“Mistakes are obviously committed while undertaking big projects and we are open to corrections,” said Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL) Chairman Ajit Gulabchand for the time first time on Friday since the controversy over the hill city started. However, he added that “these corrections should not make business impossible.” Mr. Gulabchand was speaking to the media after meeting a team of experts from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) which was...

Proposed asbestos project could lead to a ‘Turner & Newall' epidemic There is a spectre over the verdant fields of Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, hitherto suppressed by the clamour and euphoria of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's massive electoral mandate. Its cause is asbestos — the magic mineral, paradoxically known by its more sinister monikers of the “killer dust” and “the silent time-bomb.” In November last, the Kolkata-headquartered Balmukund Cement & Roofing Ltd. (BCRL) proposed...

Twenty-four hours ahead of the hearing in the Bombay High Court, the environment ministry has upheld its order asking Lavasa Corporation Limited to stop all work in its hill township project near Pune. Work at the 25,000-acre planned city was put on hold by a showcause order issued on November 25. The ministry had said that final order on the showcause will be issued by December 31, provided Lavasa “co-operated and...

NIIRA RADIA, the lobbyist at the heart of India’s audacious multi-billion telecom swindle, inaugurated a Krishna temple she funded in south Delhi on her birthday — that, interestingly, coincides with Indira Gandhi’s. Those present on the occasion said Radia prayed for long, presumably seeking divine intervention to wriggle out of the country’s biggest scandal. Before the temple visit, notices from the country’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax (IT) Department and the...

The Expert Appraisal Committee of the Union ministry of environment & forests will submit its report soon to the ministry on the Posco project after scrutinizing the Comprehensive Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted by the company. "The EAC would submit its report soon to the MOEF after scrutinizing the Comprehensive EIA submitted by Posco India. The EAC met yesterday for over three hours and there we reiterated our stand on issues...