IPPAI Conference,April 10 - Ancillary Services, New Technology and Alternate options

Moves afoot to form task force under the Revenue Department. The Industries Department is understood to have mooted a proposal for constituting a task force under the Mining and Geology Department to check the exploitation and transportation of metals and minerals.

The trial run of the solar panel installation at the buildings constructed by Kerala Public Works Department (PWD) has been completed and now a project is being prepared for the massive conversion.

The budget of Alappuzha Municipality for 2013-14, presented by vice-chairman B. Ansari on Tuesday failed to address the region’s pressing drinking water problem.

Scientists Work On Breeds That Can Resist Climate Change

Researchers based at the Rice Research Station at Mankombu here are working on new hybrid derivatives of rice seeds, which could withstand the vagaries of climate change, salinity and waterlogging in eco-fragile regions like Kuttanad. A recent World Bank commissioned report had warned that the world was moving to a one degree celsius increase in mean temperature, and this would create extreme heatwaves and life-threatening rise in sea levels. The study also pointed out that coastal and wetland areas near the sea would be the most affected, creating havoc in the prevalent eco-system.

‘Stakeholders, State Govts Should Together Protect All Ramser Sites’

Thiruvananthapuram: Various stakeholders and state governments should come together to protect all Ramser-recognized wetland sites in the country, Infosys CEO Shibulal said. He was speaking at the first national seminar on Ramsar sites and wetland conservation in Alappuzha. India has 26 designated Ramsar sites and wetlands of international importance, with a total surface area of 6,89,131 hectares. While Kashmir, with four sites, tops the number of Ramsar sites in the country, Kerala, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have three such sites each.

As summer sets in the next few weeks and many districts are staring at a severe drought, the slogan for World Wetlands Day this year -- Wetlands take care of water -- is a portent for the future.

Alarmed by this year’s scanty rainfall and the drying up of water reserves in several parts of the State, the office of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has forwarded a recommendation to the State government to this effect.

The scarce northeast monsoon has failed to make up for the shortfall in the southwest spell during the past two years. The southwest monsoon’s share of rainfall this year was the lowest in the last seven years.

In a bid to arrest the rapid depletion of mangroves, the state forest department has mooted a proposal to acquire mangroves in private land along the Kerala coast, perhaps for the first time in the

Kidagamparambu ward in Alappuzha municipality will be declared a ‘total Nirmal ward’ under a project for waste management with biogas generation under the slogan ‘Nirmal Bhavanam — Nirmal Nagaram,’

The ‘Kidagamparambu model’ of waste management could be the answer to the growing garbage menace in the State.

Over 100 biogas plants have been set up in Kidagamparambu ward comprising 850 houses. Nearly 300 houses are treating waste at the source, with each biogas plant capable of treating the waste generated in five houses. The plant produces biogas which can be used as fuel for cooking, saving plant owners the money spent on buying cooking gas. The initiative with the slogan, ‘Clean house, clean city’ was conceptualised by T.M. Thomas Isaac, MLA.