K S ANANDAN
CHENNAII
The Rs 450 crore Numeric Power Systems Ltd, a leading player in power electronics and UPS systems in India, is implementing a forward integration project to add additional solar energy generation, entering into LED solution and precision air conditioning.

Puducherry,

MONITOR lizards, an endangered species, are being poached in Tamil Nad u and sold in canteens here. After seizing two monitor lizards last Friday , the Department of Forest and Wildlife has seized six monitor lizards on Monday morning at Villianur.

HOTELS and hostels in the Union Territory are saving on LPG by cooking food with bio-gas (Methane) generated from human waste. On an average, eight to 10 LPG commercial cylinders are saved per month, users say . The advantage of bio-gas is that resources required for it are generated locally and the only probable cost is the installation expenses of the plant and the gas stove with modified burners. "The whole process is eco-friendly and there is no odour," says Project Director, Renewable Energy Agency of Pondicherry, D Selvi.

Tourism Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told the Assembly on Tuesday special tourism initiatives for Chennai-Mahabalipuram-Puducherry would start soon after holding talks with the Tamil Nadu Tourism department. Replying to the debate on demands, he said the department would take steps to obtain permission to start boat rides along the beach at a cost of Rs. 1 crore.

The Coimbatore-based Sabols, a leading packaged drinking water company in South India, is repositioning itself as Sabols Foods India Pvt Ltd to tap the growing ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook food market in the country. "We want to be a pan Indian company catering to the discerning, quality conscious consumers across the country,' KM Senthil, chairman said.

Local bodies and their representatives have a crucial and paramount role to play in the protection of biodiversity and in the conservation of fauna and flora, according to National Biodiversity Authority chairman S Kannaiyan. There were 15,000 different types of medicinal plants in the country, and 429 varieties were facing threat of extinction, he said. Medicinal plants, available abundantly in the rural areas, needed to be conserved and the local bodies should document them, he said.

While the consumers are unhappy with the regular price rises in petrol and the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs)