Path to a just transition to lower CO2 emissions
Data released last month by Carbon Monitor, a global collaboration of research groups, showed that global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production fell 4.4% in 2020 compared to 2019. This was likely a result of global lockdowns imposed to control the Covid-19 pandemic. Even at the time these lockdowns were imposed, an improvement in indicators of air quality raised hopes that a world with lower emissions from burning of fossil fuels was not an unachievable target. Continuing this trend of lower CO2 emissions, however, will also have socio-economic consequences, such as workers in fossil-fuel based power plants or in coal mines falling out of the workforce. An HT analysis of various data sets shows what such a path will entail for India.
Health officials in Congo confirmed another
Ebola outbreak in the country’s east on Sunday, the fourth in less than three years. On February 3, a woman died in Butembo town in North Kivu province, minister of health Eteni Longondo announced. The woman from the nearby village of Biena felt sick for a few days before being tested in a clinic there. She then went to a hospital in Butembo, but died before receiving the results. The government has begun tracing everyone who came in contact with her to try to “eradicate the epidemic as soon as possible,” said Longondo. This is the 12th outbreak in conflict-ridden Congo since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976, and comes less than three months after an outbreak in the western province of Equateur, officially ended in November. The 2018 outbreak in Eastern Congo was the second deadliest in the world, killing 2,299 people.
NEW DELHI: The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has started construction of the Anand Vihar station on the Regional Rapid Transit System’s Delhi-meerut corridor with the NCRTC officials stating that the station will be developed as a multimodal hub.
On the 82km Delhi-meerut corridor, there will be 22 RRTS stations, of which four will be in Delhi, including the one at Anand Vihar.
A NCRTC spokesperson said, “We have commenced the construction work on Anand Vihar RRTS station. Activities such as soil investigation, identification and diversion of utilities are underway. Tunnel boring work is expected to start in the second half of the year.”
Anand Vihar is an important transit point in the national capital as it already has a railway station, an interstate bus terminal, and two metro corridors ---the Blue Line (Vaishali to Dwarka) and the Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar).
Another NCRTC official, on condition of anonymity, said, “We have started the work to construct the RRTS station at Anand Vihar which will be developed as a multimodal hub. The station will be connected to the railway station, the two metro stations and the interstate bus terminal to provide seamless connectivity to users.”
Officials said the Anand Vihar RRTS station has been designed to seamlessly integrate with Delhi Metro corridors.
“The construction of this station will be technologically complex as RRTS trains will pass underneath the DMRC’S line 4 (Blue Line). Anand Vihar RRTS station’s concourse level entry will be adjoining the Delhi Metro entry. Further, the RRTS station will have multimodal integration with Anand Vihar railway station, the
Anand Vihar ISBT and the Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation’s Kaushambi bus adda,” said the official.
Apart from Anand Vihar, NCRTC has also started construction of stations at Sarai Kale Khan and New Ashok Nagar, both part of the 82km corridor to Meerut.
The agency is also constructing a 1.35km long bridge over the Yamuna in Delhi, which will be almost parallel to the existing Delhi-noida-direct Flyway.
“That bridge will connect the Sarai Kale Khan and New Ashok Nagar RRTS stations,” the official said.
The section over the river will be around 626 metres long. “The bridge will be constructed using box girders. It will have 32 piers and each span over these piers will be 44m long. The work on the well foundation, for the construction of piers, has started,” the official added.
“All construction activities are being carried out following the prescribed guidelines to avoid any adverse impact on the Yamuna floodplains. Various eco-friendly measures will also be taken during the construction. The muck and debris generated during the construction work will be disposed of systematically and no dumping will be done on the floodplains,” the official said.