Reporters attacked

a three-member team of Living On the Edge , the Golden Panda award winning weekly environmental programme the cable television channel Star tv , alleged they were assaulted and detained at a factory at Vapi, Gujarat, for three hours on July 17. They alleged that their equipment was damaged and their assailants threatened to pour acid on their faces. The team was freed after being detained for three hours.

Troubled waters

reports that two ships of us origin had entered the Indian maritime zone to be broken up at one of the country's ship breaking yards created a stir in the Lok Sabha on August 5 when it came to light that the ships in question were used for transporting hazardous substances. This incident exposed the lack of implementation of environmental norms and laws when it came to ship breaking in India, something that could well have been exploited for years.

Tapping our tradition

Concerted efforts have been launched to promote traditional water harvesting systems in the desert area of Kutch in Gujarat. Abdasa Development Forum, Saurashtra Trust, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanga-than, Janvikas, Gandhi-dham Cham-ber of Commerce, Viveka-nand Training and Research Institute and a number of other NGOs from Kutch alongwith Kutch Mitra , the largest (Gujarati) daily of Kutch, organised 10 meetings all over the region recently. The meetings attracted large enthusiastic crowds.

When bulls light bulbs

the energy of bullocks has been converted into electric power in 24 tribal villages of the Chhota Udepur region of the Vadodra district in Gujarat. The experiment was conceptualised by scientist-industrialist Kantibhai C Shroff and his niece Shrutiben Shroff and sponsored by the Shroff Foundation, an ngo providing health care services and education to these villagers.

SALINE SPREAD

The Gujarat High Court, has directed the joint salt commissioner at Ahmedabad to constitute a committee to probe the spread of salinity in agriculture land, wells and ponds in the Halvad taluka, in the Surendranagar district. The salinity is feared to have been caused due to the mixing of flood water with salt, which was dumped on government land near Halvad railway station. The High Court issued the order following a writ petition filed by seven farmers of the Halvad area.

Victims of ignorance

The Gujarat unit of People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) recently filed a petition in the High Court of Gujarat against the state government, the commissioner of industries and chief factory inspector of Gujarat alleging the failure of chemical and pharmaceutical industries in Ankleshwar to disclose information about the dangers related to the production, transport and storage of hazardous chemicals. The PUCL recently brought out a report which says that almost none of the "its in this industrial town - which is Asia's largest chemical and pharmaceutical

Bullock power

Researchers in Gujarat have harnessed the energy of bullocks to generate electricity for 24 villages in Vadodara district. Under this innovative method, four bullocks are yoked on to a shaft, which rotates as they move around it. The shaft is connected to a gear-box which turns underground shafts, overground freewheels and a sm4ll generator. The generator is connected to a% power board and batteries from where power lines are drawn. The cost of producing electricity in this manner is much lower than other non-conventional energy sources. It costs no more than Rs four per unit,

Desert blooms

FROM the state of Gujarat comes one of the more recent examples of innovation in desert reclamation. A private industrial house (the Benzer group) has successfully reclaimed a large chunk of saline wasteland in Bhachau district of Kutch using halophytes, flora which grow in saline habitats. ,The word 'Indian desert' usually conjures up the much publicised image

Water weary

water scarcity seems to be a perennial problem in the remote villages of Gujarat. In Nanimorsal - a village in Sayla taluka of Surendranagar district of the state - drinking water is scarce throughout the year. The problem is accentuated in summer. Groundwater has depleted due to the extraction of water for irrigation.

No consideration

The Supreme Court (SC) has turned down for immediate consideration, pleas by the Union Government and the state of Gujarat for permission to increase the height of the Narmada dam from the present 81.5 metre (m) to 85 m. The SC declined to entertain two applications placed by the latter, after the Madhya Pradesh (MP) government strongly opposed the pleas.