Environment

Kolkata, Oct 29 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered a ban on the sale and use of all firecrackers during Diwali, Chhath Puja, and other festivities to check air pollution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A division bench comprising justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Aniruddha Roy directed the police to initiate legal action against anyone found violating the ban after having confiscated the crackers.

Kanpur: UP Govt has decided to set up war rooms to fight with air pollution menace in Kanpur and other cities.

The new infrastructure will be managed by the Road Dust Management. It will keep a check on various sources of pollution.

According to the reports, similar war rooms will also be set up in NCR districts to improve the overall air quality in UP.

The onset of winter only spells more trouble for the cities. The mercury dip along with high moisture content, the rise of smog and emission of greenhouse gases are factors that worsen the air quality.

New Delhi, Oct 26 (PTI) India ranks at the ninth spot globally for climate tech investment, with the country's climate tech firms receiving USD 1 billion in venture capital funding between 2016 and 2021, according to a report released on Tuesday.

Venture capital (VC) investment in climate technology companies has gone up globally since 2016, as per the report jointly prepared by international trade promotion agency London & Partners and Amsterdam-based database management company Dealroom.co.

Kanpur: The Delhi government has accepted an MoU with IIT Kanpur for a source apportionment and forecasting study on air pollutants in Delhi.

Earlier, the Delhi Cabinet had approved the project called 'Real-time source apportionment and forecasting for advance air pollution management in Delhi.'

According to a senior DPCC official, the cost on the study has been estimated to Rs 12 crore.

Beijing, Oct 12 (PTI) Calling for ambitious, pragmatic and balanced global environmental protection targets, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday announced a USD 233 million fund to support biodiversity protection in developing countries

Xi was addressing a UN conference- Leaders' Summit of the 15th meeting of Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity- via a video link in Beijing

Chandigarh, Oct 12 (PTI) The Chandigarh administration Tuesday imposed a complete ban on the sale or use of firecrackers of any kind to prevent the risk of spread of COVID-19 due to polluted atmosphere, according to an official order.

The order said these directions will come into force with immediate effect and will remain in effect until further notice.

The decision was taken after an extensive consultation with health, environment experts and other stakeholders, the order said.

11 Oct 2021; MEMO: Traffic was being diverted away from Lebanon's Zahrani oil facility this morning after a fire broke out at a gasoline storage tank, a security source told Reuters.

The areas surrounding the fire, which was still not under control, were being cooled to prevent it spreading, the source said. There was no immediate official comment or reports of casualties at the Zahrani oil facility on the Mediterranean coast.

New Delhi, Oct 11 (PTI) The Delhi government has to depend on costly gas- based power as well as spot purchase at high market rate as the NTPC has halved power supply to the city from the usual 4000 MW, Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday.

Most of the National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) plants are running at 55 percent capacity as their coal stocks are enough for one-two days, he claimed.

Delhi purchases most of its power from NTPC but supply has been halved, Jain told reporters.

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) With states from Delhi to Andhra Pradesh sending warnings of a developing power crisis due to shortage of coal, the central government on Sunday pressed all resources at its command to ensure power plants have enough feedstock to generate electricity.

BEIJING, Oct 10 (APP): The 330 MW Thar Energy Limited (TEL) Power Project in Thar Block-II being completed under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Sindh province was making steady progress, said a senior Chinese official.

The TEL power plant was a 330MW mine-mouth lignite-fired power project being built by Thar Energy, which was owned by Hub Power Company (Hubco), China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), and Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC).