Shimla, which was cloudy throughout the day, recorded a minimum temperature of 4.6 degrees Celsius, a fall by 0.9 degree Celsius from Friday.
"The high hills in Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Kullu and Chamba districts have been experiencing light to moderate snowfall since Friday," said a weather department official.
Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state where mercury plummetted to seven degrees Celsius below the freezing point. The town recorded three cm of snowfall.
Kalpa in Kinnaur district, which recorded 6.3 cm of snow, saw a low of minus 1.2 degrees Celsius, while it was 0.6 degree Celsius in Manali and 4.7 degrees Celsius in Dharamsala.
"The police board has unanimously decided to revert back to the khaki uniform. All police personnel, including IPS (Indian Police Service) officers, will don the old uniform," Additional Director General S.R. Mardi told IANS.
Still, it will take more than six months for the 16,000-strong state police force to switch back to the conventional dress.
"There will be a huge expenditure to buy stocks of new (khaki) uniforms and dispose off the surplus stock of the present blue ones," a senior police official posted in police headquarters said, adding that "the process to buy khaki will take not less than six months."
The police force Jan 3 last year switched to a new blue uniform as part of an image makeover initiative.
Director General of Police D.S. Manhas announced in January last year that all men of the police force, including IPS officers, would wear the blue uniform. It would give a new identity to the police force and would even help shed their dry, brutal image.
The blue uniform included a pair of dark blue trousers, a light blue shirt and a blue beret cap. Accessories such as shoes and belts remained black. Both men and women were required to wear the same uniform.
West Bengal and Goa are the other Indian states to have replaced the traditional khaki for their police personnel with other coloured uniforms.
Government officials said it was a populist decision to revert to the old Khaki as the state assembly is to go to the polls this year. The government does not want to annoy the Himachal Pradesh Police Employees Welfare Federation, which has opposed the blue uniform, the officials added.
The central government also last year turned down the state's proposal to allow IPS officers to wear the blue uniform. Any issue related to change of uniform of IPS officers comes under the purview of the IPS (Uniform) Rules of 1954 of the central government.
In June 2008, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had given the go-ahead to change the police uniform. The new dress was displayed at the Republic Day parade at the historic Ridge here that year.
All road links to Lahaul valley have been blocked with heavy snowfall and chopper service would be the only mode of transportation between Lahaul and Kullu till May 2012. Technical problem in the 20-seater chopper, which has been leased from Mesco Airlines, has scared hundreds of people in the valley who remain dependant on flight for all emergencies.
"Inclement weather and cancellation of helicopter service has led to worry among people in Lahaul, considering that no emergency help would be available during this period," Sanjeev Shashni, a resident of Sissu village, lamented. He rued that the government has no backup plan to tackle such situations. Another resident of Keylong, Sheru Bodh, said that it was unfortunate that they are totally dependent on the health of a flying machine in emergency situation. "Our hospitals do not have facilities and patients are needed to be airlifted to Kullu frequently. Winter is the time when illnesses knock at every door here," he added.
A four-seater small chopper was hired for Friday and three sorties were scheduled between Kullu and Lahaul especially for staff supervising teacher's eligibility test (TET on Sunday. But the sorties were cancelled due to inclement weather. Sources said the test could be postponed or cancelled if the staff does not reach Lahaul on time.
Kullu-Lahaul flight committee in-charge Roop Lal said the chopper had a critical problem in its rotor blades and they had to cancel all sorties. "It could take 3 or 4 more days for the chopper to be fit to carry passengers across the Rohtang pass. Once it reaches Kullu, flights would be operated regularly according to the schedule made by the general administrative department," he said.
Pong wetlands hosting over 100,000 feathered guests
03 February 2012, Pong Dam (Himachal Pradesh) : Over 100,000 feathered guests of 103 species are holidaying in Himachal Pradesh's Pong Dam wetlands and among them falcated duck, the silvery plumage species predominantly found in China, has been spotted for the first time.
