The Hindu Business Line : ASCI bags two clean environment projects

THE Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) has bagged two globally funded projects to promote clean environment and institutionalise environment impact assessment.

Under the Global Opportunity Fund of the UK, ASCI has been granted 1.24 million pound sterling to explore ways of promoting alternative fuels like CNG, LPG and bio-fuels in India.

The project, which will be launched this month, is to look at policy and institutional impediments as well as ways and means of increasing financial mechanisms, and public-private partnerships to popularise alternative fuels in the transport sector, according to Dr Thilotham Kolanu of the Energy, Environment & Technology Group at ASCI.

A National Level Steering Committee to guide the directions of the project is being constituted.

It will be completed in the next 18 months and would draw on the experiences of alternative fuels in the UK and EU countries, he told Business Line.

The second initiative is the Small Grants Project under the EU, which aims to institutionalise environment assessment. Currently, it is looked at on a project-to-project basis. The New Environment Policy, though, has mentioned this, he said.

The EU would provide funds to the tune of 1.64 million euros. The one-year study would consider Orissa as the target State for several reasons. For example, environment is a major concern both with mining and industrialisation picking up.

Moreover, ASCI has already prepared the `State of Environment, 2003' report for Orissa under a Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) initiative.

With a headstart on various environmental parameters, the project plans to look at the transport sector and various Government departments to see the scope for institutionalising mechanisms for environment assessment, Dr Kolanu said.

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