Home

Contact Us

May, 2005
Back to index

Tiger babies bring joy, hope to Kolkata zoo

     Kolkata: It's celebration time at India's eastern Calcutta zoo as their most prized possession, two newborn tiger cubs, one of them white, made their first appearance to the media on Tuesday. The stork came calling to their oldest feline Krishna, named after a Hindu God, in March and since then almost the entire zoo has been busy ensuring the well being of the newborns. The little ones along with their mother have been transferred to a special extra-room enclosure. The entire family is on regular vaccines and a high-protein milk diet with some extra beef dishes thrown in for the nursing mummy. The first few months are extremely crucial for all big cat babies as they are susceptible to infection and could also face rejection by the mother. Subir Kumar Chowdhury, director of the Alipore zoo, was overjoyed that despite all odds, these cubs have progressed well and are healthy. "Including these two cubs, the Alipore zoo has 13 number of tigers out of which seven are normal coloured and six are white tigers," he said. Chowdhury is quick to caution that the tiger family still has a long way to go as the risk period for cubs is at least one year. The two cubs will have to be given continued medical and even psychological care for them to be able to tide through the risk period. India, which has almost half the world's surviving tigers, has in recent months been rocked by tiger disappearances in sanctuaries and mounting concern over their dwindling numbers. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has set up a task force to ensure their safety. Killing of tigers, although banned in India, has been going on under cover as a single one can fetch up to 50,000 dollars in the international market. A century ago, there were an estimated 40,000 tigers in India. Now, some wildlife experts say there are barely 2,000 and the official government census about 3,700. Exact figures are almost impossible because of the shy nature of the big cats.The government keeps no detailed records on poaching, most of which goes unreported anyway.
- May 17, 2005

Ford Corporation to make ski village in Kullu (Go to Top)

     Kullu (Himachal Pradesh): Himachal Pradesh's picturesque hill resort of Kullu is brimming with hope and excitement of more trade and employment as the U.S.-based Ford Corporation finalises plans with the state government for a 250 million dollar ski village. The project is expected to treble the tourist inflow to this scenic state. Tourism officials said that they are yet to finalise several aspects of the proposed resort project to be located at 8,500 feet above the sea level near Manali in the Kullu Valley. John Robert Sims, Managing Director, Ford Corporation, said around 100 hectares of land would be required to build a five star hotel, parks, shopping malls and a ski slope to enable Winter Olympics in the vicinity of the world class ski resort. Sims said the main purpose of starting such eco-friendly projects in the state is to boost tourism, which forms the backbone of the state's economy. "It will bring to India a first fully integrated world class resort. We will have around 600 rooms, be spending more than 1,000 crore rupees. We will be showcasing, as I said, beautiful architecture of the Himalayas. It will put Himachal Pradesh on the world tourism map on equal par as Rajasthan and Kerala," said Sims. Residents are hopeful that once the construction work for this project gets underway, it will create more than 2,000 jobs. Teja Thakur, a national skier, said this would also give a boost to adventure sports. "This will give employment to the locals and tourism will double as they will hold marketing on the global level. And this will give impetus to Kullu valley," said Thakur.

      The proposal for the project was received last year in Shimla as part of measures to attract private investments in the tourism sector. The project builder, Ford Corporation, though not a part of the world famous Ford Motors, is, however, owned by the same family. Himachal Pradesh boasts of some of the country's best ski slopes. There are 2.5 kms of runs, with black, red and blue routes for beginners. Nearly four million tourists visit the state every year and the figure has been increasing by about 15 percent every year. The state government is expected to soon announce its new tourism policy which envisaged integrated development of the sector including building on road, rail and air connectivity, parking, accommodation, recreation, sports, adventure and pilgrimage facilities. Focus will also be on construction of more budget tourist accommodation, village tourism by involving local youth and development of new tourist destinations. The grant of essentiality certificate for purchase of land would also be made easier. The state tourist development corporation would run luxury buses for tourists in tribal areas through special packages and organise events like great marathon run, apple blossom festival, paragliding, bird watching festival, river rafting and himachal food festival, to attract more tourists. Besides, the film industry would be wooed to give wider exposure to the state. The new policy would also focus on pilgrimage tourism besides health, heritage, ecoand adventure tourism. Besides, efforts would be made to expand and improve the existing airports at Shimla, Kullu and Kangra to accommodate landing of bigger aircrafts.
- May 17, 2005

Poor water supply in Bharatpur (Go to Top)

     Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has issued a notice on Monday to state government in the matter of detention of water flow from Bayana to Bharatpur, particulary to the Ghana bird sanctuary. On a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Sheetal Prasad Sharma on May 5, division bench comprising Mr.Justices S K Keshot and Ajay Rostogi directed the state's Advocate General to inquire into the matter and assist the court. Show cause notices were also issued to the chief engineer, irrigation department, executive engineer, irrigation, Bayana and the District Collector of Bharatpur. The petitioner's advocate Udai Pradeep Gaur told the court that the state government has allowed construction of 35 anicuts in the Bayana sub-division resulting into detention of water flow to Bharatpur and in particular to Ghana sanctuary. Gaur contended that the construction of the anicuts was allowed due to political reasons. The construction of one anicut will result in detention of 10 lakh cubic feet ton of water and the state government has proposed to spent around Rs. 223.50 lakh on the project.
- May 16, 2005

Railway platform ticket to cost Rs.5 from June 1 (Go to Top)

     New Delhi: The Railway Ministry on Monday announced a hike in the price of platform tickets from Rs 3 to Rs 5 beginning June 1. The move is expected to considerably enhance revenues at major stations like New Delhi, which sells 30,000 to 50,000 platform tickets daily during the peak holiday season. "The hike is also meant to be a deterrent as passengers are received or seen off by hordes of relatives, which leads to overcrowding and littering of platforms," a ministry official said.
-May 16, 2005

Back to index                            Go to Top