Some of the organisations not meeting the target and the others not taking up the work as per the norms came under the scanner at a review of the first phase of the Green Visakha project by VUDA Vice-Chairman Kona Sasidhar on Thursday.
The status and survival of one lakh plants taken up in the first phase of plantation were taken up for review.
During the review, Mr. Sasidhar said that the Visakhapatnam Port Trust and the HPCL were lagging behind in implementing the given target and the survival rate was also not up to the mark. He expressed displeasure with Ramky Pharma, stating that the work done towards conservation of environment as directed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee by them was not at all satisfactory.
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The efforts put by Coromandel and NTPC were appreciated as they are almost up to the mark.
Green Visakha Project is an initiative of 21 PSUs in Visakhapatnam under the monitoring of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests with the aim of 40 lakh saplings over a period of five years to reduce pollution.
The A P Pollution Control Board and VUDA are leading the implementation of the project supported by GVMC and the district administration.
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The role of VUDA is to extend technical support and guidance to all the participating industries in plantation and growing the trees in all the identified areas.
Second phase
Besides assessing the success rate of the first phase, the meeting was intended to prepare an action plan for implementation of second phase. The Vice-Chairman asked the industries and PSUs to be practical and use scientific methods in implementing the project.
The second phase aims at plantation of seven lakh saplings by the end of August taking advantage of the rainy season. Chairman of the Standing Committee T. Subbarami Reddy will review the work done so far and second phase proposals on June 26.
VUDA DFO B.V.A. Krishna Murthy circulated guidelines for plantation to all participants. Environmental Engineer of Pollution Control Board Usman Ali Khan, representatives from HPCL, VPT, NTPC, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Coromandel, South Asia LPG, Hindusthan Zinc, NALCO, Hindusthan Shipyard, East India Petroleum, Synergies Casting and Ramky Pharma, among others, participated.