FICO organised session on Waste to Wealth, to save environment

Ludhiana, November 20, 2017: Federation of Industrial and commercial Organisation popularly known as FICO organised a session on waste to wealth, to save environment, at FICO office Janta Nagar Ludhiana. Sh.S.S.Reikhi, Function Manager, District Industries Centre, Ludhiana was Chief Guest.
The most vulnerable topic “Save environment” was discussed. It has been observed that in last around 20 days the pollution level rises too much higher levels, due to smog caused by burning of crop residue commonly known as parali (paddy straw). This increased level of pollution in environment not only causes severe health damages to human beings like skin diseases, irritation in eyes, asthmatic effect, but also created traffic havoc increasing the travel time by 5 times, the distance used to be covered in 10 minutes took around 50 minutes, that also increased the pollution directly or indirectly. Waste is a big Source of Pollution. It was discussed that economics should be involved in that, is burning of parali is not a permanent solution as within days it causes huge loss to environment oxygen level drops, visibility fall, Alternatively parali can be used as under:
Cattle feed: Crop Residue or parali can be used as a feed for cattle. As parali is rich in protein so it is directly beneficial for the cattle. In Rajasthan People are using parali in Cattle feed. So we should also opt that in Punjab
Fuel: Parali can be alternatively used as the fuel for industry especially boiler & furnaces, as it will reduce pollution & generate energy for Industry & also reduce the cost of Product
Amalgamation: On an average in an acre of farm, where 25 quintals of Rice is produced, there is 65 Quintals of Parali is also left as a residual, the burning of Parali not only harms the environment, but also effects the fertility of the soil, as there are many bacteria’s in soil which are mandatory for the proper growth of the crops. So Parali can be decomposed to prepare the fertilizers that can be used for proper growth of crops.
Card Board/ Hard Board: Parali can be directly consumed in the preparation of Card Boards, Hard Boards, which is being primarily used as packing materials. So farmers should sell off the parali to the card board manufacturing units.
S.Gurmeet Singh Kular appealed to the farmers to stop burning the Parali, rather they can gain profits out of it. He said there is also a need to create awareness amongst the industrialist also about the uses of parali, because without seeing the profit outcomes, no one is going to consume the crop residual. He also suggested there is also a need to remove the trees/ plants which are creating a hindrance for the traffic, and causing jams, which indirectly increases the level of pollution, at the same time he said that by removing one Tree, we should plant at least ten more trees so as to maintain the level of oxygen and preserve the environment for our upcoming generations.
Amongst present were Sh. S.S. Reikhi function Manager District Industries Centre, Sh. Varun Khanna, S. Gurmukh Singh Rupal Head FICO Sewing Division, Sh. Arun Kapila, S. Rakeshinder Singh, S. Saranjeet Singh & Sh. Mandeep Chaudhary Media Adviser FICO.