Council unveils future vision for Melbourne

Melbourne City Council has unveiled its vision for the city for the next 20 years.

It predicts the population of the inner city will grow to 1.1 million people by 2030.

Several areas have been earmarked for intensive development.

New residential zones will be built in Elizabeth Street and around transport hubs in Kensington, West Melbourne and the E gate site near the Docklands.

Councillor Peter Clarke says renewing existing city spaces will be the key.

“We are looking to accommodate that through a range of urban renewal projects whether they be projects called E gate or other intensification projects around Elizabeth Street or through the Moonie Ponds corridor,” he said.

But he stresses heritage areas of Melbourne will be protected.

The council’s seeking public comment on its plan before finalising the strategy in 18 months.

Good response to auction of ornaments offered at Ganesha Puja

Mumbai, Sep 9 (ANI): The organising committee of the famed ‘Lalbag ka Raja’ community Ganesha Puja pandal commenced the auctioning of various ornaments which were offered by devotees during the ten-day festival of Ganesha Chaturthi.

Ornaments worth rupees 26,94,155 lakh were bought by the bidding buyers.

Devotees from across the country had offered precious stones, gold and silver jewelleries.he Treasurer of the organising committee said that the response from the buyers who happen to be ardent devotees was overwhelming.

“We received a very good response. We sold 78 different ornaments worth rupees 26,94,155 lakh in the auction,” said Sanjay Vijay Ghadekar, Treasurer, ‘Lalbag Ka Raja’ Puja Committee.

Buyers considered themselves fortunate enough to own the auspicious ornaments.

“I bought this necklace for rupees 1,72,000. My belief is that if we buy gold from here then the rest of year goes well and brings blessings to our family,” said Dilip Sardesai, a buyer.

At the end of the 10-day long festival, the idols of Lord Ganesha were taken in grand processions and immersed in water bodies such as wells, ponds, rivers and the sea. (ANI)

Some Aussie frogs raise pitch of love songs to counter traffic noise

Washington, Aug 26 (ANI): Some Aussie frogs often raise their pitch as they serenade their partners, in order to counter traffic sounds, according to a study.

Kirsten Parris, an ecologist at the University of Melbourne, says that one species of frog in Melbourne is changing the pitch of its love song to be heard above the roar of the road.

For the study, Parris visited many urban ponds and pools inhabited by frogs, measuring traffic noise, which is, unfortunately, at the same low frequencies as many frog mating calls.

But, for the onomatopoeic ‘pobblebonk’ (Limnodynastes dumerilii), she found that a call that could originally be heard by a female 800 metres away might only carry 98 metres above 60 decibels of traffic noise, an average value for Melbourne.

She has also discovered that the southern brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii) seems to be compensating for the traffic noise by increasing the pitch of its calls1 (listen to before and after calls).

Parris suggested that installing noise barriers at strategic points around a road could help urban frogs to hear each other.

She further said that creating habitats where they thrive – such as ponds with sloping rather than steep sides – would also make sense.

“Cities provide some of the last habitat for a range of frog species around the world. So if we only worry about conserving frogs and their habitats outside cities, some of these frogs may well go extinct,” she said.

She added: “Some frog species are very sensitive to environmental changes”, but “others are quite adaptable and can persist in urban habitats if we gave them a bit of help”.

However, Kris Kaiser, an ecology graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, has put forward a note of caution on the subject of these amphibians’ adaptability.

“Frogs, unlike birds, are thought to have the frequency of their calls somewhat constrained by their anatomy. There is often a relationship between body size and frequency of call,” he said.

Thus, he claimed that the creatures’ ability to compensate for traffic noise may be limited.

The study was presented at the International Congress of Ecology in Brisbane. (ANI)

Bollywood stars celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi

Mumbai, Aug 24 (ANI): Bollywood stars commenced the celebration of the ten-day-long Ganesha Chaturthi festival here.

Actor Jeetendra celebrated the festival with his daughter Ekta Kapoor.

“For the last 32 years, that was when my daughter Ekta Kapoor was born, I brought Ganapati to my house for the first time and since then we have been praying in front of the Ganapati idol,” said Jeetendra.

“I wish everyone happy Ganesha Chaturthi and would advise everyone to look after oneself because one is precious for one’s family and one’s country,” said Nana Patekar.ctor Govinda also celebrated the festival with his family.

Ganapati festival is a ten-day long event at the end of which the idol of Lord Ganesha is taken in a grand processions and immersed in water bodies such as rivers, tanks, ponds and wells. In Mumbai the idol is immersed in the sea.

