Ludhiana: City industrialists leaving green footprints for others to follow in

LUDHIANA: Local industrialists, who are known for avant-garde manufacturing processes at a fraction of cost of their competitors in other states and countries, are now taking a lead in adopting technologies that help the environment. Some businessmen are not hesitating in spending huge sums for the processes that cut down pollution and conserve natural resources. They are also disposing of environmentally hazardous material safely.
City-based New Swan Enterprises has adopted a unique water recycling and conservation technique on its factory premises with which it has managed to save a huge amount of water in a year that is enough to meet the needs of more than 3.5 lakh people. The company was bestowed with the Excellence in Water Management and Conservation Award by the ministry of jal shakti. Upkar Singh Ahuja, chairman of the company and president of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU), said, “Extraction of groundwater by submersible pumps is the most commonly used method by factories. But we, in order to conserve the groundwater and maintain the water-table around our factory premises, adopted a 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) system. It has helped us in reducing our dependence on groundwater extraction and we have managed to reduce the use of fresh water by 85%. Besides, we have also installed state-of-the-art tricotect plants for passivation (an industrial process) which helped us in saving nearly 1.44 lakh litre of water. In one year, we saved 17,817.6 KL of water.”
Ahuja added, “In the second national water awards held a few months ago, we won in the excellence in water management and conservation category of MSMEs. Due to the fast depleting natural resources, there is a big responsibility on the industry to adopt environment-friendly practices.”
Another company, AP Refinery Private Limited, Jagraon, has set up a biomass power plant of 3.4MW capacity and all the heating and power needs of the firm are being met by it. The company also has cut its carbon footprints to almost zero and recently FICCO-FLO had conferred upon it the Greenpreneur Award-2021. Bhuwan Goyal, director of the company, said, “We have been using green fuels for a long time. The energy requirement of the company is being met through the 3.4MW biomass-based cogeneration power plant at our unit. Our plant was commissioned and is running for the past six months. Besides this, we have developed a novel process to convert by-products of our industry into biofuel. Not only does this enable effective disposal of by-products, but also reduces consumption of fossil fuels. We have set up the pilot plant and will commence commercial production shortly.”
In another green initiative, Ludhiana firm New Star Industries has set up a micro jungle adjacent to its factory where hundreds of trees of different varieties are being grown to increase flow of oxygen in and around the premises. The firm has also set up a small farm on its premises, where green techniques are used to grow vegetables and fruits, which are distributed free of cost among workers. Narinder Bhamra, managing director of the company, said, “Due to the ever-increasing pollution in Ludhiana, we set up a micro jungle near the factory to cut down pollution and also increase the green cover. Hundreds of trees have been planted, and every year we add more to this initiative and also encourage others to follow suit. We are also doing organic farming on our factory premises, where 15-20 varieties of fruits and vegetables are grown and distributed among our workers free of cost.”