The Hindu Business Line : Industries urged to invest in green production methods

Visakhapatnam, Jan 24 The industry should invest in cleaner production methods and make use of the latest technologies for pollution mitigation and the amount invested can easily be recouped, the environmentalist, Prof T. Sivaji Rao, has said.

At a workshop on ‘Environmental challenges in Visakhapatnam zone’, organised by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board here on Thursday, ProfSivaji Rao said that science and technology could offer solutions to many of the problems faced by the industry, but the will to invest in R&D was very important. “Gone are the days of predatory industrialisation, and the sooner the industry realises it, the better,” he said.

Measures

Dr K.S.R. Murthy, Director of the National Institute of Oceanography, said there was a need for setting up a coast-based ocean research lab here.

“The Visakhapatnam region is in a seismically stable zone, but of late we have detected slight seismic activity. Besides, there is considerable beach erosion. To study these developments, a lab is needed,” he said.

The environmentalist, Prof R.V. Rama Rao, and several others stressed on the need for safeguarding the coastal environs while undertaking industrialisation on a large scale.

Representatives of several industries, such as the Coromandel Fertilisers, the NFCL, the HPCL, and the Visakhapatnam port gave presentations of the pollution control measures taken by them.

Coromandel Fertilisers

Mr B.P. Raju, Assistant General Manager of the Coromandel Fertilisers Ltd, here, said the company had invested Rs 19 crore to set up a screw unloader system at its dedicated berth in the Visakhapatnam port to reduce dust emissions. “We could bring down the pollution levels, and also save nearly 20,000 tonnes of rock phosphate per annum. We could get back the money within a year,” he said.

He also spoke at length about the fluorine recovery plant set up by Coromandel Fertilisers.

“Ours is the first industry to set up the fluorine recovery plant. We import rock phosphate for our sulphuric acid plant and we separate the fluorine and supply it to a neighbouring unit, Alufluoride Ltd, for the manufacture of aluminium fluoride. We have a long-term agreement with them,” he said.

Supply hitch

When it was brought to the notice of Mr Raju that Coromandel was not able to supply even half the contracted quantity of fluorine to Alufluoride , which as a result was facing many problems, he explained that there was nothing wrong with the fluorine plant, “but unfortunately we are not getting the right kind of rock phosphate”.

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