The Hindu Business Line : Nine Plus to undertake environmental study in AP

NINE Plus, a consortium of four leading national institutes with expertise in environmental issues, has been entrusted with a comprehensive environment study by the State Government.

The study will focus on the carrying capacity, large area environmental audit and the environmental load specific areas can take. This data will help the State Government to better plan industrial conglomerates and cluster development.

Giving this information, Dr K.V. Raghavan, former Director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), told Business Line here that the AP Government has provided initial financial support to the project.

"We are looking for funds from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the industry also", he said.

The project started a few months ago would also collect large-scale data on air quality, soil, groundwater, bio-diversity and projections of human population in the State, Dr Raghavan, who is currently the Chairman (Recruitment & Assessment Centre), Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), based in New Delhi, said.

Nine Plus was formed just over a year ago, by pooling the resources expertise from the IICT, NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute), NRSA (National Remote Sensing Agency) and the EPTRI (Environmental Protection Training and Research Institute) to provide a balanced perspective on environmental issues through studies and consultancy.

The focus of the consortium is on industry and development projects, where environment impact assessment and audit have become critical issues. "We are developing new concepts for industrial projects also", Dr Raghavan said.

The EPTRI is the nodal agency for the consortium, which would draw on the expertise of satellite data and imagery from NRSA; groundwater and soil studies from the NGRI and hazard assessment and pollution from the IICT, he said.

The Nine Plus consortium was formed to ensure a balanced scientific view on environmental issues, pollution and setting up of hazardous industries and industrial complexes, which are surrounded by lots of controversies.

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