has shrunk to less than half of the forests in Karnataka’s Western Ghats due to anthropogenic factors, a recent study shows.
25. Govt notifies sanctuary for flamingos along Thane creek
Mumbai, one of the few cities in the country to boast of a national park, will now be home to a wetland sanctuary as well.
26. Rare Siberian crane found in Nimta
A rare Siberian crane, believed to have accidentally migrated to north Kolkata, was rescued from a club ground at Nimta on Friday afternoon.
27. Rajasthan spanner in proposed Gir lion relocation to MP
The proposed shifting of Asiatic lions from Gir to a protected zone in Madhya Pradesh has run into fresh hurdles with the Rajasthan government contending that it could lead to conflict with tigers.
28. Speed of glacier retreat worldwide ‘historically unprecedented’, says report
The world’s glaciers are in retreat. The great tongues of ice high in the Himalayas, the Andes, the Alps and the Rockies are going back uphill at ever greater speeds, according to new research.
29. As oceans get warmer, fish are diving deeper
As sea surface temperatures rise, fish are being driven deeper into the water to escape the heat, says a new study.
