The state environment department

The state environment department has kept in abeyance its notification to make production of vehicle pollution control certificate mandatory for getting diesel following a strike threat by petrol pump owners.

Alipore zoo will not give Nandankanan a replacement for Sundar, the 11-year-old giraffe that died while being transported to Orissa. "We have decided not to give another giraffe to Nandankanan, not after knowing that callousness led to Sundar's death,' forest minister Ananta Roy said on Monday. The minister said the team from Nandankanan did not adhere to basic safety norms while transporting the giraffe to Orissa from Alipore zoo as part of an exchange programme.

Owing to the increasing mobile towers atop residential buildings, schools, hostels and hospitals, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) has decided that they will not allow indiscriminate installation of mobile towers atop newly planned buildings as the electromagnetic radiation emitted by them are harmful for human body.

Peta working for animal rights, has demanded that the Alipore Zoo should be closed down by the government for its alleged mishandling of animals. A giraffe died after being electrocuted while being taken from the Alipore zoo to the Nandankanan Zoo in Bhubaneswar.

Water tax in Salt Lake will be a reality only after water meters are installed in all commercial and residential buildings of the satellite township. A decision in this regard was taken at the board-of-councillors meeting of the Bidhannagar Municipality, today. This comes as a deviation from the municipality's previous decision where it was supposed to collect water tax from residential houses on the basis of property tax rates. Ferrule size was the determinant for commercial buildings until water meters are installed.

In a bid to save wild animals from getting killed after being hit by trains in north Bengal, the state will urge the Centre to ask the railways to follow norms while running trains through the forests of the area. State forest minister, Mr Ananta Roy, today said at Writers' Buildings that a number of elephants and other wild animals like snakes and bison were killed in north Bengal over the past few years after these were hit by speeding trains.

An 11-year-old male giraffe died after being electrocuted at Bagnan in Howrah yesterday. It was being transported to Nandankanan, in Orissa from Alipore Zoo. A senior zoo official said a low-bed trailer was used to ferry the giraffe. Zoo authorities received a call on Thursday night from Nandankanan saying that the animal was injured following an electric shock. Sundar was brought back to the city on Friday and it died in the zoo around 9.50 p.m. yesterday. The giraffe was buried after an autopsy. A probe has been ordered. SNS

Although the panchayat elections have ended, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is still feeling the after-effects with delayed work projects. There has been a labour shortage since many workers went back to their homes to vote which has been delaying the dredging work being carried out by the civic body in collaboration with the state government. Officials felt they are fighting a losing battle to avoid water logging in the city during the monsoon.

KOLKATA - Clearance from the fire services would henceforth be mandatory for issuing trade licenses for shopping malls, multiplexes, cinema halls and restaurants in Kolkata Municipal Corporation areas.