Lord Ganesha, is one of the most revered Gods of Hindus, and is worshipped at the beginning of every auspicious occasion.

Ganesha, as the God of knowledge is described as “Vinayaka”and as remover of obstacles he is called “Vighanharta”. He is worshipped at the beginning of every auspicious occasion for blessings of luck and success. (ANI)

Heat wave hits wildlife in Jammu

Jasrota, Kathua, July 1 (ANI): Acute water shortage in Jammu has led to death of a number of animals in and around the Jasrota Wildlife Sanctuary.

The natural water reserves have all dried up due to the heat wave and the authorities have been unable to arrange drinking water for the zoo inmates.

Due to the lack of drinking water, many animals and birds have been found dead in the sanctuary.

Thirsty animals are now being found roaming in the populated areas around the sanctuary.

The villagers have launched a campaign to save the wildlife by providing drinking water to them.

“We saw that for the past few days many animals were found dead due to the lack of water. So, we have started a movement to save them. We will fill all the dried ponds situated outside the sanctuary so that they can drink the water,” said Amit Kumar, a villager.

The residents from the villages of Kathua district showed their love for the thirsty animals and took initiative to protect them from heat and shortage of water.

“There are thousands of animals in this sanctuary but there is hardly any arrangement of drinking water for them inside the sanctuary. Thus most of them are turning towards the villages. We villagers have started keeping water in pots outside our homes,” said Varinder Kumar, another villager.

The animals are now being adopted by the villagers, who serve them food and water for survival. (ANI)

Frog marriage solemnised for rain showers in Nagpur

Nagpur, June 20 (ANI): A number of farmers seeking rainfall in Nagpur city organised wedding of two frogs on Saturday to please the Rain Gods and hoped their region would soon receive monsoon showers.

People blew trumpets and sang songs, as the priest solemnized the marriage to the chanting of Hindu hymns by putting streaks of vermilion on the female toad’s head.

The toads were picked up from different ponds, following the local belief among the farmers in this part of India that a frog marriage pleases the Rain Gods and ensure a good harvest with rains.

Locals hoped the marriage would help them to end the dry spell that the region is experiencing.Our forefathers believed that marriage of male and female frogs makes Lord Indra (Rain God) happy that leads to rains. You can see that it is not raining in the entire Vidarbha, eastern region of Maharashtra state made up of Nagpur divison and Amravati division that has caused a drought like division. We are following this belief of our forefathers so that Lord Indra is pleased and it rains,” said Shailendra Awasthi, a participant in the marriage.

With temperatures soaring high and monsoons playing truant in northern and western parts of the country, people are praying hard for showers.

“It was sunny when we came in the morning for performing marriage. But now you can see the weather has changed. It means it will rain. We hope so,” said Ankita Bhatia, a participant in the frog marriage. By Sunil Kumar (ANI)

Eight Uttar Pradesh villages boycott polls

Etawah (UP), May 8 (ANI): Eight villages in Uttar Pradesh boycotted the fourth phase of general elections on Thursday to protest against the lack of irrigation facilities.

Villagers expressed resentment over lack of water supply in their locality.

“Why should we vote? What’s the use? Why should we waste our time? We won’t vote. The entire village has decided not to vote. When there is no one to listen us, there is no point in voting,” said Jamuna Prasad, a villager.

Besides lack of irrigation facilities, the roads too were in a bad shape.

“For the last 20 years there is no water facility here for irrigation. During elections every leader promises to solve our problem but after winning no one comes here. There is no water in ponds. If a fire breaks out in this village, no one can rescue this village, as fire brigade will take time to reach here due to bad roads. Even we have complained to district magistrate but no one listens,” said Satyanarayen Singh, another villager.

A total of 85 parliamentary constituencies went to polls on Thursday in the fourth round while polling for the fifth phase is scheduled to be held on May 13.

The first, second and third phases of polling were held on April 16, 23 and0 respectively.

Counting for the elections held will be held on May 16. (ANI)

Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme helps Chattisgarh villagers

Raipur, Apr. 15 (ANI): The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) mooted by the Union Government has ushered a windfall for many deprived villagers in Chattisgarh.

This ambitious NREGS programme was launched in 2006 to provide employment to the unemployed and landless villagers.

For instance, this scheme has benefitted the residents of Kanchanpur village in Koriya district of Chhattisgarh to a great extent.

Evident are the instances of these villagers being regularly employed as such their worries over hunting for jobs elsewhere have been literally erased.

