Guwahati, (Assam) [India]: The Addl Chief Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt of Assam Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad gave away Greentech Environment Excellence Awards in the city.
He was the chief guest at Greentech Awards Presentation ceremony at National Meet on Environment, the two-day India’s biggest conference of Environment professionals.
The conference was organised in Guwahati by a New Delhi-based NGO, Greentech Foundation.
Speaking on the occasion before the presentation of the awards the top bureaucrat of the Assam Government 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. He mooted the idea that there should be technology cooperation between countries that innovate the new technology addressing the challenge and others. If that is proven to be effective and useful, it must be shared with developing countries who don’t have the bandwidth to come out with such solutions, he added.
Speaking further, the senior officer of the Government of Assam added that global cooperation protecting life on earth worked well in regards to the Montreal Protocol.
Giving visitors some idea about how Assam is doing on various fronts, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad said, Assam was the most happening state. Few top officials of the World Bank recently visited the state. The next phase of further assistance from the World Bank assistance is around the corner. The Bank could 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 shared
On the industries front, we are 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 the state of Assam. The state of Assam is in an exciting phase of development, he informed the gathering. The state of Assam is on a firm foot to contribute to the union government’s 5 trillion dream economy target, he said.
The Addl Chief Secretary later presented environmental excellence awards to some companies which include Titan Watches from Hosur for quality and innovative products and others.
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 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 Arup said 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, COP26 held in Glasgow, United Kingdom was a positive one and a great step forward towards better environmental protection. All other conferences held including the Rio in 1992 were more of academic exercises.
Dr Arup also gave away Greentech Environmental Excellence Awards.
The function was attended by well over 350 delegates and guests.
