Assam is the most happening place, says senior bureaucrat

Greentech Environment Excellence Awards

GUWAHATI: The Additional Chief Secretary of Assam's Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ravi Shankar Prasad gave away the Greentech Environment Excellence Awards in the city on Tuesday night.

Prasad was the chief guest at Greentech Awards Presentation ceremony at the National Meet on Environment, the two-day conference of environment professionals. The conference was organized in Guwahati by a New Delhi-based NGO, Greentech Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion before the presentation of the awards, Prasad said, "We are grappling with the environmental challenges such as air, water pollution, climate change, global warming and others. Technology is only the game changer to face these challenges. We must chart a different course of action to tackle these challenges using technology, including tackling carbon emissions."

Giving the visitors some idea about how Assam is doing on various fronts, Prasad said that Assam is the most happening State. A few top officials of the World Bank recently visited the State. The next phase of further assistance from the World Bank is around the corner. The Bank would continue to support the State's future development priorities for maximum impact. They also had the first-hand impact of ongoing World Bank-financed projects in the State such as pipelines etc. The focus areas of the State Government are flood, soil erosion and tapping rivers for transporting needs, he said.

On the industries front, he said that the Government is looking at ease of doing business, single-point clearances etc., which are on the anvil to encourage more companies to set up their facilities in Assam. The State is in an exciting phase of development, he informed the gathering. The State is on a firm footing to contribute to the Centre's $5 trillion economy target, he said.

He mooted the idea that there should be technological cooperation between countries that innovate new technology addressing the challenges. If that is proven to be effective and useful, it must be shared with developing countries which don't have the bandwidth to come out with such solutions, he added.

Further, the senior bureaucrat added that global cooperation protecting life on earth worked well in regard to the Montreal Protocol.

The Additional Chief Secretary later presented environmental excellence awards to some companies which included Titan Watches from Hosur for quality and innovative products.

Dr Arup Kumar Mishra, chairman of the Pollution Control Board, also graced the occasion. He said, "Assam is more than just Kamakhya Temple and Kaziranga National Park. At the time of our Independence in 1947, Assam was one of the top 5 States in India in the per capita income index. Now it is not as vibrant as it was because of many reasons such as geographical isolation, hostile neighbours, and proximity to international borders."

Speaking about environment as a subject of focus, Dr Mishra said that December, 2015 was the turning point. The Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change was adopted which covered climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance.

The recent United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 26 held in Glasgow, United Kingdom was a positive one and a great step forward towards better environmental protection. All other conferences held, including in Rio in 1992, were more of academic exercises.

Dr Mishra also gave away Greentech Environmental Excellence Awards.

The function was attended by well over 350 delegates and guests, stated a press release.

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