Kabar lake reduced by 66 per cent since 2004   Kabar Lake Patna: according to reports, Kabar Lake, the state’s largest freshwater wetland ecosystem, is shrinking each year, while funds for its conservation continue to rot for the past two decades. Ashok Ghosh, the professor in-charge of the department of environment and water management, AN College, conducted a study at Kabar Lake in March this year. The studies revealed that the lake has reduced by 66 per cent since 2004 and only 30 per cent of the original coverage area, as recorded in 1984, is left. Dr Ghosh said ‘Kabar Tal (wetland)... 

How girls from arsenic-hit villages can’t get married: along the UP-Bihar border!   Saran/Ballia: according to a recent report based on a survey in the villages along the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border, arsenic does not just poison the human body. It is also poisoning human relationships! There is thus a social aspect to the arsenic problem caused by excessive lifting of under ground water that leads to higher concentrations of arsenic in the aquifers. A first report of its kind, however gives the readers the alarming idea of the extent to which arsenic is affecting daily lives on the... 

Engineering vs environment: now a debate over what to do with Gandhi Bridge, Patna Patna: according to reports, the Gandhi Setu in Patna is now a subject of debate among the engineering experts. The National Highways Authority of India [NHAI] took the decision recently to assume the responsibility for its rehabilitation only last fortnight when Union ministry of road transport and highways secretary A K Upadhyaya visited Patna. . Soon after the visit, an NHAI expert team visited Patna to take a close look at the condition of 29-year-old bridge and work out a plan for its overhaul/repair.... 

Gyanesh Pandey of Bihar’s Husk Power receives the ‘Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy’ London: latest reports from UK and India mention that two companies from India – Abellon Clean Energy Ltd. and Husk Power Systems have been declared winners of this year’s ‘Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy’ at an Awards ceremony in London addressed by Greg Barker, UK Government Minister for Climate Change. The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Ashden Awards, recently congratulated the international winners in a meeting and said “The Ashden Awards show what it is possible... 

Motihari’s Motijheel finds savior: National Lake Conservation Plan grants Rs 100 crore to revive it Motihari: according to latest reports, Motihari’s Motijheel [Moti Lake] that garlands the town giving the town a rather poetic name [meaning garland of pearls] has finally found a savior. The central government will spend a sum of Rs 100 crores on the reivival of the sizeable lake that has attracted land sharks and other casual encroachers for decades. Once a scenic feature, the lake is now cluttered with Water Hyacinth and mounds of debris offloaded by the surrounding settlements, letting... 

Pollution of Sariswa water from Nepal: Sariswa Nadi Bachao Andolan (SNBA) to stage dharna Raxaul, Patna: according to reports in the Patna press, people in the town of Raxaul in West Champaran will block the Nepal highway for a day to protest against the Nepal government for unchecked dumping of toxic industrial waste in Sariswa river. The ongoing movement, organized as the Sariswa Nadi Bachao Andolan (SNBA), has decided on a protest dharna on the NH 28A and block movement of the traffic to and fro Nepal. Anil Sinha, one of the leaders of the movement told a reporter ‘we have been forced...