Ahead of World Environment Day on June 5, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Kanara Industries Association (KIA) launched the cleanliness drive in Baikampady Industrial Area on Friday.
“By launching the drive, we want to ensure that cleaning should be a continuous exercise in this old industrial area,” said KSPCB Senior Environment Officer Vijaya Hegde.
The KSPCB personnel and representatives and employees of industries simultaneously cleaned the streets at six different locations including the 3 km long Road No. 1, and also the Roads No. 2 and 4.
“We have planned to have this drive throughout this month and clean the 549-acres of industrial area. The establishments, which are closed for several weeks, will be asked to clean their premises on their own,” said KSPCB Environment Engineer B.R. Ravi. “We hope to bring a change in this old industrial estate,” Mr. Ravi said. In the second phase of the drive, the KSPCB has planned to deploy a dust-sucking machine on the streets and also water it.
In the third phase, the KSPCB has planned to plant saplings of different varieties and further increase the green cover in the area. A recent study has found that Baikampady Industrial Area to be among a few places in the city that has good green cover, he added.
The representatives of industries operating in the area said that they were proactive in maintaining the area clean and ensuring that industrial units strictly comply with pollution and other norms. “We have our own mechanism to ensure that no industry discharges untreated effluent into the water bodies. We also ensure that the units here do not violate any other government norms,” said past president of KIA Henry Britto.
Another KIA past president Ajith Kamath said the association members were undertaking regular cleaning exercise in and around their units. Mr. Kamath said the association has planted over 40,000 trees, which includes good fruit-bearing trees, in the area.
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