MRPL Celebrates World Environment Day

MRPL Celebrates World Environment Day

Mangaluru:  Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) celebrated World Environment day on 05-06-2017.  The theme of this year’s celebration is ‘Connecting People to Nature – in the city and on the land, from the poles to the equator’. Renowned Horticulturist and Karnataka Rajyotsava awardee Dr L C Soans and Dr B.R.Manjunahta, Professor and Chairman, Dept. of Marine Geology, Mangalore University were the Chief guests on the occasion.
 
The program began with administration of Environment Pledge in Kannada, Hindi and English by Shri M Venkatesh, Director Refinery, Shri Rajeev Kushwah, CVO and Shri H Kumar, Managing Director respectively.
 
Dr L C Soans spoke on the occasion and said that the efforts of today for the conservation of nature are just enough for our survival but we need to do more. He said Sun’s energy needs to be used for agriculture and to improve the lives of people.  He complimented MRPL for the greenery being maintained in its surroundings. 
 
Dr BR Manjunatha said that the World Environment Day was first introduced in the conference in UN General assembly in 1972 and since then the need of the conservation of nature is being propagated everywhere. He elaborated on the evolution of earth and the human beings and explained the reasons for unequal distribution of rain. ‘Think globally and act locally’ was his advice. 
 
Shri Jayaprakash Nayak, Sr. Scientific Officer, KSPCB spoke on the occasion and advised for balanced approach in development. Be eco-friendly, prevent degradation of land and water he advised. 
 
Shri M Venkatesh, Director Refinery and Shri Rajeev Kushwah, CVO also spoke on the occasion. Shri H Kumar, Managing Director, MRPL addressing the gathering, said that the cities contribute to almost 90% of the total pollution and we expect the villages to conserve the nature. Our country has the tradition of respecting nature, be it sun, tree, plant or animal and we need to continue that tradition, he said. Be prepared for the day when sun energy replaces many other forms of energy, he said. MRPL is planning to set up 2nd generation Ethanol plant and a day may come when such fuels will replace other oil products, he added. During the programme the guests were honoured and the prizes were distributed to the students of different schools, dependents of employees and the employees. Senior officers of MRPL, employees, dependents, school students and teachers were present on the occasion. MRPL Environment section organized the program. 
 
A day earlier, on Sunday, 4th June 2017,  as a part of World Environmental Celebrations, in support of implementing a novel thought that has the potential to shape the greenery around, MRPL took up ‘Seed ball making’ at Ganeshpura, Kaikamba. More than a thousand Seed Balls were prepared with the active support of employees, dependents and the neighbourhood people.
 
Seed ball is an innovative way to grow plants.  It basically consists of a mixture of red soil (mud) and cow dung mixed with other bio compost.  The semi-solid mix is prepared by adding a little water proportionate to the quantity of mixture after which a particular plant seed is inserted in it. These balls are allowed to dry in sunlight and stored to be used later.  These seed balls are thrown near hills, plains, lakes, ponds so that they sprout and become plants and trees helping afforestation. It is understood that the success rate of survival of these plants is quite high compared to a sapling planted.  They were distributed to the participants on the occasion of world environment day.

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