Now they don’t have to venture out for their daily bread anymore.

They are harnessing their productive potential to the hilt and are getting at least hundred days of employment, the output of which is dedicated to the overall rural development of their very own region.

“Now we don’t need to go elsewhere in search of work. We are getting work in our village. This way, we are making earning enough for our livelihood,” said Siyaram Yadav, a villager.

Under this scheme many other villagers in Koria district are being ensured of employment in various categories like land development, rural connectivity, water conservation and water harvesting among others.

“Under the rural employment scheme, we are focusing on activities like land levelling, construction of wells, digging of new ponds.

In afforestation category, we are providing employment in agriculture and horticulture activities,” Koriya District Panchayat CEO P Anbalgan said.

Ahead of the elections, the government is making constant efforts to generate greater awareness among the rural folks about their legal right of hundred days of employment every year under the cheme of NREGS. (ANI)

Water scarcity becomes a major poll issue in Dharamsala

Dharamsala, Apr 14 (ANI): Scarcity of drinking water has become a major poll issue in Dharamsala.

Villagers have made up their mind that they will cast votes for a candidate who would solve their water problem.

Vidya Devi, a resident complained that politicians promise to fulfil their developmental needs every time elections are round the corner but the problems remain.

“We will only give our vote to one who solves our water problem. We have taps in our homes, but they are more of a showpiece. We don’t have either hand pumps or wells here,” she said.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal took a dig saying that he would create ponds where the ‘lotus’, the poll symbol of his Bharatiya Janata Party, would blossom.

“We are solving the water issue and creating ponds where the lotus will prosper,” said Dhumal.

Local problems and the developmental works undertaken by the State Governments are often major swing factors for political parties even in general elections. Quite a few villages mass boycott the polling citing lack of developmental works. By Akhilesh Bharti (ANI)

Villagers in Uttar Pradesh get employment under rural employment act

Darshan nagar village/Madna village (Faizabad), Apr 13 (ANI): The Uttar Pradesh Government is involving villagers in digging of a sewage line and a pond to generate employment.

In Darshan Nagar village under the Purabazar province in Faizabad district, a sewage line is being dug in front of the concrete houses.

The construction work is being done under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) promoted by the Ministry of Rural Development.

“Under the banner of NREGA, in our area, ponds and roads have been constructed and currently a 300 meter long sewage line is being constructed,” said Ramkhelawan, village head, Darshan Nagar village.

The villagers are taking full advantage of this scheme by the Government.

“Earlier, I used to rush to Faizabad on a cycle for work. But now, I have got work near my home. There is no problem of food and children are also getting proper education,” said Shrichand, a labourer.

In the Madna village under the same province, a pond is being constructed in the middle of the fields. But currently, the work is at a halt as the farmers are busy in cutting the grains.

“We will be receiving all the benefits from this pond which is being constructed by us under the scheme of NREGA. We will get money to feed our family, drinking water for our cattle and water for irrigation facilities. The Government is providing us benefits in every possible way,” said Toofani, a farmer.

The NREGA, also known as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), was implemented in all 206 villages of Kullu District in April 2008.

Union Minister for Rural Development, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh had said that 2.7 million households have already been given employment for hundred days in the first phase of the NREGA scheme.

Around 3.6 million more households benefited in the second phase and another 2.7 million households in the third phase of the implementation of the scheme.

According to data available, 49 per cent of women, 30 per cent of Scheduled Castes and 25 per cent of Scheduled Tribes have benefited from the scheme so far.

In fact, this scheme, aims to tackle the problem of rural unemployment. It has also encouraged traditional handicraft industries, like textile weaving and bamboo work.

With elections round the corner, the effort is to spread awareness among rural households about their legal right to hundred days of employment every year under the scheme. By Amit umar (ANI)

No Oz buyers for Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin’s bronze statue

Melbourne, Apr 9 (ANI): Late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin’s bronze statue has failed to interest any buyers in Australia, and it now seems fated to be sold off overseas.

The statue, made by controversial sculptor Mitch Mitchell, will now be offered to Oprah Winfrey and the Discovery Channel to see whether they are interested in buying it.

Mitchell, who is at the centre of an Easter row over his sculpture of a naked young woman on a crucifix, was left bewildered by the lack of Aussie interest in the statue.

“He’s a Melburnian and he’s the most famous Australian there’s probably ever been,” News.com.au quoted him as saying.

