The Government has to take steps to ensure that the Visakhapatnam-Kakinada Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Industrial Region does not become an ecological hotspot and threaten the environment. The investors must be directed to bring in latest and environmentally friendly technologies to make it future proof.
Even if the initial cost is higher, in the long run it would bring benefits to all stakeholders, former CII Visakhapatnam zone chairperson G. Sambasiva Rao told TheHindu . The Government must strengthen the compliance arms like the Pollution Control Board and draw up rules to safeguard the interests of the region, he said.
“Just because we raise the concern of the people we are not against industrialisation. We are for sustainable development,” trade union leader and advocate Bhavani Shankarudu said. The Government has to ensure that the industries stop using technologies that continue to pollute the environment, he added.
The PCPIR is coming up in an agriculturally intensive region and given the nature of the proposed industries there is a real threat to the environment, CPI Assistant State Secretary J.V.S.N. Murthy said. The Government must learn from the mistakes of the past and take steps to protect the environment, he added. The proposed PCPIR would come along the Polavaram left canal and the entire water of the project would only go to meet the needs of the industry, he pointed out.
The Government has to protect the interests of the poor and ensure that the displaced persons get meaningful gain from the industrialisation. Even after a decade justice has eluded the displaced persons in the region, CPI (M) State executive member Ch. Narasing Rao said. The Government has to draw up a proper policy of capacity building of displaced persons to ensure their suitable employment in the industries that are going to come up in the region, he added.
