Prashant Bhushan seeks CBI probe into financial irregularities Scrap power purchase agreement with State government Land acquisition orders served on 46 villages The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to reverse the stop-work order imposed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on the construction of the Maheshwar dam for “non-compliance” of various norms. The dam is being built by S. Kumars group in Madhya Pradesh. Addressing a joint...

The efficacy of implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the district is questionable. People of Dasmantpur block who were employed under the Act three to four years ago are yet to get their due payment. Sixty labourers of Kaliambo village under Dasmantpur block were engaged in a field channel work under the MGNREGA in 2008. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 8 lakh and...

A Parliamentary Standing Committee has directed the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to blacklist all non-performing contractors, holding them responsible for the twin malaise of delays and prevalence of corruption in execution of road projects. The committee on transport, tourism and culture headed by Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), did not rule out the possibility of a nexus among middlemen, bad contractors and corrupt officials for the delay in projects and...

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has asked the Orissa government to initiate action against a plant of the Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) in Angul for starting construction in the non-forest section of the project site even before being granted clearance for the forest section. This directive was issued on Monday after it was revealed that the Ministry withdrew its own show-cause notice against the company, citing a conveniently amended circular,...

The ministry will soon introduce a system to get a third party to conduct environmental assessments for projects in ecologically sensitive areas like wetlands or projects that involve multiple sectors, he said. "Frankly speaking, environmental impact assessment reports prepared for projects are bit of a joke. Under the system we have today, the person who is putting up the project prepares the report. Even reputed government institutions do cut and paste...