“It should stay in Melbourne. It’s the place of his birth and he deserves to be honoured, but nobody here wants to buy it,” he said.

The 2m clay sculpture, priced at 85,000 dollars, is currently stored at a Richmond studio. It shows Irwin crouching in his trademark khakis and holding a small crocodile.

Mitchell, who is waiting to find a buyer before he does the finishing touches, and cast the statue in bronze, had hoped that Moonee Ponds, where Irwin spent the first eight years of his life, would buy it.

However, Moonee Valley Council rejected the statue last year.

Graeme Smith, who helped Mitchell sell statues, including Don Bradman, said that he spent 12 months trying to find a buyer for the Irwin sculpture.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m bewildered with the lack of enterprise shown. If you put that in a central position, the tourism, particularly from Japan and America, would be huge,” he said.

“We’re talking millions of people. It could be very enterprising and educational,” he added.

Smith said he was negotiating with overseas interests, including Harpo Studios, owned by Irwin fan Oprah Winfrey, but he would prefer the statue stayed in a prominent Melbourne location. (ANI)

Savage summer in concrete jungle

MUMBAI: Authorities at the Byculla zoo are leaving no stone unturned in providing cool comfort to animals and birds as they wilt in the heat. Most
enclosures have trees that provide shelter and there are ponds for animals to take a dip. “There are small ponds in enclosures for elephants, rhinoceroses, bears and hippopotamuses,” zoo veterinarian Sanjay Tripathi said.

To keep the water clean and fresh, it is changed every four days or so. “Usually, we change the water every week but we don’t take chances in summer. Every year, we begin this sometime in April but this year, we started in the first week of March because temperatures started soaring early,” Tripathi said.

The feeding area in the zoo for all animals is open throughout the day. “It is generally not kept open throughout the day, but we do it in the summer so that animals can go there when the heat gets too much to bear,” he added.

Rural water supply scheme launched in Faizabad in UP village

Toramaphi (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 12 (ANI): The authorities have launched a water project in Toramaphi Village of Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh to supply drinking water to the parched village.

The project named Swajaldhara program (rural water supply scheme) was launched by the Central Government and is being executed in the Toramaphi Village under the aegis of village drinking water and hygiene committee.

Under this program, five overhead tanks have been installed for the population of five thousand villagers in Toramaphi.

Jagarnath Vishwakarma, President, Swajaldhara Program, Toramaphi Village, said that a non-governmental organization (NGO) made him aware of this scheme.

“Some Non-governmental organisation (NGO) had come to our village and they told us about Swajaldhara program (rural water supply scheme). Under this scheme, five overhead water tanks were to be installed in the village. 25-20 families can get water from one over overhead tank,” said Vishwakarma.

Villagers like Avinash Pandey, a thirteen-year-old seventh grade student are a happy lot as their drinking water problem has been solved.

“There is a world of change in the water scenario of our village after the implementation of this scheme. Earlier we used to carry a cloth to filter the impurities from the tap water.

Sometimes even the ponds used to dry so we had to take the water out from the wells. But it’s not the same case now and the villagers are very happy,” said Pandey. by Amit Kumar (ANI)

Thirsty elephants damage agricultural fields in Tamil Nadu

Periyanaickenpalayam (Tamil Nadu), Mar 8 (ANI): A herd of elephants in search of water entered agricultural fields near Periyanaikenpalyam in Coimbatore and damaged standing crops causing extensive damage.

Farmers said that this transmigration of herds of jumbos has become a regular feature. It also a cause of concern since the pachyderms tend to damage agricultural fields.

However, the forest rangers have opined that the wild elephants migrate to the human settlements in search of food and water.

“May be the animals might have come out to have a dip in the water, in the pond actually. They actually love to get into this kind of stream. We don’t have this kind of ponds within the forest area because the forest as such is very sloppy and hilly. So, when there is a pond nearby the forest, we find that in many cases the elephants during summer love to come out of the forest,” said Anwardin, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Coimbatore.

Forest rangers also mentioned that now they are monitoring the movement of the wild elephants and track these as and when they head towards agricultural fields.

Incidents of man-animal conflict are common with the depletion of forest areas, and cases of animals straying into areas inhabited by humans for food are common.

India has more than 50 per cent of the majestic and intelligent Asiatic elephants but the population has been dwindling due to frequent poaching.

It is estimated that 45,000 elephants are left in the wild, down from more than 100,000 a century ago as compared to 600,000 of their larger-eared African cousins. A subspecies in Borneo numbers little more than 1,000 animals. (ANI)