Eating into Ashtamudi, with impunity

Ignatius Pereira, KOLLAM,   The Hindu, December 31, 2015 Even as there is no dearth of warnings from the official side of strong action against encroachers, encroachments of massive scale continue unabated along the Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam district. The encroachers often feel that it is their right to encroach upon the lake,...

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Dilution of wetlands Act to hit Palakkad the most

K.A. Shaji, Plakkad The Hindu, December 31, 2015 Attempts by the State government to incorporate a clause of the Finance Bill 2015 in the Kerala Paddy Land and Wetlands Conservation Act, recommending regularisation of paddy fields reclaimed before 2008 would turn disadvantageous to Palakkad district, which has the largest acreage...

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Ponmala: encroachment on government land identified

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor, PATHANAMTHITTA,   The Hindu, December 31, 2015 Disproving the claims of a private granite quarry at Ponmala in Thottappuzhasserry grama panchayat near Kozhencherry, the Revenue department has found encroachment on 1.46 acres of government land by the quarry operator. In the report submitted to the Thiruvalla...

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Rare butterfly sighted at Arippa forests

The Hindu, December 30, 2015 Nature lovers from the Thiruvananthapuram-based Warblers and Waders chanced upon a ‘very rare’ Banded Royal-Rachana jalindra (Horsfield) butterfly at the Arippa Ammayambalampacha forests on the borders of Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram districts during a two-day nature watching camp organised in connection...

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