Risk of environmental disaster increasing in Indian industry

Kolkata, Aug 25 (UNI) Even as the horror of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy continued to haunt thousands of hapless victims, the number of environmental disasters in Indian industry is increasing rapidly creating an alarming situation for all.

This was expressed here today by a group of senior global environmetalists while participating in the opening session of a two-day seminar on ''Environmental Risk Management 2006: Creating Safer Industries Nationwide'', organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce(ICC).

Underscoring the need to take immediate proactive action to stop the growing menace, Member of National Disaster Management Authority Vinod C Menon and Chief of the Hazard Assesment Unit of IPSC, Italy Geralad Vokmer, however, complimented the ICC for launching the unique ''Environmental Risk Reporting and Management System'' (ERRIS) with a grant from the European Commission as a corporate Social Responsibility initiative.

Claiming that such an initiative was being taken for the first time in India as an integrated approach to environmental risk management covering all aspects of planning, implementation and sensationalisation of the industry, both the speakers said during the accurance of any such accident the concerned units in most cases did not possess any information about how to tackle it in order to save the lives of its employees and others.

They claimed that the ERRIS project had been developed in such a manner that it could distribute online GIS based information coupled with comprehensive data base information to the concernerd units on the nature of hazards so that emergency action could be taken to minimise the subsequent danger.

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