Kelambakkam is a brackish backwater lagoon situated near Chennai. The backwaters are heaven for waders, gulls, terns, pelicans, painted storks and cormorants. Greater flamingos have been spotted here regularly. During migration season, a lot of waders such as (Eurasian curlew, whimbrel, lesser and greater sand plovers, terns (little/gull billed/Caspian/whiskered), gulls, redshanks, greenshanks, stints, black winged stilts, pied avocets etc., are seen here. Kelambakkam is around 30 kms from Chennai city, and was pretty much undisturbed – until recently. Industrial and … Read More
Ranthambore Canal Work Continues Despite Rejection by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL)
In a gross violation of Wildlife Protection Act and Forest Conservation Act, construction activity continues despite the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) ban earlier this year.
In a letter to Mr. M. K. Jiwrajka, Member Secretary, Central Empowered Committee (CEC), conservation biologist Dharmendra Khandal of Tiger Watch working in the area writes:
“You have already advised the Rajasthan state government for no construction activity in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (file no. 1-26/CEC/SC/2010-PC.XXXVIII, Dated: 8th March 2011). However, recently there is new construction … Read More
Land acquisition to resume for POSCO Project
The Orissa State government has said that land acquisition would resume for the POSCO steel project near Paradip in the Jagatsinghpur district. The land acquisition had been stopped in August 2010, when the MoEF had issued a stop work order based on the NC Saxena Committee report which said that Forest Rights Act had been violated in the acquisition. The MoEF has now given permission for diverting 1,253 hectares of forest land for the project. Of the 4,004 acres required … Read More
POSCO Gets Green Signal from MoEF
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has given a final clearance to POSCO, the 12 billion dollar integrated steel plant project. Union Minister Jairam Ramesh based his decision on the principles of Co-operative Federalism and thus reinforcing the concept of allowing states to choose their own paths for development and progress. Earlier, Mr. Ramesh had asked the Odisha (Orissa) government to look into the Village Council Resolutions which prohibited the diversion of forest land. The State had come back … Read More
Agriculture land close to BRT Tiger Reserve handed over for Industrial Purposes
The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) has handed over 410.44 acres of land to Bannari Amman Sugars. The land is said to be within 1 km radius of the BRT Tiger Reserve and also on a part of an Elephant Corridor. According to a Supreme Court order, non-forest activities cannot be taken up within 10 kms of a protected area (eco-sensitive zone). The forest department has made it clear that no work can be undertaken without an approval from … Read More
The Kudremukh Saga — A Triumph for Conservation
December 31st, 2005 was an environmentally historic day that went virtually unnoticed, even by most environmentalists. It was the day on which a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India took effect, bringing the curtain down on a mining operation that was causing havoc in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. The Supreme Court’s order was all the more remarkable because what was closed down was no two-bit operation but a massive, government-owned, export-oriented, profit making mining operation of the … Read More
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