Political

Chidambaram is the taluk headquarters, located at about 250 km south of Chennai on east coast road [ECR] in Cuddalore district of Tamilnadu. It is a coastal taluk having three panchayat unions, Keerapalayam, Melbhuvanagiri and Portonovo. Chidambaram is the most important pilgrim center of the country, and is blessed with the Lord Nataraja temple. The temple town is also known as Bhuloka Kailash and Lord Nataraja, a cosmic dancer, represent the ‘Aakash’ form which is one among the ‘Pancha Boothas’. 

Though this temple town is blessed with such historically important temple, the Nature has cursed Chidambaram area with brackish water, which is also one among the ‘Pancha Boothas’. The total aerial extent of this taluk is 649 square km and the most part of the taluk is confined between the rivers Vellar and Kollidam, which is a distributary of the river Cauvery. Some few lakhs years back the Kollidam river might have flown even north of Chidambaram town and might have receeded subsequently southwards to the present position. Due to this invasion, the entire area might have been changed as marshy lands and mangrove forests. The salinity of ground water may be attributable to the fluvio marine origin sediments, which might have been deposited during this paleo invasion by the river and due to the back water flow. Chidambaram is about 15 km west of sea shore and the mean sea level is 5.1 metres. Geologically this taluk is a sedimentary terrain and the eastern parts are covered by the quaternary unconsolidated formations of clay, black clay, soils, alluvium, silts, kankar and laterites of recent to sub recent age and the western parts by the tertiary formations of Mio-Pliocene age represented by litho units - sand stones, grits, clays with lignite seams and pebble beds.

A map of the affected areas can be seen at this URL

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/(db900SID)/LPAA-7WKB6S/picture/0.84?OpenElement&FieldElemFormat=gif

and is also attached to this blog entry

The below is a brief summary of the events:

OVERALL SITUATION

Heavy rains due to depression in the Bay of Bengal and low pressure from the Arabian Sea from Sep tember 29 to October 2 have caused flash floods in north Karnataka and the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, affecting nearly two million people and claiming 210 lives. In Karnataka, 15 districts are affected and 161 people have nearly tw millionperished. In Andhra Pradesh, five districts were hit by the flash flood and 49 people have lost their lives. However, of the two million, 1.4 million people affected are from Andhra Pradesh.

Oxfam India has sent teams to survey and gauge the situation in flood affected areas. They point out that as these are mostly arid areas, they are particularly ill-prepared to deal with floods.

Read the full article here:  http://bit.ly/OME0a

The TERI Corporate Awards for Environmental Excellence is an Award given in recognition of corporate leadership efforts towards environmental management and sustainable initiatives. The objective is to encourage and provide momentum to innovative environmental initiatives. This year the award was given to National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC)in recognition for its contribution towards the environment. But a number of persons and organisations, including Senior Supreme Court lawyer Shri Prashant Bhushan (Ph: 09811164068) and a detailed study by South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP) a letter objecting the award to NHPC was sent to the jury of TERI.

Image & Content Courtesy: ENVIS

The ENVIS Centre in the KSCSTE is preparing a database on environmental experts of Kerala. The primary goal of the Expert Database is to provide access to environmental expert information in order to help stakeholders solve environmental problems and participate in environmental issues. A secondary goal is to promote cross-sector networking and information exchange between environmental experts from other states.

To develop the Expert Database, Environmentalists who are from Kerala are requested to fill & Submit the form given below and/or forward the form to others.

Click here to fill online form.

Roundup of news - October 7, 2009

The Andhra Pradesh Government on Tuesday assured people that the flood threat, now mostly centered around the Prakasham barrage in Krishna district and Vijayawada, will improve in the next 24 hours.

CWC official pointed at neglect by the Andhra Government of repeated recommendation for flooding of Kurnool town:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5094923.cms

After months of playing hide and go seek, the world's biggest polluter finally got working to shape up their act with the Clea

News updates from various media sources about the floods. You can also find up-to-date news updates on India Water Portal's news feed:

https://www.indiawaterportal.org/news

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Mumbai Mirror:

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=3&contentid=20091005200910050347421404a8e72fe

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=3&contentid=2009100620091006031259984ba7a4bb6

WQIN is a collaborative community for the purpose of exchanging Water Quality Knowledge.

Image & Content Courtesy: Ministry Of Environment & Forests (MoEF) Government Of India

The challenge of environmental management and regulation is immense in a country as large and diverse as India. Over the years, legislation has evolved. With the enactment of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, the various rules and notifications, and the National Environment Policy 2006, a credible legislative and policy base has been created. But there are gaps in the institutional mechanisms and implementation has not kept pace with the legislative and policy evolution.

To over come this problem Ministry Of Environment & Forests (MoEF) Government Of India, has put forward few plans to set up a National Environment Protection Authority (NEPA), which will be responsible for the creation of new policies, implementation of regulations and dispensation of justice in the environmental domain in India.

Ministry Of Environment & Forests (MoEF) Government Of India, has invited comments from the States, civil society, and other stakeholders regarding the design of an appropriate institutional structure for best addressing the growing environmental challenges.