Environment At A Glance

VHP seeks complete ban on Bhagirathi hydel projects

Buoyed by the central government's decision to scrap two hydel dams on Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand, VHP has demanded a complete ban on other such projects on the holy river, including NTPC's 600 MW Loharinag Pala. "To maintain the uninterrupted flow of the Bhagirathi river, it is necessary to ban all hydel projects," said VHP general secretary Pravin Togadia. VHP, which held its two-day "Dharma Sansad" at Haridwar, has also threatened to launch an agitation over the issue. "The Bhagirathi is the lifeline of India. We must maintain sanctity of the river," Togadia said. Significantly, VHP's statement came two days after senior BJP leader L K Advani, who was on a visit to Uttarakhand to participate in a clean Ganga campaign, also said in unequivocal terms that the sanctity of the Bhagirathi should be maintained at all cost suggesting a ban on hydel projects on the river. Nishank had earlier on an occasion described the Centre's decision to scrap the two hydel projects as "illegal and arbitrary" claiming only the Ganga River Basin Authority was authorised to take a final decision on the issue. At the centre of controversy are three hydel projects - NTPC's 600 MW Loharinag Pala, 480 MW Pala Maneri and 381 MW Bhairongathi ---which are being developed by the state-owned Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited.

Fire destroys forest tracts

A massive forest fire that broke out in the Kumaon Hills of Uttarakhand on Monday has destroyed vast stretches of forest. At the time of going to the press officials with the help of locals were engaged in controlling the fire. "Fire in mountain ranges disrupts normal life. Forest life, wild animals, medicine, flora and fauna have been destroyed in blaze. The rising smoke causes pollution and also raises temperature dramatically," said P.K. Patro, divisional forest officer, Tarai Range. The cause of this fire is yet to be ascertained.

Eco-friendly freedom from pests

Nainital farmers are adopting eco-friendly methods to get rid of pests by using insect trappers instead of chemical pesticides. They said that the use of the insect trapper has not only reduced their pesticide and labour expenditure, but also the use of strong chemicals in cultivation. The main advantage of this trapper is that it is more effective at night, as the light sliders attached to it attract the insects, which causes them to fall in a bucket of water and diesel and subsequently die. "The light traps that are used in the farms are very effective and we have learned that by using it we can control the pests without any expenditure. It saves our money and reduces the use of poison that we otherwise used in our fields," said Kundan Joshi, a farmer.

Fungus for growth of plants

Scientists of the College of Basic Science and Humanities in Uttarakhand have discovered a new fungus that helps in increasing the growth of plants. They have discovered this fungus after eight years of research. "This work was initiated almost eight years back when we were in search of different microbes, which could enhance the plant growth in much better way then existing ones. We started this work and covered 1000 kilometres area to take out the samples and isolated the microbes and finally came up with this fungus fusarium pallidoroseum and this we tested on chilly and potato," said Anil Sharma, a scientist. The new fungus is expected to yield better crops.