conservation and breeding of Peacock and Chinkara

December 23: With a view to protect and increase the population of Peacock and Chinkara in Haryana, the State government has chalked out an ambitious plan to set up an integrated project for conservation and breeding of Peacock and Chinkara and it would be developed over 70 acres of land.

While giving this information here today Finance and Environment Minister Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav said that the purpose of this project was to conserve peacock and chinkara by breeding and soft release in their natural and undisturbed habitat.

He said that since the habitat of both the species was same a fenced breeding centre might be set up and developed the suitable area of their natural habitat for integrated conservation of both the species in same place.
While referring the breeding of peafoul Capt. Yadav said that breeding of peafoul would be encouraged in three closed aviaries within the fenced area where as Chinkaras would be conserved in the open fenced area. About 8 acres of land would be used for peafoul aviaries and a control room would also be set up to maintain a close look on them. He further said that 20 acres would be used for growing feed for chinkaras.

Apart from this 40 acre of land would be used for breeding of chinkara . Besides, five acre of land would be used for providing infrastructure of staff quarters and tube well etc.
The Minister maintained that during the first year one breeding aviary would be constructed with G.I. chain-link fence while two more would be set up in the second year. These aviaries would be covered from the top also and every aviary would be facilitated with food, water and tree branches for sitting and rest.

He said that suitable breeding habitat would be provided to the peafoul and the aviary would be kept free from all kind of disturbances. The eggs would be hatched by the egg laying females and no artificial method would be opted.

Capt. Yadav said that the strict vigil would be kept on the activities of the birds within aviary through CCTVs and at least four cameras would be fixed in one aviary and activities like hatching eggs, rearing up of chicks and their behavior would be monitored by recording their activities or live in computer monitor. Their general health would also be monitored by the veterinarian.

The Minister informed that when the chicks are one year old they may be released in their natural habitat. Their activities would be closely watched for few days by putting chips somewhere in their legs. During the first few days they may be provided with artificial feed which should be reduced day after day so that they could adopt their original environment.
He further stated that De-worming of all birds would be carried out at regular intervals as per advice of veterinarian. All records regarding spread of disease would be maintained. He said that breeding center would be regularly visited by veterinary surgeon and the blood samples would be taken and examined.

Gurgaon and carbon emissions

The city of Gurgaon participated in the project called "the Roadmap of South Asian Cities and Local Governments for the post 2012 global climate agreement" along with 53 other South Asian cities.

Of the total cities participated in the project, 40 were from India and 13 were from the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The initiative was implemented by ICLEI – South Asia and was supported by the British High Commission, New Delhi.

Under the project, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon shared the information related to energy consumption in various sectors, such as- street lighting, transportation, water pumping system, residential, commercial, industrial, etc. under the jurisdiction of Gurgaon Municipal Corporation. ICLEI -South Asia analysed this information to arrive at the City Energy Status Report, which indicates energy consumption by considered service sectors and resultant carbon emissions.

A similar exercise has been carried out with 52 other South Asian cities leading to the preparation of the Carbon Emission Inventory of the 53 South Asian cities.

In June this year, at the sub national workshop in Bhopal, ICLEI South Asia discussed the analysis with the Municipal Corporation.

The analysis estimated the city’s total carbon emissions to be 251626 tonnes of CO2e. Corporaiton activities result in 6889.39 tonnes and community activities contribute 2544736.61 tonnes of CO2e emission. The per capita CO2e emission in Gurgaon is 2.13 tonnes.
ICLEI South Asia discussed action plans covering energy efficient & design based street lighting, efficient transport management, energy efficient, water pumping system, waste management & enhancement of urban livability and sustainability, that if implemented, will facilities in further reducing carbon emissions, in the city.

The Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, Mr. R.K.Khullar thanked ICLEI South Asia and the British High Commission for studying and analyzing their City’s emissions and indicating avenues to reduce carbon emissions in the city. He expressed his happiness at representing Gurgaon city at COP 15 as a part of the South Asia delegation and looks forward to bringing back enriching experiences to share with the city.

Formally releasing the analysis and findings of the project at a press conference, Mr.Khullar said that the detailed information was available with the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation and with ICLEI South Asia, which can be approached for further details.

Under this project the energy status for all other project cities was also being released. Carbon emission status of 40 cities across India would be known to the world if the press and media reported the release of these reports, he added.

