7th Edition of Durgapur – Asansol Industrial region Discussion Forum on Ecological Sustainability, 3rd February 2024, Asansol Engineering College
The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry organizes annual Discussion Forum on Ecological Sustainability in the Industrial Regions respectively in - Haldia, Siliguri and Durgapur-Asansol.
The Chamber has, over the last several years, been providing a relevant and sustainable forum towards promoting clean technology access and energy and environment management. A continuous endeavour has been to focus on sustainable development and to disseminate information and educate business, industry and society about the need for balancing industrial growth with ecological stability.
The Chamber has created the forum for the industrial stakeholders of Durgapur-Asansol region to showcase their best practices and introduce to them latest technologies and business practices for industrial development in sync with ecological sustainability.
7th Edition of this forum, was organized, with a specially curated workshop on "Case Studies towards Net Zero in Durgapur-Asansol Region”, on 3rd February 2024 at Asansol Engineering College.
Durgapur-Asansol is an important Industrial Belt in West Bengal. Apart from GHG emissions, the industrial belt of Durgapur-Asansol is impacted with various hazardous chemicals, particulate matter, toxic substances, biological organisms and the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, which may severely affect the socio- economic growth. With the looming threats of climate change and environmental degradation, the industries in Durgapur-Asansol must proactively address their ecological footprint. One of the key milestones in this journey towards sustainability is approaching towards net-zero emissions with a sincere effort. To achieve the target, all Industries in Durgapur-Asansol need to adopt a combination of strategies, including reducing emissions through energy efficiency, transitioning to renewable energy, electrifying transportation and industrial sectors, improving land use and forest management, and implementing carbon capture and storage technologies along with planned afforestation and development of green belt.
Being a responsible Chamber of Commerce, our aim is to provide value added services to our members and stakeholders to up skill their knowledge about the importance of Net Zero in Industrial Sustainability. In this context, the Chamber organized this Ecological Sustainability Forum in Asansol on 3rd February 2024 emphasizing on "Case Studies towards Net Zero in Durgapur-Asansol Region."
This year, discussions featured on:
- Industrial Development in ADDA
- Case Studies towards Net Zero in Durgapur-Asansol Region
- Renewable integrations
The programme was commenced with the formal Welcome Address by Mr. Gautam Ray, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and President – Corporate, RPSG Group.
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“We are greatly enthused by the generous support and participation we have received from this Region. To add to our active engagement in this Region, we have also created Durgapur Asansol Focus Committee. PaschimBardhaman District is a predominantly urban-mining-industrial district in West Bengal. Durgapur-Asansol Region has the potential to emerge as the preferred destination for investment. Industrialization and urbanization need to navigate through the challenges of environmental degradation. The Bengal Chamber has also set up BCC&I Sustainability Forum this year. One the focus area of the Forum is to engage with steel and metal sector of this Region of West Bengal for facilitating green practices in the sector.", as stated by the President of The Bengal Chamber - Mr. Gautam Ray, President – Corporate, RPSG Group. |
Inaugural Session List:
The Inaugural Session had witnessed the presence of the following Dignitaries:
- Shri Moloy Ghatak, Hon’ble Minister-in-Charge, Department of Law, Government of West Bengal
- Shri S. Suresh Kumar, IAS, Chairman, Damodar Valley Corporation
- Mr. B P Singh, Director-in-Charge (Burnpur and Durgapur Steel Plant), Steel Authority of India Limited and Chairperson, Durgapur Asansol Focus Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Dr. Sabyasachi Saha, Associate Professor, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS)
- Dr. G S Panda, Vice Principal, Asansol Engineering College
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As the Chief Guest during his inaugural address, Shri Moloy Ghatak, Hon’ble Minister-in-Charge, Department of Law, Government of West Bengal said, “I appreciate The Bengal Chamber for organizing this Discussion Forum on Ecological Sustainability in Industrial Region- Asansol-Durgapur yearly. All of us are aware that Asansol is one of the oldest Steel cities. At this forum I am glad to announce that Burnpur and Durgapur Steel Plant of SAIL is ready to invest Rs-33,000 crores for the modernisation, development of the Industrial area of this region. I would request The Bengal Chamber to work in this Industrial belt along with the Government to and solve the issues.” |
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Shri S. Suresh Kumar, IAS, Chairman, Damodar Valley Corporation in his address mentioned, “We have a major role to play in Ecological Sustainability practices. Developed nations have issues on thermal power and concentrating more on renewable power. The only way to reach Eco Sustainability, in a country like India, is to reduce carbon emission from thermal power stations. We are trying to start EV stations. Most of the thermal generation happens at night and during the day, peak loads happen twice a day. We are doing one 1000MG pump storage project.” |
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Mr. B P Singh, Director-in-Charge (Burnpur and Durgapur Steel Plant), Steel Authority of India Limited and Chairperson, Durgapur Asansol Focus Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in his address said, “This is a burning topic in this industrial development and growth of industries. India is growing around 6 to 7 percentages in growing economy. All the industrial will grow simultaneously. Three things are important for any industry to sustain that is Ecological Sustainability, Environment Sustainability, and Social Sustainability.” |
The Session was followed by the Inaugural Panel Discussion on “Industrial Development in ADDA”, moderated by Mr. Kausik Biswas, Whole Time Director - CPL, CEO - CPL & ICML and Co-Chairperson, Durgapur-Asansol Focus Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The esteemed Panelists were:
- Mr. Sudip Bhattacharya, Environmental Engineer & In-charge, Asansol Regional Office, WBPCB
- Mr. Mritunjay Kumar, General Manager (Environment & Forest), Eastern Coalfields Limited and Mr. Soumabha Chakraborty, Manager (Environment), Eastern Coalfields Limited
- Mr. P P Sah, Sr GM (O & M), Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC)
Workshop on “Case Studies towards Net Zero in Durgapur-Asansol Region”
The programme featured a specially curated workshop on “Case Studies towards Net Zero in Durgapur-Asansol Region”. This discussion was moderated by Mr. Sankar Mukhopadhyay, Head - Asia Institute Power Management, CESC Limited and Member, Environment, Energy & Water Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The following esteemed Panelists were present at the workshop:
- Mr. Soumya Misra, Co-Founder & Director, Sisir Radar Pvt Ltd
- Mr. Mayank Tiwari, Senior Manager – ESG, Shyam Sel& Power
- Mr. Robin Kumar Agarwal, Assistant Professor, Management Department, Asansol Engineering College
- Mr. Abhinav Kumar, AGM – Environment, Shyam Steel Industries Limited
- Mr. Kinshuk Mukherjee, Head ME and Sustainability, General Manager, PCBL Limited
- Mr. Santanu Acharjee, Deputy Manager – III, Integrated Coal Mining Limited and Mr. Kaushik Banerjee, Officer, Crescent Power Limited
From the feedback we have received, the programme was a great success. We are delighted to have had an enthusiastic participation of close to 100 participants. The content of the programme from the rich deliberations of the expert speakers added to the excellence of the programme. The programme was also well covered by the media.
EVENT GALLERY