M Rafi Ahmed | ENS Coimbatore M Yoganathan is in his elements on Route No 92. The conductor ushers people to their seats on his bus between Marudamalai and Cheran Mahanagar. Professional chore done, passion takes over. The eco activist in him surfaces and tries to bring passengers closer to appreciating nature. His affable nature gets him passengers' ears, eyes and hearts. Having lived and tasted nature's bounty , Yoganathan was pained to see cutting of trees at Kotagiri in the Nilgiris. He resolved to protect and preserve nature.

Organisation to share technology on creating bags using husk with the Bharathiar University Coimbatore THE Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is likely to share the knowhow on manufacturing bio-degradable bags, using husk as an alternative to plastic, with Bharathiar University (BU). The interesting fact came to light in the first senate meeting of the current academic year at BU, held on the varsity campus on Friday.

ANXIOUS MOMENTS Tremor felt at parts of Nungambakkam, Kodambakkam, T Nagar, Koyambedu and Padi at 5.10 pm on Friday; epicentre at Andaman Islands; measured 6.7 on the Richter scale Chennai THE mild tremors in a few places in the city took people by surprise and rumour-mongers had a field day sending panic SMSs and offices of newspapers were flooded with telephone calls seeking to know the correct position. This newspaper received a dozen calls in a span of about one hour from 6 pm.

K.V. Prasad COIMBATORE: Students of 90 schools in the city brought plastic carry bags from home and handed them over to members of the Residents' Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC) at their institutions on Thursday as part of an ongoing drive against non-biodegradable varieties of plastic that could harm the environment.

The municipal corporation in Coimbatore, whose anti-plastics campaign has been de railed by a high court stay order, could learn something from an ongoing initiative across the country, at Guwahati. The two are based on different premises, if aimed at the same end, but this is an issue where any useful thinking is welcome. The Coimbatore initiative, as we have reported, was to ban any use or sale of plastic bags (upto a certain thickness), tumblers, plates and other throw-away items; in a welcome change, the campaign began and got going with strong all-party political backing.

IF you want to have round-the-clock electricity, then you may install domestic wind turbines in your household. Coimbatore-based International Consultant and Management Services (ICMS) will provide the technology for installation of ICMS-UE series domestic wind turbines. The turbines will convert wind energy into electrical power for domestic use. "The machine comes under four different models namely 600 watt, 1500, 3300 and 4200 watt, all useful for Indian standard house utensils and costs between Rs 80,000 and Rs 3 lakh,'' said R C Ravi, director of ICMS.

In an effort to make people aware of the rapid and alarming change in the environment worldwide, Tripura State Pollution Control Board along with Centre for Media Studies (CMS) and Cine Delve, a film society of Agartala will screen a series of special films here on September 26 next. The Agartala film fest will actually be a part of country-wide similar show to be organized by CMS. Besides Agartala six other selected State capitals

Two combined drinking water supply projects will be completed in municipalities in Coimbatore district, Local Administration Minister M.K.Stalin announced in the Assembly on Wednesday. A combined drinking water supply scheme for Kuruchi, Kuniamuthur municipalities and Kinathukkadavu town panchayat will be completed at a cost of Rs.49.93 crore in December this year, he said. This will benefit 45,000 people in the region. A combined water supply scheme taken up in the district will benefit Goundanpalayam municipality and Vadavalli town panchyat.

Wet Runs: There are 32 ongoing water projects with private sector participation, as also 22 hydro power projects with private participation. Some 20 states are undertaking water sector reforms.
Farm Woe: Net irrigated area in India is 55 mn ha against a net crop area of 142 mn ha.

Fast Dwindling: Forest cover has gone down by 1,409 sq km between 2003 and 2005.

An 18-year-old elephant was found dead on the banks of the Bhavani in the Periyanaickenpalayam range, 40 km from here, on Friday. A team led by veterinarian N.S. Manoharan and Range Officer Panneerselvam, after a post-mortem, suspected bacterial infection.