Status quo on Taj heritage project

New Delhi: The controversial Taj heritage corridor project has been abandoned but the construction carried out in the vicinity of the monument during the Mayavati regime is likely to stay, reports our special correspondent.

A committee appointed by the Supreme Court to give recommendations on restoration of the area has suggested that large-scale undoing of the work carried out under the Rs 175-crore project “will further create environmental problems”.

The committee said undoing the construction could loosen the soil and make it prone to erosion, which could affect the Taj.

The removal of the construction along the bank of the Yamuna would be a “self-defeating remedy” from the environmental and ecological point of view, the committee said in its report submitted before the apex court.

Junk ship hearing on Monday

New Delhi (PTI): France has said the Clemenceau, heading for Gujarat for dismantling, would return if denied permission and suggested the move could affect improvement of “standards” of the ship-breaking industry here.

It has rejected as “ridiculous” and “distorted” the controversy over the warship.

On Sunday, on the eve of the Supreme Court hearing, French ambassador Dominique Girard asserted that the ship contained much less asbestos (toxic waste) than has been projected by critics but if the Indian government and the apex court wanted, Paris was ready to take back the waste.

The entry of the decommissioned warship into India has been barred till Monday by the Supreme Court.

Ashram death

barabanki (PTI): A woman disciple of Sant Gyaneshwar, who was shot dead on Friday, allegedly committed suicide at his ashram near here on Sunday.

Divya sprinkled kerosene and set herself afire inside a room, a few hours after the sant’s body reached the ashram at Sidhaur in Uttar Pradesh, police said.

MEA office

Hyderabad (PTI): The external affairs ministry will open its secretariat in the Andhra Pradesh capital, making it the first branch outside Delhi. This was conveyed by ministry secretary Vijay Kumar when he called on Andhra chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Saturday.

Sacrifice arrest

vasai (PTI): Three persons have been arrested for attempting human sacrifice in Thane, police sources said. They had thrown a girl into a havan fire to appease a goddess.

Two leopard cubs were rescued by a youth, Asif, after the animals fell into a river in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district while drinking water. He gave them to the wildlife department.