Vegetables exported from Calcutta rejected by European and Gulf countries because of staleness

Nearly 60 per cent of the 100-odd tonnes of vegetables that had been exported through Calcutta airport to Europe and the Gulf countries during the 11-day window before Puja had been sent back because they reached the destination in stale condition.
This is due to an unserviceable X-Ray scanner at the airport that had been lying defunct for 11 days. It is the only X-ray scanner in the airport's perishable cargo handling and it malfunctioned from September 24 to October 4. AS a result, exporters were forced to keep the vegetables in the non-perishable cargo section for a few hours till they were loaded on flights.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 19 October 2016.

The rejected cargo consisted of gourds, long beans, papayas, fresh turmeric, ridge gourds and flat beans and is worth nearly Rs 80 lakh. Heathrow airport in London had rejected 15 tonnes of vegetables that had sent before Puja. The state exports approximately 2,500 tonnes of vegetables every year and 30 per cent go to Europe.
Officials of international airlines have indicated that, at times, consignments booked for a flight during the September 24-October 4 window had to be flown out the next day because of the delay related to the X-ray scan. The airport authorities have assured that two new X-ray machines would be installed by the end of November in the perishable cargo unit and, one of these will be on stand-by, thereby such problems will be averted.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Snow leopard arriving in Darjeeling Zoo from London

It is good news for Darjeeling because a two-year-old male snow leopard will be arriving at the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP) in July from Dudley Zoological Gardens (DZG) in Britain. It is being brought as a part of a global conservation breeding program.
This has been reported in thestatsman.com date 23 June 2016.

The zoo already has nine leopards (eight of which are females) and there is only one male. Once the male snow leopard arrives at Kolkata airport, it will be taken to the Darjeeling zoo for conservation breeding program. The name of the snow leopard is 'Makalu' - this is the world's fifth highest peak rising to 27,765 feet southeast of the Everest. The Darjeeling zoo is in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas and is the native region of the snow leopard.
The zoo is internationally recognized for its 33-year-old conservation breeding program for the species, with 56 births to date.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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