Dhumal to be honoured with golden peacock

Shimla, May 11 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal will be honoured with ''Golden Peacock Award'' on May 30 at S M Convention Centre, Palampur, in a special opening ceremony of the Global Convention on climatic change, an official spokesman said here today.

The spokesman said the Grand Jury of Golden Peacock Award under the chairmanship of Dr Ola Ullsten, former Prime Minister of Sweden, has approved the name of Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal for the Award.

The spokesman said the state had raised the carbon credit issue at the national level drawing the attention of the environmentalists towards the genuine demand of the state. He said that European countries were compensating the least pollution generating countries with massive developmental funds and purchasing carbon credit certificate to maintain the level of carbon in respective countries.

He said the Himalayan states were shouldering the responsibility of protecting the environment of the entire country, since all the big rivers originate from the Himalayas. He said Himachal Pradesh had demanded a compensation of Rs 1000 crore annually from the Government of India in lieu of the carbon credit it had earned as per the Kyoto-Protocol-2005.

The spokesman said the state had controlled industrial activities and industries with high emission had been banned. He said the state had made its legitimate claim to obtain the carbon credit for the developmental activities in compensation of the income the state would have generated out of the available forest wealth estimated at about Rs 1.5 crore. He said the state had effectively checked the use of recycled polythene bags, which had been most hazardous for the environment of the state.

UNI AS HS SP VC1658