21 PEACOCKS DIE IN SIKAR DISTRICT
Jaipur: At least 21 peacocks were found dead in Sikar district following bacterial infection, forest officials said today.
The carcasses of 11 peacocks were recovered from village Khirod and 10
from village Kudan in the district during the last 24 hours, they said. The
post-mortem conducted on two birds found dead in Chachiwad Bada village last week revealed
that they had been suffering from pneumonitis and gastroenteritis, they said.
Efforts are being made to give anti-biotic drugs to the birds, the
forest officials added. The infection is afflicting other birds also, experts working with
the Rajasthan Agricultural University said.
Wildlife experts said it appeared that the infection had assumed an epidemic proportion among the birds in Sikar district.
New Delhi: THE HIGH Court (HC) on Tuesday issued notices to the Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) and chief secretary (CS) of the Delhi Government on a petition, which sought direction to the authorities to take immediate steps to control emission level of Suspended Particulate Matters (SPM) at the Indraprastha Thermal Power Station. A division bench comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice AK Sikri asked the respondents to file their replies by May 8, the next date of hearing.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by advocate BL Wadhera also calls for increasing Plant Load Factor (PLF) of unit-V of the power station, which has ranged from 17.7 to 55.9 per cent in the past five years against the national average of 64.2 per cent.
The PIL also called for necessary steps to complete the work relating to installatiol1 of Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs) which should have been implemented by December 1995. The installation of ESPs are necessary to control the emission of SPMs in the flue gases coming out from coal fired boilers in the thermal power stations.
The delay in installation of the ESPs has resulted in continued agonised suffering of the residents of the national capital due to increased level of pollution caused by excessive emission of SPMs into atmosphere," the PIL alleged.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has prescribed the maximum limit of 150 milligrams per normal cubic metre for emission SPM concentration.
But the maximum emission level of unit-V, in the absence of ESPs, ranged from 495 to 811 milligrams per normal cubic metres in the past five years ending 1998-99 with percentage in crease, of 230 to 441 over the prescribed limit fixed by the DPCC.
The PIL said, due to delay in completion of installation of new ESPs and renovation of boilers, 65 per cent of PLF could not be achieved. This resulted not only in continued excessive emission of SPM causing air pollution but also in loss of potential power generation due to running the plant at reduced load to the extent of 591 milligrams per normal cubic metres valued at Rs 172.69 crore (on an average sale rate) upto March 1999.