The data provided by the Gujarat Government on the availability of toilet facilities and drinking water at primary schools in rural areas is unreliable, claims the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). According to the CAG which had visited 300 primary schools to check the implementation of the Right to Education Act, 9% of the visited schools did not have separate toilets for boys and girls, toilets in 15% of the schools were unusable and 12% of the schools had no water. Also, water purifiers were not working in 53 schools while 105 schools did not even have water purifiers installed in their premises.
Central Coalfields Limited, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Power and Patratu Thermal Power Station are among the 200 industrial, mining and other units polluting the Ganga, as per the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB). The JSPCB has listed on its website the 200 units polluting Ganga, following the National Green Tribunal's order on October 29 that reprimanded the Central and State Pollution Control Boards for failing to take action against these units.
A study published in the journal Geophysics & Remote Sensing, has identified the presence of 300 hectares of mangrove forests in Karnataka. The patch spread over the three coastal districts i.e. Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada, has remained unrecorded in successive surveys by the Forest Survey of India (FSI). The reason behind FSI missing the mangroves is that they are not very large and that it had relied largely on ground truthing for data until recently.
The capital city of Tripura, Agartala, has received the clean and green city award by Skoch Foundation, a New Delhi-based urban policy and development experts group. The city has topped the list of 29 towns and cities owing to its green cover, cleanliness and solid waste management. Agartala has the oldest municipal body amongst the northeast states and more than 600 municipal workers have been employed by the Corporation to keep the city clean.
Cauvery Neeravari Nigam (CNN) has rejuvented more than 200 water bodies along the 980 km stretch of Arkavathi river. As part of the project worth Rs 22.43 crore, CNN has removed encroachments, desilted and constructed canals along the river. The project has also lead to converting 70% of the river course into agricultural land and layouts.
This is a weekly roundup of important news from November 10-17, 2014. Also read last week's policy matters updates.