Media Release

Mangaluru, Jun 7: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) celebrated World Environment day on June 6. The theme of this year’s celebration was ‘Beat Air Pollution’. Dr K V Rao, director of Science Division, Pilikula Nisarga Dhama, was the chief guest on the occasion.

The programme began with administration of Environment Pledge in Kannada, Hindi and English.

Dr K V Rao spoke on the occasion and said that due to the advent of civilization when man discovered fire, by burning of wood, coal and later the vehicle exhaust has contributed towards air pollution. One can influence the cloud formation artificially, but not the movement of clouds. So the only option left to man is not to disturb the earth and take corrective measures, he said. All the countries need to get their act together in order to succeed in protecting our mother earth, he stressed. He thanked MRPL for supporting Pilikula to conserve western ghat plants.

Jayaprakash Nayak, senior scientific officer, KSPCB, spoke on the occasion and said that we need to preserve trees and take care of our nature better. Plant at least one tree in your premises and the world will be greener and better place to live, he said.

M Venkatesh, managing director, MRPL spoke on the occasion and said that MRPL is using domestic sewage water for its operations and very soon this usage will be doubled to further reduce dependence on the fresh water. We need to reduce the fossil fuel consumption and shift to energy efficient means which keep our air clean, he said. MRPL is in the process of setting up a biodiversity park in its neighbourhood in its efforts to beat air pollution, he remarked.

M Vinayakumar, GGM I/c Refinery and Rajeev Kushwah, CVO also spoke on the occasion.

Prizes were distributed to the winners among the school children, dependents and employees. Later the dignitaries planted saplings. Senior officers of MRPL, employees, dependents, school students and teachers were present on the occasion.