Krishnapatnam Port in AP receives Golden Peacock award for environment management

MUMBAI: Krishnapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh has received the Golden Peacock environment management award for its initiatives and achievements in the field of environment. The award 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 held in New Delhi.

The Golden Peacock awards, instituted by the Institute of Directors, are presented annually under various categories. The winners for 2015 were finalised by a jury headed by Justice PN Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India and Chairman Emeritus of Golden Peacock Awards, Justice (Dr.) Arijit Pasayat, former Judge of Supreme Court of India and former Chairman of Competition Appellate Tribunal & Authority for Advance Ruling (Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax).

"Some of the initiatives taken by the Krishnapatnam 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.," a press statement said.

"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 24935 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 statement said.