Mr.Khullar said that climate change was the most evident environment, social and economic problem facing the world today. He said, "We have to move from a high energy-use, wasteful economic model to one that conserves energy and minimizes waste. In other words we have to be more efficient."

Given India’s critical role in the upcoming COP 15 at Copenhagen, GMC’s participation in this project might be seen as a voluntary step in the right direction towards reducing global carbon emissions, he added.

renewable energy awards for panchayats

July 2- Haryana Government has launched a new scheme toencourage energy conservation in the villages of the state. Under thescheme, the deserving Panchayats will be awarded with cash prizesranging from Rs twenty thousand to Rs four lakh for popularizing theapplications of various non-conventional and renewable sources ofenergy in their respective villages.

While stating this here today, an official spokesman said thatthe Government had invited applications from the Panchayats which hadadopted energy conservation measures to conserve electricity in theirvillages. The applications were required to be submitted in theconcerned DRDA office by July 10. The Panchayats would be awarded atthe state and district level for the excellent work carried out bythem in the field of energy conservation. Panchayats bagging thefirst, second and third prize at state level would be awarded with acash amount of Rs 4 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively. Inthe same manner, Panchayats bagging first position at district levelwould be awarded cash prize of Rs 50 thousand and Panchayats baggingsecond position Rs 25 thousand.

He said that those Panchayats would be awarded which had promoted theuse of Solar Lantern, Solar Home Lighting, Solar Street Lighting, BioGas Plants and Compact Fluorescent Lamps in the villages. ThePanchayats would be awarded on August 20, the occasion of birthanniversary of former Prime Minister, late Mr Rajiv Gandhi. This daywas also observed as Renewable Energy Day in the country.

Ambient Air monitoring station at faridabad

Haryana State Pollution Control Board will setup a continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station at Faridabad for continuous analysis and data capture.Giving this information here today , spokesman of the Board said thatthe continuous data of results would be displayed on highway forgeneral awareness of masses and for taking remedial measures forimprovement of Ambient Air Quality of Faridabad town. He said that parameters such as suspended particulate matter, sulphur dioxide,nitrogen oxides of hydro carbons, carbon monoxide, benzene and toluenexylene would be analysed through this monitoring. He said that this station would be set up at a cost of Rs 80 lakh approximately andwould continuously do the monitoring.He said that two other Ambient Air quality Monitoring stations werealready working in Faridabad but they were functional only twice aweek. He said that the data collected showed that the pollution levelwas controlled in the district and time to time numbers of measureswere taken to combat with pollution problem in the district.He said that soon the vehicular pollution would also minimize aftermore and more CNG fuel pumps would open in the region. He said thatstrict monitoring would be done after adequate number of CNG fuelpumps open in the area.He said that all polluting industries of the State had been persuadedto install Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and Air Pollution ControlMeasures (APCM) for controlling water and air pollution. He said thatmore than 95 per cent polluting industries have now installed ETP andAPCM and brought it to compliance mode in the State. He said that theremaining units were in process of installation and action was beingtaken against the persistent defaulting units functioning across theState.He said that common facility for treatment, storage and disposal ofhazardous waste was being developed at village Pali, Faridabad. He said that temporary storage facility was being developed at Pali whichwould be followed by Common Hazardous Waste Treatment, Storage andDisposal facility and the same was likely to start by the year end.

