Interim report by board could not identify the source of around one-fifth of Calcutta’s PM2.5 pollution Environmentalists have raised questions about an ongoing study ordered by the state pollution
A pigeon lover in Dinhata lost 30 birds from his collection of over 200 in the past two days, sending officials of the animal resources development (ARD) department scurrying to his residence at Khari
The eyes of Bakul Das Adhikary told the agony of Nandigram a day after the March 14 firing last year.
The vulture has been spotted again near Victoria Memorial Vultures are back in the city, after a gap of two years.
Bird deaths were reported from Burdwan, Birbhum and Nadia today, barely 24 hours after fresh cases of bird flu were confirmed in two blocks of Murshidabad.
Centre for Ecological Movement volunteers at Rajhat, in Hooghly, where they work to save the peacock Wildlife can be preserved only if people living close by are encouraged to lend a helping hand. Guided by this motto, the city-based Centre for Ecological Movement (CEMO), a consortium of NGOs and NGIs (non government individuals), has been working with villagers of Bankura and Hooghly to save elephants and peacocks. "Our objective is to fight poaching and preserve endangered species and their habitat by extending financial assistance to the local people and helping them manage their resources better,' said Purnima Dutta, the secretary of the centre, which had recently organised a two-day camp on the Army Territorial Ground to spread awareness about the environment. More than 20 schools participated in the "eco-jamboree', which included extempore speeches and skit contests on nature. The centre, with 50 registered members
Alipurduar: In a move to control Malaria in Jalpaiguri, the district health officials with the help of the forest department and NGOs will set up 55 fever treatment depots (FTDs), along with laboratories, in 76 forest villages. Thousands of people suffer from malaria and die of the disease in the district every year. Among the worst affected areas are forest villages which do not have sufficient medical facilities. The North Bengal Development Council has already sanctioned Rs 49 lakh and eight NGOs in the district have been selected to make the project successful. Besides testing blood at the laboratories, health staff will be distributing mosquito nets to the villagers under the scheme.
The state government has imposed curbs on "sale, purchase and change of character' of plots within the East Calcutta Wetlands, off EM Bypass, to prevent unauthorised construction and other activities that are harmful for its ecology. The order specifying the curbs was issued on February 29 by M.L.Meena, the principal secretary in the state environment department and member-secretary of East Calcutta Wetlands Authority. It came into force immediately. The wetlands, spread across 12,500 hectares, have been declared a "no-development' zone by Calcutta High Court. But there are often complaints of violation of the ruling. "A large number of unauthorised structures are coming up in the wetlands, violating environment norms and creating ecological imbalance. There are also reports of other unlawful commercial activities in the zone,' said Meena, explaining the rationale for issuing the order. The order bars "transfer (of) land to any person or persons in any manner through deed of sale or providing lease or tenancy right' without "prior clearance of East Calcutta Wetlands Authority'. The authority was set up under the chairmanship of the chief secretary in 2006 to preserve the character of the wetlands. The land and land reforms department has been asked "not to issue any certificate for the change of the character of land', while those dealing with registration have been been directed "not to allow registration of any land, house or pond' without the authority's consent. Similarly, the municipal or panchayat bodies have been debarred from sanctioning plans of buildings to be used for commercial purposes, keeping the authority in the dark. "If anyone wants to transfer plots within the East Calcutta Wetlands, he/she has to approach the member-secretary of the authority, who will decide on the applications within two months,' said Biswajit Mukherjee, a senior law officer in the state environment department. Environmentalists, however, are sceptical about implementation of the order. "The idea is good but will it work?' wondered Dhrubojyoti Ghosh, who was the first to document the ecological role of the wetlands. "There are numerous instances of landfill in the Ramsar zone but the violators have all gone scot-free, despite the high court ruling. Any day, you can find middlemen involved in land transfer in the wetlands,' he pointed out. "A number of big housing estates and a college have come up within the wetlands. And there are quite a few smaller violations. But the government has done nothing to honour the judicial verdict,' said another green activist.
