Officials of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) have served a three-day notice to Parwanoo-based Pronto Industries for causing air pollution in the area.

Reacting to a news item published in these columns, where the plight of residents of nearby villagers, including Dhagger, Taksal and Dangiar, who had been facing the brunt of air pollution, the officials of the SPCB issued a notice to the unit. Confirming this, Deepak Aggarwal, executive engineer of the Board, said since the unit had been served notices time and again to ensure that smoke was not let-out in the early morning and evenings when people went for walks, a short-time notice had now been served to the unit directing them to furnish their reply following which the case for disconnection of their power connection would be recommended to the head office in Shimla.

Notwithstanding the implementation of the Himachal Pradesh Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, the measure has failed to check overexploitation of groundwater du

New NHAI guidelines delay work on road projects

New National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) guidelines making forest clearance and acquisition of minimum quantum of land mandatory before inviting bids is delaying road projects to be executed in the public-private partnership mode. As per the guidelines, a project will be cleared for tendering only after the authorities concerned complete the process of acquisition under Section 3(A) of the National Highways Act and acquire at least 60 per cent of the land under Section 3(D) of the Act.

Harmful chemicals like lead, arsenic, poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic carbon and elemental carbon, besides an alarming level of particulate matter (PM) of 2.5 and 10 aerodynamic diameter, have been detected in the industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) in a latest study conducted by IIT Kanpur.

These findings have been highlighted in a preliminary study on “Environment Pollution Sources and their Apportionment to Ambient Environment”, a copy of which is available with The Tribune.

The Union Minister of Agriculture has accorded administrative approval for the implementation of a Pilot Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBICS) for rabi 2012-13 season.

Higher parts of Himachal Pradesh witnessed unseasonal snowfall on Tuesday while several other parts of the State received heavy rain as the monsoon remained active in the region.

Lahaul and Spiti districts received snowfall during the month of September after 21 years, while Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft), the sprawling Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra, Sarchu, Kunzam, Baralacha and Chansel passes also got snowfall.

Solan: Rains have damaged various roads and bridges worth several crores of rupees in Solan and Sirmaur districts.

Solan: With a view to enhancing the area under forests by 10 million hectares in the next 10 years across the country, a national mission to develop forests by restocking land and planting trees on

SHIMLA: Unusually hot and dry conditions this summer have turned the green hills of Himachal Pradesh into a tinderbox - literally.