Newly-appointed Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy on Thursday confirmed that all Jaiprakash Associate Limited projects and properties will now come under the scanner after large-scale irregularities by the company were pointed out by the High Court.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court recently imposed a fine of Rs.100 crore on the company's Bagheri cement plant in Solan after discovering that it had flouted environmental laws and wrongfully acquired the land of native people.

Shimla records -4°C, Srinagar -2°C; cold spell to continue for some time. With mercury plummeting to sub-zero level in Narnaul, the region today reeled under intense cold wave. The icy winds blowing in the region are expected to continue in the next few days, weatherman has predicted. Cold wave conditions intensified and Shimla recorded a stinging - 4 degree C, while Srinagar reeled under -2 degrees C. Mercury slid to -1 degree C at Narnaul and hit the sub-zero level at Amritsar.

Every winter, the cold climate almost freezes Himachal Pradesh's hydropower generation. But this time unusually harsh Arctic conditions in the higher reaches, where most of the rivers originate, have made production nosedive further. Officials said hydropower generation starts declining in October. By December, it comes down by 80 percent. This winter, it dipped more.

A large quantity of silt that makes its way into the 10,000-hectare Gobind Sagar, the country’s largest fishing pond, every year has spelt doom for fish breeding grounds over of the years. The fish production in the reservoir has nosedived by nearly 50 per cent in the past five years.
This year alone, the fish production has declined by 150 tonnes as compared to last year. If the silt discharge into the Gobind Sagar continues unabated, the time is not far when the state’s fishing pond will be pushed to extinction, caution biologists.

The residents have been protesting from a long time against the 1000 MW hydro electric project run by the private company Jaiprakash Associates. According to them, the project has directly affected the traditional sources of water and forests and has snatched the livelihood of hundreds of tribal families in the area.

Shimla: The state government will consider granting compensation to the affected families for the damage caused due to the construction of hydroelectric projects, especially in the tribal Kinnaur district where the maximum number of projects are coming up.

More than two decades after the commissioning of 120 MW Bhabha hydel project, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today dedicated the 4.5 MW Bhabha Inauguration power project at Kafnoo in Kinnaur district, originally scheduled to be commissioned in 2005.
By this time, the project’s cost has already gone up to Rs 60 crore against Rs 35.6 crore in 2002. The project would fetch an annual income of Rs 7.85 crore. Two percent of the project’s returns would be spent on local area development.

Multiple high tension power transmission lines passing through some of the state’s eco-sensitive zones, involving felling of trees, and criss-crossing mountain valleys in Himachal Pradesh, could finally give way to separate “power corridors” for each river basin.

Total fertility rate dips in state, most urban families not going for children
Himachal Pradesh’s early exuberance over 12.81 per cent decline in the population growth rate, especially in the urban towns like Shimla reflected in the 2011 census data is, turning out to be a warning signal for the hill state, where more and more men and women are becoming infertile.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Himachal Pradesh has dipped down to 1.3 in urban towns as compared to 2.6 in India even as some of the states such as Bihar have TFR as high as 4 in its rural areas.

In a major boost for the green warriors, an arm of the United Nations has granted registration to a project launched by the state government to facilitate farmers in 177 gram Panchayats to earn carbon credits by raising forest on their land.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) confirmed the registration of the project through an e-mail to the additional principal