Sand slips

Political parties show concern for environment in Punjab elections

Apart from the usual promises made by political parties, the Punjab elections witnessed something different this time—a focus on environmental issues. The issues varied from cleaning rivers to reduction of pesticides and fertilisers to save the state’s ecology. The parties even promised a separate portfolio for environment to be held by a Cabinet minister. The fate of candidates contesting the Punjab elections was sealed on January 30.

7,000 litres of oil in Sutlej

Aquatic life safe, tests underway on april 24, 7,000 litres of heavy furnace oil leaked into the Sutlej river after a pipeline burst at the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant at Ropar in Punjab. A senior plant official said the welding in the pipeline could have given way due to heat and fatigue. Water samples collected by the Punjab Pollution Control Board found oil and grease content in the river but they found little damage to aquatic life.

Fishy deaths

IN SHORT

tracing the rivers: Indian and Chinese scientists have agreed to find the actual source of two of the world's mightiest rivers: the Brahmaputra and the Sutlej. A team of scientists from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of Chinese Academy of Sciences will leave in April 2007 for the Mount Kailash in Tibet, believed to be the source of the two rivers.

Catchment Area Treatment Plan funds badly spent in Himachal

THE Himachal Pradesh government's attitude towards implementing the Catchment Area Treatment (cat) plan has been described as sluggish by environmentalists. The state government has also been accused of not utilising the cat plan funds on field. Sources reveal that funds are being diverted and a major part is being stored in the treasury.

Khab dam off hinge

The proposed Rs 13,000-crore Khab Dam in Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh, which would have been the highest in India at 275 metres, has been shot down by the defence ministry because it is "too close to the Indo-China border". The dam was proposed to protect the 1,500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri and other hydro-electric projects downstream. Silt brought by the Spiti river, which flows from China, has been cited as the main cause for repeated shutdowns of the downstream projects, such as the Nathpa-Jhakri.

Power talks

India and Pakistan once again came together to resolve disputes over the Baglihar power project. In December 2003, a three-member Pakistani inspection team clarified doubts regarding India's violation of the 1960 bilateral Indus Waters Treaty. A six-member Indian team headed by A C Gupta, chairperson of the Indus Water Commission, began talks with the Pakistani team, led by Sayed Jamat Ali Shah, in Islamabad, to resolve differences over the project.

Ban lifted on fishing in Sutlej

in view of the economic hardship faced by the fishing community in Ropar district and the fresh inflow of water, a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently passed an interim order lifting the ban on fishing in Sutlej river.

Lessons for Ludhiana

IT TOOK 50 years for the Municipal Corporation (MC) of Ludhiana to shake off its stupor and gear up to rid the city of garbage accumulated over these years. Although better late than never, authorities now realise that the powerful industrial lobby of the city - one of the most industrialised in the country - are loathe at spending adequately to