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Officials deployed to probe illegal coal stock in forest | Bhubaneswar News – The Times of India

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Officials deployed to probe illegal coal stock in forest | Bhubaneswar News – The Times of India



Rourkela: Officials from the director of mines, Rourkela, were deployed Wednesday to investigate another illegal coal stock found inside Jamkani reserve forest in Sundargarh district. Around 10 tonnes of freshly-extracted coal was found along with dugout pit within 10 to 15 metres of the forest boundary near Ratansara village, during a routine patrol by range officer Harihar Patra on Tuesday.
“Four officials, including three junior mining officers, have been deputed to take custody of the illegal coal stock and conduct further examination,” said Bimbadhar Sethy, deputy director of mines (DDM), Rourkela.
The incident follows a series of illegal mining activities in the area’s forests, including Telendih, Ratansara and Bhograkochar. Two weeks ago, an enforcement team from the director of mines and geology investigated similar cases and documented several coal pits in the area.
Earlier, following media reports, district administration officials seized about 200 tonnes of illegal coal, and a junior mining officer filed an FIR at Hemgir police station. The district administration also sealed a private coal washery containing around 10,000 tonnes of illegally stored coal.
In response to calls for a thorough investigation, ministers Bibhuti Bhusan Jena (mines) and Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia (forest, environment and climate change) conducted a site visit six days ago. Collector (Sundargarh) Manoj Satyaban Mahajan has ordered a detailed inspection and compliance report from local officials.
Rourkela: Officials from the director of mines, Rourkela, were deployed Wednesday to investigate another illegal coal stock found inside Jamkani reserve forest in Sundargarh district. Around 10 tonnes of freshly-extracted coal was found along with dugout pit within 10 to 15 metres of the forest boundary near Ratansara village, during a routine patrol by range officer Harihar Patra on Tuesday.
“Four officials, including three junior mining officers, have been deputed to take custody of the illegal coal stock and conduct further examination,” said Bimbadhar Sethy, deputy director of mines (DDM), Rourkela.
The incident follows a series of illegal mining activities in the area’s forests, including Telendih, Ratansara and Bhograkochar. Two weeks ago, an enforcement team from the director of mines and geology investigated similar cases and documented several coal pits in the area.
Earlier, following media reports, district administration officials seized about 200 tonnes of illegal coal, and a junior mining officer filed an FIR at Hemgir police station. The district administration also sealed a private coal washery containing around 10,000 tonnes of illegally stored coal.
In response to calls for a thorough investigation, ministers Bibhuti Bhusan Jena (mines) and Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia (forest, environment and climate change) conducted a site visit six days ago. Collector (Sundargarh) Manoj Satyaban Mahajan has ordered a detailed inspection and compliance report from local officials.





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Fort Fit Foods to open 2 new factories in Hwh | Kolkata News – The Times of India

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April 23, 2025

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Kolkata: Food processing company Fort Fit Foods is set to establish two new manufacturing units at Sugandha and Bagnan in Howrah in the next eight months, with an investment of around Rs 15 crore. The company will produce noodles and pasta at these new facilities.
The company has 11 food processing units, including rice and flour mills across the state, according to company director and CEO Rahat Agarwal. “We are also planning to manufacture ice creams in Bengal,” he said at an event on Tuesday.
Speaking at the event, Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal, also former secretary in the state’s food and supplies department, focused on the need for food fortification. “Stakeholders in the food processing sector need to come on a single platform with govt bodies. Food fortification is happening on a small scale today,” said Agarwal.





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Unpolluted stretch of the Cooum to get one more check dam; residents call for action against sewage pollution

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April 23, 2025

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The unpolluted stretch of Cooum River is set to get one more check dam at Perambakkam in Tiruvallur district. However, residents have raised concerns over discharge of sewage and urged the State government to ensure that the check dams do not turn into sewage discharge points.

The Water Resources Department (WRD) has started the process to construct the check dam — a storage structure that will retain floodwater and boost groundwater table. It will come up around 7.7 km downstream of Kesavaram anicut at a cost of ₹6.50 crore.

Many check dams across the Cooum in Tiruvallur have retained water even during summer. This has encouraged the WRD to chalk out plans to build more storage structures for recharging groundwater and preventing floods in Chennai.

Officials said that the check dam, across the 85-metre-wide river, would have a design to discharge nearly 10,556 cubic feet of water per second (cusecs) and a storage capacity of nearly 6.74 million cubic feet of water (mcft), when filled twice a year.

“This check dam will retain water in the Cooum for a length of 1.4 km, help irrigate about 360 acres of land and recharge borewells that are used to supply drinking water…,” an official said.

The WRD is set to start the work in May or early June, and complete it in a year. Welcoming the efforts to build more check dams across the river, residents said that the check dams too were not spared of sewage discharge in fast-urbanising areas.

K. Mugundhan, co-ordinator, Unpolluted Cooum Protection Committee, said that residents of Soranchery and Anaikattucherry benefited from the new check dam near Soranchery for irrigation and drinking water needs. However, a check dam along Kaduvetti village near Paruthipattu had become vulnerable to sewage discharge. “It is important for government agencies to ensure that check dams do not become sewage discharge points of nearby local bodies,” he added.

Officials of the WRD said they were coordinating with the local bodies to address the issues.

Published – April 24, 2025 01:12 am IST



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Area-wise info of pre-schools on single portal | Mumbai News – The Times of India

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6 hours ago

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April 23, 2025

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Mumbai: Parents in Maharashtra may soon have access to information about all pre-primary schools in their vicinity on one official platform. The information will not only include details on their website addresses, the students enrolled, and when they were started, but also on the physical infrastructure available, including the number of toilets, and the teachers and attendants available at the pre-schools. In a first such initiative to have consolidated data on pre-schools under one platform, the state govt launched a portal for their registration.
With the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the central govt has brought children in the 3-6 age group under its ambit. The state is now making an attempt to implement the policy in a phased manner. Though the women and child development department has details on anganwadis, there is little or no control over private institutions offering pre-primary education. So, the state has launched this portal to bring all private centres providing pre-primary education under one platform, said school education minister Dadaji Bhuse. The portal was launched by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday.
The information sought from the pre-schools in the registration forms available online also includes data on whether the school enrols children with special needs, whether they have CCTV surveillance, or if they have playgrounds or even water tanks. In the section made available for teachers, schools have to fill in details about their qualification. The data will also help the govtframe a policy for pre-primary education soon.
Principal secretary, School Education, Ranjit Singh Deol, said that registration on the portal will not be mandatory as of now. “Currently, the state does not have information on all such private centres providing pre-primary education. Once the policy is framed and implemented, registration will become mandatory for all,” said Deol.





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