During the two-day census of waterfowl species -- birds that depend on water bodies for roosting and feeding -- that concluded Wednesday, 119,500 birds were spotted in the Pong Dam wetlands, one of the biggest man-made wetlands in northern India.
Sanjeeva Pandey, the state's chief conservator of forests, told IANS that the largest influx is of the bar-headed goose (25,000), common coot (17,750), northern pintail (13,200), common pochard (10,200), tufted pochard (7,600), common teal (7,400) and little cormorant (6,800).
Pied avocet (12) - a wading bird species - has been recorded for the second successive year. The common shelduck (30), rarely seen in the country, is also seen. The falcated duck, the silvery plumage species predominantly found in China, has been spotted at Pong for the first time.
The other prominent species are the great-crested grebe, greylag goose, red-crested pochard, ferruginous pochard, common merganser, Eurasian spoonbill, greater white-fronted goose, garganey, sarus crane, western marsh harrier and osprey.
Pong wetlands, spread over an area of 307 sq km in the Kangra Valley, have the distinction of being one of the important winter grounds for local and migratory species.
The influx of birds can be seen at swamps near Nagrota Suriyan, Budladha and Sansarpur Terrace.
This year's bird count is 12,500 less than last year's count of 132,000.
Range officer (Pong wetlands) D.S. Dadwal attributed the decline to harsh winter during January.
"Some of the species of ducks have migrated to nearby wetlands mainly in Punjab due to continuous rains for many days in January. In this month, they are likely to come back to Pong," he said.
The Pong wetlands are also home to many native birds like the red jungle fowl, large Indian parakeet, Indian cuckoo, bank myna, wood shrike, yellow-eyed babbler, black ibis, paradise flycatcher, crested lark and the crested bunting.
During the census in 2010, 144,000 waterfowl of 91 species were recorded here as compared to 95,000 birds of 89 species in 2009.
The Pong wetlands occupy an area of at least 18,000 hectares and extend up to 30,000 hectares in the peak monsoon season. An area of about 20,000 hectares within a radius of five km has been notified as a buffer zone dedicated to wildlife.
The Pong sanctuary supports barking deer, sambar, fox, boar, fishing cat, blue bull, porcupine and leopard, and a variety of reptiles.
Himachal to be the 1st state to become carbon-neutral by 2020:Dhumal
Feb 03, 2012, NEW DELHI: Himachal Pradesh would be the first state in the country to become carbon neutral by 2020 by undertaking "carbon smart growth", chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal claimed here today.
"The carbon footprint per capita in Himachal Pradesh has been assessed at 1.4 tonne per capita in comparison to national average of 1.57 tonnes per capita," Dhumal said while speaking at 12th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.
The summit with the theme "Protecting the Global Commons: 20 years Post Rio" is organised by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) headed by noted environmentalist R K Pachauri.
Listing the initiatives taken for betterment of environment, he said the state government has signed an agreement with World Bank for harnessing carbon credits to generate revenue amounting to Rs 20 crores for 20 years under "Bio--Carbon Projects " in 177 gram panchayats in 10 districts of the state
He said the state government has created "Environment Fund" through voluntary contribution from individuals and organisations for environment protection and stressed the need for more incentives and resources for financing mitigation and adaption strategies.
As per the exercise to cut down carbon emission, he said the government departments have been asked to carry out their energy and environment audits and introspect on action and policies for mitigation and adaption measures.
The government has started a mission called "Community Led Assessment, Awareness, Advocacy & Action Programme (CLAP)" for environment protection and carbon neutrality at panchayat level under which initially 1000 panchayats will be covered out of total 3000 panchayats in the hill state.
Dhumal said so far around 250 panchayats have been covered including the remotest Lahaul Spiti areas of the Himalayan state.
The CM said the state government has launched "Atal Bijli Bachat Yojna" to reduce energy consumption and GHG emission by distributing free 4 CFL bulbs to every household in the state.
