‘Make available domestic sewage for industrial purposes’

There is a need for the state and district authorities to make available domestic sewage from large cities for industrial purposes, according to M Venkatesh, Managing Director of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL).

Delivering the keynote address at the annual day celebrations of the Mangaluru Chapter of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), he said water is a critical resource and availability of usable water for industry depends heavily on reuse of domestic sewage.

“Serious efforts need to be undertaken by the state and district authorities to make available treated or even untreated domestic sewage from large cities for industrial purposes. The onus of providing major resources lies with Government and the same has to be taken up with all seriousness,” he said.

Even making land available for industrial purposes is the primary responsibility of the governments and they have to take up the responsibility earnestly without putting the burden on the industry, he said.

Stating that the country needs around $80-100 billion per year to sustain its economy towards oil imports, he said efforts are on to reduce this dependency and move towards cleaner energy sources. The world is witnessing effects due to a global temperature rise. The solution lies in making available viable an alternative energy source to crude oil, both in terms of affordability and availability, he said.

There is a need to incentivise the renewable energy source with economically viable and sustainable models, and put in place a policy framework to attain significant contributions of renewables in the country’s energy basket. The stated vision to reduce crude oil dependence by 10 per cent while bringing in the necessary infrastructure for consuming clean and green energy sources, including natural gas, is being undertaken on a fast-track mode, he said.

A reasonable policy framework exists and implementation is in progress. Large and second tier cities are being connected with city gas and existing retail outlets are being pushed to provide alternate dispensing units to dispense natural gas as well as provide charging points. This is the way forward to attain our commitments made in COP21 towards achieving reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, he added.

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