A National Seminar on Environment and Energy: Challenges & Opportunities was inaugurated by Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra here on Saturday.
Experts were of the view that it would take at least 50 years to mitigate the load of carbon and the damage already created to environment if further pollution is stopped today.
Mohapatra said green energy is the need of the hour. Though many possibilities of green energy are available, they are yet to be generated and distributed in large scale on commercial basis. As an interim solution, we can start with adoption of appropriate technology, saving of transmission and distribution loss of electricity, adoption of power saving devices and extensive use of smokeless Chullah in households.
Principal Secretary Raj Kumar Sharma said people create pollution because they do not have to pay the cost for dealing with it. Mitigation of pollution which is a must for restoring ecological balance and survival of human being is a costly affair which should be compensated by the agents who create it.
Odisha, he said, has pioneered in formation of a Climate Change Action Plan and 12 other States have also formulated such plans. The cost of implementation of the Climate Change Action Plans of all these 13 States has been calculated at around `2.86 lakh crore. which is a huge investment and no Government alone can make budgetary provision for this. As such, it has to a collaborative effort.
The seminar was organised under the chairmanship of former State Chief Information Commissioner DN Padhi. CECU Chairman BC Jena, Senior Environment Engineer, State Pollution Control Board Dr NR Sahoo, Dr AK Mohini of the Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Member-Secretary State Pollution Control Board lK Tiwari, along with many scientists, industrialists and technocrats from the Central and Odisha Governments, presented their papers in the seminar.