Didigiri stalls Kolkata

Mamata Didi celebrates her victory in the Lok Sabha Elections and brings Kolkata to a grinding halt.

200 acres of mangroves wiped out

In what could be one of the biggest destruction of mangroves in the Mumbai metropolitan region, around 200 acres of verdant mangroves in Vasai creek in the Mira-Bhyander belt have been systematically wiped out in a span of just one year. Truckloads of construction debris and garbage were being dumped near the creek. Kachcha roads were being cut deep into the mangrove area so that trucks carrying garbage could go deep into the mangrove forest. When questioned, the truck driver said that they were dumping the garbage on the instructions of the municipal corporation. The western coast has around 8,000 hectares of mangroves, out of which around 3,000 hectares are on the 47 km-long Vasai creek alone. But over the past one year, a large stretch of mangroves here have been reclaimed by builders, allegedly in connivance with the MBMC. Greens say that lot of damage has already been done . “They have reclaimed hundreds of acres of land which had mangroves . This creek is a haven for migratory birds and breeding ground for fishes. The fishing community in Uttan says that they have been seeing a decrease in their catch,” Joseph Gonsalves, an environmental activist, said. The Ulhas river that enters from Thane district through the neighbouring Raigad joins the Vasai creek and then joins the Arabian Sea. The 47-km Vasai creek had around 3,000 hectares of mangroves. Of this, half has been destroyed. There is a 10,000 strong fishing community that stays near the creek and the verdant mangroves form a virtual rampart against tidal instabilities and preserve the fragile eco-system.

India lacks killer instinct

Mumbai police commissioner D Sivanandan has said unlike Israel, which reacts to any terror attack promptly, India lacked the killer instinct against those who carry out such attacks. “For thousands of years, we have been passively witnessing terror attacks. We never went to fight with anybody. That’s what our main problem is and we lack the killer instinct,’’ he said. “We cannot go and wage a war against Pakistan, China or anybody else. But Israel never keeps quiet. Israelis go on their flights, bombard the fellows (enemies), come back and keep quiet. But when we become aggressive, we face international pressure.’’

Off the beaten track in Rajasthan

They may not have the romance of Udaipur or Jaisalmer, but the towns of Deeg and Kaman in Bharatpur district possess every ingredient for a perfect tourist rendezvous. Realising the potential of the two towns of Braj region, chief minister Ashok Gehlot is planning to develop them as heritage towns by adding sheen to the dozens of nearby sites belonging to epic period, which are on the brink of extinction. Besides being an important destination in the Braj region, Deeg was the summer resort of the royal family of Bharatpur. Kaman is a very old town situated to the north of Bharatpur. It is considered to be a sacred town of Hindus. The remains of a temple/mosque consisting of 84 pillars, named ‘Chourasi Khamaba’ still exist here.

Adlabs co rejigs moon footage

The startlingly refreshed images of the first landing on the moon are the handiwork of the subsidiary of an Indian firm. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has given the onerous task to remaster the footage of the 1969 moon landing to a subsidiary of Adlabs Films, owned by the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group. Nasa is to spend $230,000 to have the images restored. The ‘‘one giant step for mankind’’ is turning out to be another for digital and video entertainment. The restoration of the footage work started in May 2009 and is handled by Lowry Digital Corporation, a Hollywood film company, a 100% subsidiary of Adlabs Films. Reliance Big Entertainment had acquired Lowry Digital Images business in April 2008. Nasa unveiled restored tapes a couple of days ago to mark the 40th anniversary celebration of the landing. The images are startling: there is no fuzziness of Neil Armstrong and ‘Buzz’ Aldrin skipping across the moon and planting the US flag. And for the first time, there is a clear reflection of the lunar landscape in Armstrong’s visor.

Reva plans largest unit

Reva Electric Car Company (RECC), India’s leading electric car manufacturer, is planning to build a second manufacturing plant, which some say will be the largest electric car facility globally. The new facility is expected to be over five times the size of its existing facility in the Bommasandra Industrial Area. The new facility would have an installed capacity of around 30,000 units to begin with. The facility is expected to be operational in the next two years. “There has been a number of research findings that indicate that by 2015, around 5% of the total car sales in the country would be of electric vehicles. Hence, we need to scale up in order to ride the growth wave,” said a company source. Globally too, climate change concerns have sharply increased the appeal of electric cars. The Tamil Nadu government recently allotted 100 acres of land to Bavina Cars India, to set up a Rs 300 crore electric car manufacturing facility, with a capacity of 25,000 units.

Somewhere in Orissa....

It’s not just people living in low-lying areas who are scurrying for cover because of torrential rain lashing Orissa .The Sun temple at Konark, a world heritage site, too, has fallen victim to the heavy downpour triggered by low pressure over the Bay of Bengal, with knee-deep water surrounding it.