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
The state environment department
The Bengal government will look for a "consensus' with the new Opposition-led zilla parishads before going ahead with land acquisition for industry, the state industries minister today said. "There is a new leadership at the district level in East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas (thrown up by the panchayat polls). We will consult them for a consensus before going ahead with the new projects,' Nirupam Sen told reporters. "Meanwhile, we'll go ahead with the projects that already have consensus.'
Balasun river: Horses are proving to be as effective as heavy machinery in the hills of Darjeeling. Hydraulic excavators on crawler belts using air compressors to break huge boulders are working alongside ponies on the banks of the Balasun as the company executing the Darjeeling Water Supply Scheme tries to meet its December 2009 deadline. The Hyderabad-based construction company, Ramky Infrastructure Ltd, stumbled on the idea of using horses after they observed the local villagers.
Alipore zoo will not give Nandankanan a replacement for Sundar, the 11-year-old giraffe that died while being transported to Orissa. "We have decided not to give another giraffe to Nandankanan, not after knowing that callousness led to Sundar's death,' forest minister Ananta Roy said on Monday. The minister said the team from Nandankanan did not adhere to basic safety norms while transporting the giraffe to Orissa from Alipore zoo as part of an exchange programme.
A Tata Tea-owned garden faces legal action by Kaziranga National Park authorities after the Forensic Science Laboratory here confirmed the presence of pesticide in the carcass of a cattle "used as a bait' to kill a tiger at Hatikhuli tea estate in January. The director of the forensic laboratory, R.P. Gohain, today confirmed that pesticide residues were found on the cattle carcass that resulted in the death of a tiger cub in the Rongagora division of the tea estate, owned by the Tata Tea's North India Plantation Operations.
Hooghly police have decided to double the deployment of the force at the Tata Motors project site here following a request from the company. The request had been made after the Trinamul Congress routed the CPM here in the rural polls, bagging 15 of the 16 gram panchayat seats, the panchayat samiti and all three zilla parishad berths. Colonel (retd) Sunirmal Patra, a divisional manager of the Tata project, and representatives of several ancillary units met superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra last evening.
The Darjeeling district administration has decided to start culling in the Bijanbari-Pulbazar area, where the outbreak of bird flu has been confirmed, from Sunday. District magistrate Rajesh Pandey today held a meeting with other officials to work out the logistics of the operations.
Officials prepare for the burial of birds. (Kundan Yolmo) Residents of Sukna army cantonment and visitors to Madhuban Park and Umrao Singh Lake situated inside the military area will no longer be able to have a glimpse of a major attraction thanks to the outbreak of bird flu. Over 200 ducks, swan and geese, which inhabited these recreational sites, have been culled as the deadly disease was detected just 500m from the cantonment.
The Supreme Court today refused to stay the Calcutta High Court order upholding the acquisition of 1,000 acres in Singur for the Nano plant. A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan rejected pleas by a Calcutta lawyer and two Singur farmers to stay the January 18 judgment that held the land was acquired in "public interest'. The apex court, however, issued notices to the Centre, the state and Tata Motors. The farmers' counsel, Kalyan Bandopadhyay, alleged that the land had been acquired "illegally'.
Darjeeling: The Bengal government is working on a war footing to inaugurate a long-delayed drinking water project in Darjeeling by November next year. The Darjeeling Water Supply Scheme is expected to supply enough potable water to all parts of the town, solving a 30-year-old problem. The Rs 55.86-crore scheme, first conceived in 1995-96, was sent to the backburner for more than a decade before it was revived in 2006.
