No major investment in dam projects before land acquisition, relief and rehabilitation sorted out Project should be cleared only after distribution network is provided For years, it has been felt that engineers of the Irrigation and Water Resources Departments are far removed from human considerations while planning and executing a project. This is why concerns at displacement and rehabilitation of project-affected people and farmers for whom the water is meant are not...

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal today said a Group of Ministers on Coal will meet within a week to try and iron out the vexed issue of "go" and 'no-go' areas in coal blocks. "The Group of Ministers will meet in the next three-four days or within a week to deliberate on issues like 'go' and 'no-go', among others," Jaiswal told reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham event here. Last year, the...

Enthused by the Centre's nod to Korean steel giant Posco's mega-steel plant, the Orissa government on Monday said it would soon resume land acquisition at the project site. At the same time, given its past experience with a reluctant environment ministry, the government said it will adopt a wait-and-watch approach on issues like mining and renewal of memorandum of understanding. ''We welcome the decision and thank the Union government and...

A recent newspaper report noted that the Union Government had gazetted the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 2011 and received strong criticism from organisations that work for protecting coastal ecosystems and fight for the rights and welfare of fisherfolk. About 20 organisations working in the field of protecting fishermen's rights and lawyers backing them have taken strong exception to the notification. This is on the ground that the new notification,...

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Orissa government to maintain status quo on acquisition of about 6,000 acres of land for the proposed Vedanta University in Puri city. A Bench of Justices D.K. Jain and H.L. Dattu, admitting a batch of appeals from the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the State government and others, said status quo on the nature, character and possession of land should be maintained. After hearing senior counsel...