Latest news with #EnvironmentMinistry
The Hindu
15 hours ago
- General
- The Hindu
Procedure to redress chemically contaminated sites gets legal teeth
The Environment Ministry has notified new rules under the Environment Protection Act that lays out a process to address sites that are chemically contaminated. Called the Environment Protection (Management of Contaminated Sites) Rules, 2025, these give a legal structure to the process of contamination, that until now was missing despite several sites being already identified across the country for decades. Contaminated sites, according to the Central Pollution Control Board, are those where hazardous and other wastes were dumped historically. This has most likely resulted in contamination of soil, groundwater and surface water that pose a risk to human health and the environment. Some of the sites were contaminated when there was no regulation on management of hazardous wastes. In some instances, polluters, responsible for contamination, have either shut their operations or the cost of remediation is beyond their capacity, thus the sites remain a threat to the environment. These sites may include landfills, dumps, waste storage and treatment sites, spill sites, and chemical waste handling and storage sites. There are 103 such sites across the country. Only in seven sites remedial operation has commenced, which involves cleaning the contaminated soil, groundwater, surface water and sediments by adopting appropriate technologies. A senior official in the Environment Ministry told The Hindu that the latest rules — made public on July 25 — were part of a process of 'legally codifying' the process in place once contaminated sites were identified. Under these rules, the district administration would prepare half-yearly reports on 'suspected contaminated sites'. A State Board, or a reference organisation, would examine these sites and provide a 'preliminary assessment' within 90 days of being thus informed. Following these, it would have another three months to make a detailed survey and finalise if these sites were indeed 'contaminated'. This would involve establishing the levels of suspected hazardous chemicals – there are currently 189 marked ones under the provisions of the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules 2016 – and if these exceeded safe levels, the location of these sites would be publicised and restrictions placed on accessing it. A 'reference organisation' — basically a body of experts — would be tasked with specifying a remediation plan. The State Board would also have 90 days to identify the person(s) responsible for the contamination. Those deemed responsible would have to pay for the cost of remediation of the site, else the Centre and the State — under a prescribed arrangement — would arrange for the costs of clean-up. 'Any criminal liability, if it is proved that such contamination caused loss of life or damage would be under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (2023),' the official told The Hindu. However, contamination resulting from radioactive waste, mining operations, pollution of the sea by oil, solid waste from dump sites would not be dealt with under the provisions of these laws as they are governed by separate legislation.
Reuters
16 hours ago
- Climate
- Reuters
Floods in Romania kill three, hundreds evacuated
BUCHAREST, July 28 (Reuters) - Severe overnight floods in eastern Romania killed three elderly people and damaged thousands of homes, with hundreds of people evacuated and four helicopters searching for stranded villagers, officials said on Monday. Some 25 villages across nine counties were affected by heavy rain and high winds, which tore off roofs and uprooted trees, blocking traffic on some national roads, according to the emergency response agency. It released footage showing wooden houses and cars swept away by the floodwaters, with rescue workers checking vehicles for potential victims. The worst hit were Neamt and Suceava counties in eastern Romania, where two rivers burst their banks, killing a 66-year-old man and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. All access roads to the village of Brosteni in Suceava county were blocked. The emergency response agency later said that two women, an 85- and an 83-year-old, were also victims of the flood. Firefighters had to use an excavator to retrieve one of the bodies from a riverbed. The Environment Ministry's water management agency said some rivers rose to record high water levels. Repair works on collapsed bridges were underway, it said.
Reuters
16 hours ago
- Climate
- Reuters
Floods in Romania kill two, hundreds evacuated
BUCHAREST, July 28 (Reuters) - Severe overnight floods in eastern Romania killed two people and damaged thousands of homes, with hundreds of people evacuated and helicopters searching for stranded villagers, officials said on Monday. Some 25 villages across nine counties were affected by heavy rain and high winds, which tore off roofs and uprooted trees, blocking traffic on some national roads, the emergency response agency said. The worst hit were Neamt and Suceava counties in eastern Romania, where two rivers burst their banks, killing a 66-year-old man and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. All access roads to the village of Brosteni in Suceava county were blocked. The emergency response agency later said that there was a second victim of the floods, an 85-year-old woman, and that firefighters used an excavator to retrieve her body from the river bed. The Environment Ministry's water management agency said some rivers saw record high water levels. Repair works on collapsed bridges were underway, it said.
Free Malaysia Today
16 hours ago
- Climate
- Free Malaysia Today
Floods in Romania kill 1, hundreds evacuated
Romania's environment ministry said some rivers saw record high water levels. (EPA Images pic) BUCHAREST : Severe overnight floods in eastern Romania killed one person and damaged thousands of homes, with hundreds of people evacuated and three helicopters searching for stranded villagers, officials said today. Some 25 villages across nine counties were affected by heavy rain and high winds, which tore off roofs and uprooted trees, blocking traffic on some national roads, the emergency response agency said. The worst hit were Neamt and Suceava counties in eastern Romania, where two rivers burst their banks, killing a 66-year-old man and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. All access roads to the village of Brosteni in Suceava county were blocked. The environment ministry's water management agency said some rivers saw record high water levels. Repair works on collapsed bridges were underway, it said.
Reuters
18 hours ago
- Climate
- Reuters
Floods in Romania kill one, hundreds evacuated
BUCHAREST, July 28 (Reuters) - Severe overnight floods in eastern Romania killed one person and damaged thousands of homes, with hundreds of people evacuated and three helicopters searching for stranded villagers, officials said on Monday. Some 25 villages across nine counties were affected by heavy rain and high winds, which tore off roofs and uprooted trees, blocking traffic on some national roads, the emergency response agency said. The worst hit were Neamt and Suceava counties in eastern Romania, where two rivers burst their banks, killing a 66-year-old man and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. All access roads to the village of Brosteni in Suceava county were blocked. The Environment Ministry's water management agency said some rivers saw record high water levels. Repair works on collapsed bridges were underway, it said.