complete ban of plastic bags in haryana

December 24 - Haryana Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Mrs Kiran Choudhry today directed the officers of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) to prepare a list of all plastic bag manufacturers of the state and take steps to completely ban the use of plastic bags in the State.
Mrs Choudhry was presiding over the seventh meeting of the Board here today..
It was informed in the meeting that the Board had given notices to 159 Aravalli Hills defaulters and five prosecution cases have been filed against the defaulters so far.
She directed the officials to take strict actions against the defaulters. She had been touring the Aravalli Hills area and had found out that violations were being made despite the strict guidelines of the Supreme Court of India. All defaulters would be punished severely and such activities would be stopped completely.
The Minister urged the Regional Officers of the Board to deal with the pollution problem with strictness and sincerity as pollution free environment is the need of the hour. She directed all the regional officers to appoint environment wardens in each ward in order to keep a check on the use of plastic bags and products. She asked them to spread awareness through rallies and to conduct various wakeful activities pertaining to environment in the State. She also asked the officers to submit a detailed report of the various activities which included awareness campaigns, functioning of the Eco Clubs in accordance to the calendar of events issued by the Board.
Mrs Choudhry said that Head office of the Board would issue no-objection-certificates (NOC) on pollution angle to units having an investment of over Rs 5 crore. These units included hot mix plant, stone crushers, construction projects which had a discharge of 10 KLD or more, units covered under Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification. Units which had an investment of less than Rs 5 crore would be issued NOC on pollution angle by the District Level Clearance Committee (DLCC) headed by the respective Deputy Commissioners as per the Haryana Industrial Promotion Rules 2007. The Units included brick kilns and other plants machineries.
She directed the Board to prosecute the environment violators under the law, failing which the concerned official would be penalized for negligence. She stressed that Bio-medical waste should be disposed off with utmost care and ensure that various medical institutions were adhering to the disposal rules and regulations in the State.
The Minister directed the Board to formulate a proper NOC procedure and make it available online, she said that each stage should be properly explained in order to maintain transparency. She also asked the officers to amend the notification on the functioning of the stone crushers of the state to clearly list the norms and criteria for closure and functioning of the Stone Crushers.
She asked ROs to expedite the awareness campaigns in their districts through young children and disseminate more finances to the ECO clubs. She said that it was very important to sensitize the children on the various environmental issues as they were the future guardians of the Environment.

Mega Thermal Power plant in jhajjar

Sept. 17- The expert committee of Ministry of Environment & Forests (MOE&F) has accorded environmental clearance for the proposed 1320 MW Mega Thermal Power Project at Jhajjar on the basis of super critical technology. This has paved the way for the establishment of such projects in the State with supercritical technology.The supercritical technology projects involve the generation of steam at higher temperature and higher pressure leading to higher efficiency levels in the generation of electricity also. Because of higher efficiency the cost of generation also comes down in the long run.A spokesman for the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd. said here today that the senior officers of MOE&F in a meeting with the HPGCL discussed the issue in detail and agreed with the proposal. Earlier, environmental clearance for setting up the project with sub critical technology was conveyed by the MOE&F. He said that the detail project report and the presentation was prepared by the team of officers headed by Chief of Operations, HPGCL, Mr J.C. Kinra, Technical Consultant, R.S. Bhatti and S.E. Technical, H.R. Satija. He said that the proposed project to be set up by CLP Power would be the first project of its kind in northern region. Recently, Union Power Secretary, Mr Anil Razdan has also emphasized the need for setting up of the projects with super critical technology in the country. Supercritical design boilers are environment friendly and use less coal to generate the same amount of electricity.The 1320 MW Jhajjar project would have two units of 660 MW each. The first unit of the project is expected to be commissioned by December,2011 and the second unit by April, 2012. The State would get more than 300 lac units of electricity daily after commissioning of these units, he added.

2 day training program on energy auditing in buildings.

Chandigarh, 9 September: Haryana has the credit of being one of the front runner State in the field of energy conservation and renewable energy. Haryana has a potential of saving about 500 MW electricity through energy conservation and the State Government is taking necessary measures to tap this potential. This was stated by Principal Secretary, Power and Renewable Energy Departments, Mr Ashok Lavasa, while inaugurating a two day Training Programme on Energy Auditing in Buildings at Panchkula near here today. He said that there is a need to sensitize all public about the judicious use of energy so that it can be utilised for gainful applications and also conserved for future generation.He said that urbanisation is inevitable in a developing country. However, we should find ways for sustainable urbanisation and energy conservation should be developed as a habit in every citizen. The workshop was organised by the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) in collaboration with European Union and National Productivity Council under the European Union-India Sustainable Energy Efficiency Initiative (EISEEI).Director, Renewable Energy and HAREDA, Mrs Sumita Misra briefly presented the achievements of the department. She said that buildings are a major consumer of electricity and with growing urbanisation, there is a great potential for energy conservation in the building sector. Energy audit in buildings is the first step towards saving energy in buildings. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Gerhard Weihs, Head, Centric Austria International Vienna, Austria said that about 27 per cent energy in buildings could be saved through sustainable building design and operational features. He said that we should adopt best practices for replication in our buildings to make them more comfortable and energy efficient. Director (Energy Management), National Productivity Council(NPC), New Delhi, Mr D. Pawan Kumarmade a presentation on Energy Audit techniques. In this training programme Regional Director, NPC, Kolkatta, Mr A.K. Sinha, was also a key speaker.