Centre has allocated Rs 3050 crore to drought-hit Maharashtra and Rs 2033 crore to Madhya Pradesh under the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). Overall, 18 out of the 29 states have been affected by the deficit monsoon in 2015. Other states that have already received relief assistance include Karnataka, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
The Uttarakhand Environment Protection Pollution Control Board has ordered industries, ashrams and hotels of Haridwar not to dispose sewage into the Ganga, and instead make arrange for their own sewage treatment plants (STPs) within one month. Also, hydropower project companies have been ordered to stop throwing muck and debris into the river and look for alternative dumping sights within three months. Additionally, the Centre has asked 10 IITs to adopt stretches of the Ganga and undertake cleaning plans.
The Kolhapur Administration has been forced to ban lifting of water for irrigation purposes from the Panchganga and Bhogavati rivers due to poor rainfall in the district for two consecutive years. The ban which is being implemented after 19 years, will force farmers to adopt water conservation measures and look for other sources of water. A ban has already been put on lifting of water from two other rivers, Chitri and Hiranyakeshi, last month.
The Gujarat government has decided to lay underground pipelines (UGPL) instead of gravity-based sub-minor canal networks for the command area development (CAD) of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Project. The decision is against the recommendations of an expert group according to whom the UGPL project demands excessive maintenance. However, the state government has already floated tenders for laying UGPL networks and has reasoned their decision to the unavailability of land.
The Regional Empowered Committee of the Environment Ministry has given an in-principle approval, with specific conditions, for the diversion of 13.39 hectares of forest land in Sakleshpur taluk of Karnataka for the Yettinahole project. The Committee has also asked the State Government to appoint a panel for monitoring compliance of the conditions. Along with this, the Committee has also asked that a strudy be conducted on the ecological impact of the project on the downstream ecosystems.
This is a roundup of important policy matters from December 28, 2015 - January 4, 2016. Also read last week's news roundup.
Lead image source: Pushkarv via Wikipedia.