Patna HC wants Ganga's original course restored

Restore Ganga's original course: Patna HC

High Court has ordered the Central and Bihar Governments to restore the Ganga's original course, which has shifted northward from Patna by about 2-3 km in the last two decades due to illegal sand mining. The Court has now ordered authorities to start dredging to 15 meters and work out a feasible plan to bring the river back to its original course.

MP Government eases sand mining laws while Gujarat becomes stern

In order to make the availability of construction material ingredients easy and cheap, the Madhya Pradesh Government has launched its first sand mining policy. The new policy has done away with the mandatory provisions of environment clearance and has removed the limitation of absence of mine if another mine is present in the radius of 10 kms. While the Madhya Pradesh Government has eased its sand mining policy, the Gujarat Government has amended its sand mining laws and made them stricter.

Maharashtra PCB pulls ups 17 sugar firms, distilleries for flouting norms

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has forfeited a bank guarantee of Rs 85 lakh of 17 sugar factories, distillery units and a power generation plant for violating environmental norms. The industries are located in the Panchganga and Warna river basins. According to MPCB, the effluent treatment plants installed in these industries were not working, and neither of the industries were following the Centre's norms for Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Protection.

Mumbai civic body proposes to supply water to all city slums

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has proposed supplying water to all the slums in the city in order to avoid water theft that is costing a heavy exchequer. The civic body is planning to provide authorised water connections even to unauthorised slums and those that came up after 2000. However, in a bid to receive water from the BMC, slum dwelers will have to provide to authorities proof of residence such as ration card and Aadhaar card.

Authorities identify 850 cases of Falgu encroachment in Gaya

Following orders from the Patna High Court, the Gaya District Administration has identified 850 cases of permanent encroachment of the Falgu river. These have been noticed after the social organization, Pratignya, filed a petition. The chairman of Pratignya also organises Falgu 'mahaaarti'on a regular basis to draw authorities' attention towards the sacred river's twin problems of indiscriminate encroachments and pollution. 

This is a roundup of important policy matters from March 3 - 8, 2015. Also read last week's news updates.