Govt well on way to meeting Montreal Protocol targets: Meena

New Delhi, Sep 16 (UNI) Underlinig that Ozone depleting substance, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) had been actively phased out since last month, 17 months ahead of schedule to protect the ozone layer, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Namo Narain Meena expressed the Government's commitment to consolidating this achievement.

Addressing a gathering, celebrating 14th International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone layer, Mr Meena termed the phasing out of the CFCs as a credible achievement considering the challenges of meeting the residual requirements of the substance within the country.

The most important and critical target of reducing 85 per cent of CTC production and consumption has also been achieved, he said.

The Minister said the Government had taken adequate steps to ensure that all sectors that were still consuming CFCs had been provided with alternative ways to cope up with the prevailing situation.

He appealed to state governments to play an important role by availing training and support provided under National CFC Consumption Phase-out Plan to meet immediate need of consumers.

The 19th Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Montreal Protocol took a historic decision to advance the phase-out of Hydro ChloroFlurocarbons (HCFCs) from 2040 to 2030, and India welcomed the decision as it would not only toster the recovery of ozone layer but also reduce global warming, he said.

Talking about success of Montreal Protocol, the Minister said the explicit financial arrangements set out for meeting the incremental costs of change in technology, transfer of technology to developing countries with voluntary contributions from developed countries, generally in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities was the main reason of the success.

Besides, availability of alternative taxes at resentment cost and fairly accurate knowledge about the extent of resources needed to address the problem were also reasons behind the success, he said.

The function started with ozone song. Children presented their viewpoint on Ozone Layer protection. Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests Vijai Sharma, Additional Secretary Secretary, J M Mauskar gave remarks on ozone protection, while Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power delivered key note address.

Mr V K Jain, Managing Director of M/s Gujarat fluro chemicals and Vice-president of REGMA was also invited on this occasion. It was for the first time that a representative from industry, which is following the protocol suggestions and developing alternative refrigerants talked about phase-out programme.

On this occasion, poster, sticker and 10th edition of 'the Montreal Protocol:India's Success Story' were released by the Minister. Besides as many as 43 children, winners of Poster Competition, Painting Competition, Quiz on Ozone Science, Skit Competition, Model Making Competition and Slogan Writing Competition were presented awards.

Five awards were also given away under Medini Puraskar Yojana of the Ministry for the year 2006.

Mr Kuldeep Sharma was awarded first prize of Rs 31,000 for his book, 'Pradushan Kaise Kaise'. The writer has highlighted different pollutions and their fatal effects on human life and has offered options to control it.

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