APPCB holds ‘environment clinic’ with NGOs

The State government is keen on attracting investments to Andhra Pradesh in a big way to spur industrial growth.

The State government is keen on attracting investments to Andhra Pradesh in a big way to spur industrial growth. Quick and easy clearances, online approvals and tax concessions are some of the plans to woo big ticket industrial investors, member secretary of AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB) B.S.S. Prasad has said.

In his opening remarks at an ‘environment clinic’, organised by the APPCB to elicit the opinions of representatives and leaders of NGOs at the APPCB Zonal Office here on Wednesday, the member secretary said that the days of investors running around offices seeking approvals for establishing industries were over and now they were almost bargaining with the governments.

Big investors were threatening to go to other states, if any particular State was not extending concessions or giving easy approvals. The States were vying with one another to attract investors to the State by extending various concessions.

Mr. Prasad said it was a Herculean task to get investments under such a highly competitive atmosphere. The objective of the ‘environment clinic’ was to elicit the views of NGOs on industrialisation and the problems being encountered by various stakeholders. Post-bifurcation, Visakhapatnam was the biggest industrial destination in AP, followed by Nellore.

Director of Green Vision G. Prabhakar felt there was a need to increase the number of incinerators in Visakhapatnam in view of the growing number of hospitals, which were catering to patients from Odisha and Chhattisgarh apart from the city.

Dust pollution

The participants alleged that coal dust pollution from Visakhapatnam Port was going on unchecked for the past several years. Mr. Prasad said that the Visakhaptnam Port Trust (VPT) authorities had given short, medium and long-term plans and a fixed timeframe to reduce pollution in a phased manner. He said that Chief Engineer A. Ramchand would ensure implementation of these plans.

Joint Chief Environmental Engineer B. Madhusudhana Rao and Environmental Engineer R. Lakshminarayana spoke.