The Army proposes to undertake three selected sites on the lake, covering about 120 hectares, for hyacinth removal. These patches have been identified aftr sound scientific reasoning and consultations with experts at the World Wide Fund for Nature-India and officials of the Punjab wildlife department.Governor of Punjab J F R Jacon and chief minister Prakash Singh Badal will inaugurate the project scheduled to be launched today at Harike, Ferozepur. Lt Gen. Vijay Oberoi, general officer commanding-in-chief, Western Command, experts from WWF-India and the Bombay Natural Historical Society, and a number of senior officers of the Army and Punjab government will attend the function.

Harike is one of the six wetlands of international importance in India, designated as a ramsarsite. The lake came into being in 1952 as a result of the construction of a barrage at the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas rivers. Since then, it has been supporting a wide variety of rare and endangered species of birds and animals.

WWF-India asks Censor Board to prevent films propagating mythsTHE World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) has appealed to the Censor Board to take a lead in preventing screening of films and television serials propagating myths about snakes and other reptiles.

Coming down heavily on the cruelty that snakes were subjected to in India, especially during Naag Panchami, WWF has appealed to the competent authorities in a release, to prevent prevalent misconceptions about snakes being promoted through Indian cinema and television serials.

In a statement from Mumbai, WWF-India warned people to refrain from feeding snakes with milk during Naag Panchami on August 4, since the practice had caused the death of thousands of snakes, mainly cobras, in the country.``Snakes are not at all adapted to drinking milk and digesting it as popularly believed. The reptiles have sharp teeth with which they feed only on live prey like rats, frogs, small snakes and mammals. These are swallowed whole and digested with the help of strong digestive juices,'' it said.However, snakes are often kept without food and water for days together before Naag Panchami. In many cases, the mouth of the snake is stitched so that it cannot feed itself. The venom gland is also punctured with hot iron rods. As a result, the defanged snakes are unable to kill their prey.

Industrial estates to be set up for polluting units in Haryana
The Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation will set up industrial estates for industries discharging polluting effluents and liquid waste at various locations in the state.

The decision was taken at a meeting of board of directors of the corporation held in Chandigarh recently. Vishnu Bhagwan, principal secretary to the chief minister and also chairman of the corporation, said after the meeting that the main industries in this sector were textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers, paints, dyes and electroplating. He said the initiative had been taken by the corporation to attract such entrepreneurs from Delhi, who had been asked by the Supreme court to shift their polluting units outside the national capital.

A hosiery and textile park has already been developed by the corporation near Gannaur in Sonepat district, where applications have already been invited for allotment of industrial plots.

He said these estates would be developed for polluting industries by forming clusters of similar industries, producing almost similar kinds of effluents and liquid waste. Such industrial estates, where a cluster approach was adopted to maintain the ecology of the area, were commonly known as industrial ecological parks. The industrial effluents in these estates was treated and discharged by setting up common effluent treatment plants, he said.