New policy to manage landfills in Delhi on the cards

Union environment ministry to come up with policy to manage landfill sites in Delhi

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change is holding consultations with stakeholders to come up with a policy to manage the landfills in and around the national capital. With over 14,000 tonnes of solid waste being produced every day, Delhi is unable to treat and dispose of its waste efficiently. Three of its four landfill sites are considered to be unscientific and are in the news constantly for all the wrong reasons.

Six drinking water supply schemes to come up under the Centre's Swajal project

Six pilot schemes will be launched soon for supplying clean drinking water to villages across six states under the Centre’s 'by the people, for the people, of the people' Swajal project. Locals are expected to be involved both in civil work and system maintenance. Villages in 115 backward districts in the country are expected to benefit from the scheme. 

Legislation to protect fisheries in J&K 

The Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council and the Assembly recently passed a legislation to conserve and develop fisheries in the state. The legislation which was in existence was over 114 years old and had to be updated to keep up with the times. The new legislation bans the use of explosives or poison lime to destroy or catch fish. Fishing in any trout water, reserved and protected waters is banned without a licence henceforth. 

?417.44 crore sanctioned for the execution of the Polavaram irrigation project

A grant-in-aid of ?417.44 crore has been awarded for the execution of the Polavaram irrigation project under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana’s Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme. The amount was released under the condition that the state government put a monitoring system in place to ensure all project milestones and outcomes are on schedule. Only 53 percent of the project has been completed till date.

NGT penalises Rajasthan government for allowing domestic sewage to be discharged into river Jojri

An environment compensation of ?10 lakh was imposed on the Rajasthan government for failing to control the discharge of domestic sewage into river Jojri in Jodhpur. The casual attitude of the state government angered the National Green Tribunal which came down heavily on the state for not ensuring the completion of sewage treatment plants in two locations. 

This is a roundup of important policy updates from February 6-12, 2018. Also, read the news this week.