Green bench nod for canal project

Chennai (PTI): The Centre has received environmental clearance for the Rs 2,000-crore Sethusamudram ship canal project, Union shipping minister T.R. Baalu said on Wednesday.

?We have received the environmental clearance for the Sethusamudram project,? Baalu told reporters here.

The project, which involves setting up a navigable route linking Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar through Adam?s bridge, will now be placed before the Union cabinet for its approval, Baalu said.

The minister said the project would also have to get clearances from the public investment board, the finance ministry and the Planning Commission.

Baalu said all aspect of the impact of the project on the environment has been taken into consideration.

The Tuticorin Port Trust, the nodal agency for implementing the project, had asked the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute to conduct a study on the environmental impact of the project.

Currently, ships going from west to east and from Tuticorin port to the east have to sail around Sri Lanka, entailing an additional distance of more than 254 to 424 nautical miles and 21 to 36 hours of sailing time. The Sethusamudram project will address this problem, officials said.

Phase II of birth certificates

New Delhi (PTI): Union home minister Shivraj Patil will on Thursday launch the second phase of the national campaign on birth certificates aimed at registering the births of about 10 crore children during 1994-2003.

The office of the registrar general had launched the first phase of the campaign last year. About 3.4 crore birth certificates had been issued against about 14.4 crore births registered in the last decade.

The focus of the second phase would be to ensure that the particulars of date and place of birth of children getting admitted to schools are entered in school records based on the birth certificate, an official release said.

There are about 10 crore children born during 1994-2003 whose births have not been registered. In addition, there are about 7 crore children whose births were registered but do not have birth certificates.

?The campaign would be targeted to benefit these children,? the release said.

Death for wife killer

Moga (PTI): A court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for murdering his pregnant wife in 2002.

Additional sessions judge Sukhdev Singh convicted Bikramjit Singh for killing Meena Rani on July 7. The couple had got married in March but their relations soured soon. The prosecution said Rani was stabbed in 30 places by her and a friend of his and Bikramjit had concocted a story that they were attacked by some persons while returning home.

New UAE envoy

New Delhi (PTI): Chandra Mohan Bhandari, additional secretary in the ministry of external affairs, has been appointed the next ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. Bhandari, who will succeed Sudhir Vyas, is expected to take up his assignment shortly, a foreign ministry press release said.

Sikh body appeal

New Delhi (PTI): A city-based Sikh body has urged the Pakistan government to allow a delegation to visit Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and other areas where hundreds of small gurdwaras were ?lying neglected?. The Shiromani Akali Dal Panthak had met former Pakistan Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain and the Pakistan high commissioner.

Fake CBI cards

New Delhi (PTI): Sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation have arrested one person, Samandar Chowdhury, for printing fake identity cards of the bureau. A raid on a printing press in the Rohini area yielded 100 fake identity cards and some rubber seals, bureau sources said. Chowdhury allegedly sold the fake cards at Rs 2 lakh each, the sources said.

Building collapse

Chennai (PTI): Rescue teams have found three bodies from the rubble of a building which collapsed after heavy rain on Tuesday. The debris had trapped nine persons of whom five have been rescued. Efforts are on to rescue the ninth person. Three persons were held in connection with the collapse, police said.

A gold bracelet, worn by Haryana minister Surender Singh when the helicopter carrying him and four others crashed in Saharanpur on Thursday, has been found and handed over to police.