7th Edition of Haldia Industrial Region Discussion Forum on Ecological Sustainability, 30th November 2023, The Golden Retreat, Haldia
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 Haldia to showcase their best practices and introduce to them latest technologies and business practices for industrial development in sync with ecological sustainability.
7th Haldia Edition of this forum, was organized, with a specially curated workshop on "Improvement in Industrial Sustainability with an approach to Net Zero”, on 30th November 2023 at The Golden Retreat Haldia.
Haldia is an important Industrial Belt in West Bengal. The Region’s significance has enhanced due to the Port. Haldia, being a major trade port for Eastern India, the industries here belong to diverse fields such as petrochemicals, chemicals, refineries, oil and gas, shipping agencies, power etc. Apart from GHG emissions, the industrial belt of Haldia 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 Haldia 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 Haldia 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 Haldia on 30th November 2023 emphasizing on- "Improvement in Industrial Sustainability with an approach to Net Zero."
This year, discussions featured on:
- Energy Transition
- Sustainable approaches for factories and plants
- Renewable integrations
The programme was commenced with the formal Welcome Address by Mr. Gautam Ray, President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Executive Director (HR & Admin.) - CESC Limited & President (HR) – Power Group, RPSG, CESC Limited.
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“This annual initiative of The Bengal Chamber is an attempt towards the synergy between industrial developments and environment sustainability. However, The Bengal Chamber is keen to build a constant connect with Haldia. With this objective, a Haldia focused Committee would be created. Towards that aim, a stakeholders’ meeting has been organized today afternoon which will create the roadmap for The Bengal Chamber’s engagements in Haldia. The industrial growth of Bengal is greatly correlated with that of Haldia. However, the compliances of the environment have to be met, not only for protecting the Region and making it capable of housing more industrial units but also keeping with global dynamics and consciousness for responsible businesses.” , said by the President of The Bengal Chamber - Mr. Gautam Ray, Executive Director (HR & Admin.) - CESC Limited & President (HR) – Power Group, RPSG, CESC Limited. |
Inaugural Session:
The Inaugural Session had witnessed the presence of the Dignitaries:
- Shri Jyotirmoy Kar, Chairman, Haldia Development Authority
- Shri Sudhir Kontham , IAS, CEO, Haldia Development Authority
- Shri A.K.Mehra, Deputy Chairman- HDC , Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port
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Shri Jyotirmoy Kar, Chairman, Haldia Development Authority (HDA) applauded BCC&I for organizing such a discussion forum on Ecological Sustainability. He mentioned about importance of vegetation and the increasing demand of organic vegetables and spices in today’s world. However, agriculture is getting affected due to pollution. We have to adopt organic production of vegetables to minimize the usage of pesticides and medicines. More investment is needed in organic and ayurvedic products. He suggested that The Bengal Chamber’s Haldia focused Committee may work with HDA and administration to address the pollution problems otherwise growth would not be sustainable. |
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Shri Sudhir Kontham , IAS, CEO, Haldia Development Authority congratulated The Bengal Chamber for organizing this seminar as a sharing platform on Ecological Sustainability. He stated that theIndustries in Haldia should emphasize on environmental value of money besides time value of money. There are industries in this region which use traditional technology in the manufacturing sector. There is also the need of adopting sustainable methods, especially in the manufacturing industries instead of only focusing on Return on Investment (ROI).Land use and Development Control Plan (LUDCP) is being updated which will include green belt. Adoption of solar power generation in plants and offices are being encouraged. Cutting of the dependency on fossil fuels to generate electricity is one of the primary focus areas of HDA. The industries need to come forward and adopt green energy in their plants mainly in the form of installation of Solar power. |
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Shri A.K.Mehra, Deputy Chairman- HDC , Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port mentioned that Haldia Doc Complex ( HDC) has planted mangroves and taken other massive plantation initiatives for greening of the region. HDC planted over 5 lakhs plus trees. 1 MW Solar power plant has already been installed. HDC has already installed 150 KW of roof top solar panels and another 250 KW will be added. 80% sodium vapour lamps has been replaced by LED and plans are to go full LED illumination by 31st March 2024. Swachha Sagar portal is created to handle waste management and to make the operations green. Coastal cleaning drive has also been taken up with local communities along with the coast guards every quarter. HDC will invest INR 15 crores for installing state of the art sewage system for Haldia & IOCL Township and other infrastructure development. HDC will fully mechanize all its processes by 2030.HDC has taken up initiatives to reduce pollution. Currently HDC is handling 48-50 m tonne traffic every year. AT HDC, an outer terminal for containers is in planning stage. HDC is also handling LNG cargos so that there is a reduction of fossil fuel for the automobile sector. |
The Session was followed by the Panel Discussion on “Best Practices on Industrial Production and Process for Haldia”,moderated by Mr Sudipta Mukherjee, Chief Advisor- Generation, CESC Limited. The esteemed Panelists were:
- Mr. Guru Charan Mahto, Plant Head, Electrosteel Castings Limited
- Mr Somnath Dutta, Vice President & Plant Head, Haldia Energy Ltd. (A Subsidiary of CESC Ltd)
- Shri Ashish Agarwal, Deputy General Manager (Technical services) , Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (Haldia Refinery)
- Mr. Chandra Shekhar Prasad, COO, Indorama India Private Limited
- Mr. Barun Kumar Sarangi, Vice President and Unit Head, Shree Renuka Sugars
Workshop: “Case Studies towards Net Zero in Haldia”
The programme featured a specially curated workshop, followed by a panel discussion on “Case Studies towards Net Zero in Haldia”. This discussion was moderated by Mr Sankar Mukhopadhyay, Head Asia Institute- Power Management, CESC Limited. The following esteemed Panelists showcased the case studies of their respective industries and their effort towards improvement in Industrial Sustainability with an approach to Net Zero.
- Mr Subandhu Bhattacharya, Deputy Manager Environment, Haldia Energy Ltd. (A Subsidiary of CESC Ltd)
- Mr. Sujit Pal , General Manager, Electrosteel Castings Limited
- Mr Subhash Chandra Sarkar, General Manager – Finance and Commercial, Haldia Water Services Pvt Ltd
- Mr. Asit Mitra, DGM – Manufacturing, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd
- Shri Ramandeep Singh, Chief Technical Services Manager, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (Haldia Refinery)
- Mr. Arun Mondal, Deputy General Manager – Environment, Indorama India Pvt Ltd
- Mr Mantu Patra, GM-HMC, Tata Steel Limited (Hooghly Met Coke Division). Haldia
From the feedback we have received, the programme was a great success. We were delighted to have had an enthusiastic participation of over 70 participants. The programme was well covered by media.
EVENT GALLERY