North Bengal University (NBU) will soon take up a slew of projects to explore non-conventional sources of energy. At today's meeting of the executive council, the highest statutory body of the university, a proposal to set up an energy park in collaboration with West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Authority (WBREDA) was formalised. "The park will generate awareness among students and common people of the use of renewable energy sources and energy conservation techniques,' said Arunava Basumajumdar, vice-chancellor of NBU. "We have earmarked a plot adjacent to Akshay Kumar Maitreya Heritage Museum for the park. Alongside the heritage museum, which already gets a good number of visitors everyday, the park will be an added tourist attraction for this part of Siliguri,' said Basumajumdar. The vice-chancellor added that it had also been decided that solar heaters would be provided to students' hostels so that they could heat water. "We have also tied up with WBREDA for illuminating campus streets, using solar power,' said the vice-chancellor. A bio-mass power generator will also be set up, the vice-chancellor said. He added that renewable energy sources were the best alternatives to meet the additional energy requirements. A major study that the university will be taking up is on the water table. "With funds from the state government, we will be undertaking a major study on the water table in the hills and the effects of global warming on it,' Basumajumdar said.
The Nano, whose projected Puja rollout is being greeted with a host of new showrooms Dealers of Tata Motors in the state are busy putting infrastructure in place for the Puja rollout of Nano. Lexus Motors, the largest Tata Motors dealer in West Bengal, has acquired land in Barasat, Chinsurah and Uluberia for opening outlets to showcase Nano, while RD Motors is preparing to launch showrooms in Baruipur and Chinsurah. The third dealer, KB Motors, is strengthening its network by opening outlets in Madhyamgram, Kalyani and Hooghly. Since Nano is expected to have a strong semi-urban and rural market, the company is looking to augment its distribution network in the districts. "We will add showrooms and also open dealerships in areas where we don't have a presence,' said a Tata Motors spokesperson from Mumbai. "The idea is to take Nano to the customer rather than make him come to Calcutta to buy the car,' said Anil Bagaria, the director of KB Motors. The new showrooms for Nano, as specified by Tata Motors, will be D-class outlets with floor space of about 1,000 sq ft. "These will be sales stores without workshops,' said Vinod Kumar Agarwal, the managing director of Lexus Motors. "The company is yet to give us an LoI (Letter of Intent) but is guiding us in opening the outlets. I am expecting the LoI within a couple of weeks,' added Agarwal. The company is laying a lot of stress on the rollout. "We are adding new dealerships every fortnight. Currently, we have 170 dealers across the country. We hope to appoint more distributors before the Nano arrives,' said the spokesperson. In addition to three distributors in Calcutta, Tata Motors has four others in the rest of the state, with eight showrooms in Siliguri, Malda, Kharagpur, Asansol and Haldia. "We are looking to add four to five showrooms through our existing distributors in Durgapur and Burdwan. We are also looking for a new distributor in Howrah,' added the spokesperson. The Lexus Motors Uluberia store will be for commercial vehicles but will also sell the Nano, said Agarwal. RD Motors opened a 1,000-sq-ft showroom in Krishnagar in November last year and is launching the two stores by April. "Yes, we are preparing for the Nano rollout,' said Pradip Jain, the proprietor. KB Motors is looking at a branch in Joka, said Bagaria. Tata Motors remained tightlipped about when bookings for Nano would start. Trial production is slated to start in June-July. The dealers expect bookings to open by August.
The wounded tiger captured from Jharkhali, in the Sunderbans, was roaring at the slightest provocation on Tuesday, much to the delight of its attendants at the Alipore zoo hospital. "The impatience and anger shows its condition is improving,' said veterinary surgeon Swapan Kumar Ghosh, bandaging the wounds with colleague Gopal Samanta. "True to its nature, the beast was expressing displeasure by biting at the chord with which we were tying its limbs for treatment. This aggressiveness was absent when it was brought to the zoo hospital last Friday... We are happy with the progress,' Ghosh added. Zoo director Subir Chowdhury said: "The animal is still under medication. We cannot say right now when it will be fit enough to be brought before visitors.' On Tuesday, only mediapersons were allowed a glimpse of the Royal Bengal Tiger. The minor wounds have almost dried up but the deep ones, especially those on the hind leg, will take some time to heal, said Ghosh. The tiger, suffering from anaemia, has been on iron supplement for the past few days. "We will test its blood next week to check whether the haemoglobin level has risen. We hope the level will rise, as the animal is consuming eight kg of meat daily
