'Golden Peacock' Award for Krishnapatnam Port

Hyderabad, July 11 (INN): Krishnapatnam Port, recognized as one of India's largest ports and ranked amongst world's finest ports connecting the Eastern & Western parts of the world, has been bestowed with the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award.

The prestigious award, in recognition of Krishnapatnam Port's initiatives and achievements in the field of environment, was presented by Union Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar to C Sasidhar, Managing Director, Krishnapatnam Port on Saturday at the 17th World Congress on Environment Management & Presentation of Golden Peacock Awards function held in New Delhi.

The Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by the Institute of Directors, are presented annually under various categories. The winners of the Golden Peacock Awards for 2015 were finalised by a grand jury headed by Justice P. N. Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India and the Chairman Emeritus of Golden Peacock Awards, Justice (Dr.) Arijit Pasayat, former Judge of Supreme Court of India and former Chairman of Competition Appellate Tribunal and Authority for Advance Ruling (Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax) and the Chairman of the Golden Peacock Awards. Golden Peacock Environment Management Award is the coveted and prestigious recognition given to the organisations which have attained significant achievements in the field of environment management.

Environment protection is at the heart of Krishnapatnam Port's corporate governance and philosophy. Some of the green initiatives taken by the port include - plantation of over 20 lakhs trees within the port and more than 50,000 trees in the surrounding villages, installation of solar lights in the port and solar water heaters in the employee colony, establishing gas connections for villagers so as to discourage them from cutting of mangroves, adoption of Nellore town traffic islands and public buildings for maintaining greenery around the areas etc. The port has adopted Environment Health and Security program that encourages continuous improvement in environment protection and includes - waste management, pollution control, resource conservation, use of renewable resources etc.,

Within the port, Krishnapatnam Port has electrified railway line network from all storage yards and as part of its sustainable strategy, thus leading to a reduction of carbon dioxide to the extent of 24,935 tones and also reducing the diesel consumption of Railway engines and GHG emissions. Currently the port is in the process of electrifying all its cranes so as to reduce diesel consumption and moving towards solar and wind energy to reduce fossil fuel usage. The 4 R's strategy adopted by the port helps in - Reduction in water requirements by adopting new technology called atomizers that has brought astonishing results, Reuse of water collected from guard ponds after wetting the yards, Recycling methods wherein 300 KL of domestic sewage is treated and recycled for green belt development and 400 KL of truck wash water is treated and recycled for dust suppression and Recharge by developing 12 no's rain water harvesting ponds having total catchment area of about 5.26 lakh sq. m., harvesting and recharging ground water about 1.54 lakh. M3 per year.

C Sasidhar, Managing Director ' Krishnapatnam Port said, 'We are honoured to receive this prestigious award. We strongly believe that the progress and welfare of society is not merely the responsibility of governments alone rather every organisation should contribute and be part of social welfare. We have created a socioeconomic atmosphere in Krishnapatnam that immensely benefited the surrounding inhabitants fostering sustainable growth'

'Going forward, our goal is to achieve sustainable development and maximize the positive impact by creating value for the society. We will continue to invest in education, skill promotion, job creation, health and safety programs, environment management that leads to overall economic development in the region' he further added.

Over the years, Krishnapatnam Port has taken considerable steps in maintaining and safeguarding environment not just around its own premises but also reaching out to the communities and nearby industrial region. Setting an example, the port has encouraged the surrounding areas and societies to adopt environment friendly and sustainable operations, thus achieving a healthy balance between environment protection and development of the region.