METRO EVENT
Kerala has to balance energy and environment needs
The Kerala government is open to all practical measures that will help the state generate clean, affordable power for future needs, and balance its energy requirements and environmental concerns, Chief Minister Shri. Oommen Chandy said today.
Inaugurating a day-long workshop on‘ Energy & Environment- Challenges & Solutions’ organized in the state capital by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation( KSIDC), Shri Chandy said the state can neither block development in the name of conservation nor destroy the environment to pursue growth.
“ Finding a balance between the two is our biggest challenge today. The
Government will see any recommendation from this workshop and from public forums on energy, waste management and other pressing issues very positively and see if it can be practically implemented,” he said.
The Chief Minister said environment concerns have meant that the state has had to rethink its energy options.“ Our focus in the last century was hydel power; but today we find it hard to get environmental clearances for such projects, which means we now need to concentrate on non-conventional resources such as solar and wind power.”
In his keynote address at the inauguration Minister for Industries and IT
Shri P K Kunhalikutty said Kerala’ s challenge today is to generate power that is cheap, reliable and cost effective.“ This is the biggest discussion point and everyone must think about it,” he said.
“ Waste to energy is a good slogan, but talking about is not going to help, we need to see what can be done practically,” the Minister added.“ There are solutions out there, technologies that have been developed and deployed successfully; the key is to find which of these will suit the specific needs of our state.”
Minister for Power & Transport Shri Aryadan Mohammed in his special address pointed out that although Kerala generates 28 times
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
July 2013
METRO mart