GV Krishna Reddy; A story of an entrepreneur and an environmentalist
For him, long term corporate growth and sustainable environment go hand in hand.
Environment
protection is essential for a flawless economic growth, believes Dr. GV Krishna
Reddy. For the entrepreneurs who are environmentalists, growth of business and
preservation of nature goes hand-in-hand, is the philosophy of this eminent
industrialist and philanthropist. Recently, environment protection has
attracted the attention of global leaders due to the emerging climate problems.
Concepts such as clean tech and green tech amongst others have emerged to
reduce carbon emissions and other wastage produced via industries that concern
environment sustainability.
The
steps that GVK Group and its verticals have taken since the beginning when its business
was established with a view towards environment preservation, indicates how
conscious it’s Chairman, Dr. GV Krishna Reddy has been on the
issue.
Consequently,
India’s first Independent Power Plant (IPP), Jegurupadu CCPP Phase 1, Andhra
Pradesh, was setup in 1997 with the aim of not only reducing the possible
pollution impact but to promote healthy environmental practices.
The
Rio de Janeiro Declaration, 1992, for the first time brought environmental
concerns to the centre stage of the world. Adhering to the principles of nature
conservation that emerged from the Declaration, GVK Group pledged to dedicate the
infrastructure that will promote environmental sustainability. The construction
of the Jegurupadu power plant followed fully nature-friendly practices, making
it one of the first ‘green’ power plants not only in India but Asia. Moreover, GVK
Industries Ltd also developed a Deer Park at the Jegurupadu Power Plant which
was spread over six hectares and was surrounded by 160 acres of greenbelt
consisting of over 300 species of plants and trees. The beautiful landscape of
the GVK Deer Park was recognised as one of the best eco-parks by the World Bank
authorities they came across during their
visits across the world.
Inevitably,
amongst several other accolades, the power plant was also rated as ‘Eco-Star Gold’ by TERI and recognised by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution
Control Board for its outstanding contribution to the development of the Eco
Park.
In fact, this principle of sustainability was
followed at all the GVK power plants including the 540 MW Goindwal Sahib Thermal Power Project, Punjab which commenced
operations in 2017.
Similarly,
in this direction, under GVK’s management, the Mumbai Airport has also successfully
installed a waste recycling unit in the Airport.
With
best-in-class waste management capabilities, it recycled 3,343.16 metric tonnes
of total waste generated in the years between 2016-18. The waste is segregated
at the source, consequently, 158.59 metric tonnes of hazardous waste was
disposed safely as per the guidelines. From rest of the non-hazardous 9793.16
metric tonnes of wastage, 3,343.16 was recycled. Similarly, Mumbai Airport has
been using the compost for maintaining gardens produced through food waste via
Organic Waste Converter (OWC) Project. OWC is a bio-mechanical composting
system that can treat 1 metric tonne per day of the food waste.
Further,
the Mumbai airport also received a
‘Gold’ certificate at the ‘GreenCo Summit’ 2016 for exemplary work in the areas
of environmental management (water conservation, waste management, and
greenhouse gases emission), energy management (efficiency and renewable
energy), recycling (material conservation) and other green initiatives
undertaken by the company.
Moreover,
Mumbai Airport became the first Indian airport to implement waterless urinals.
For its comprehensive and unique water conservation project, it was bestowed
with the Silver Award at the ACI Asia-Pacific Green Airports Recognition 2020.
Through the project, it saves over 1 lakh litres of water every day. Rainwater
harvesting, drip irrigation, waste water treatment and recycling amongst others
were also implemented to reduce fresh-water consumption.
For
promoting greener infrastructure projects, GVK Botanical Gardens have been
developing beautiful gardens across all the GVK Group projects. Inspired with
the philosophy, “A Tree of Life is much revered to as a symbol of life giving
mini wonder,” it has developed a 90,000 sq. m. around Mumbai Airport premises.
The Botanical Gardens houses over 77,000 plants of around 100 species. The objective
was to promote greenery with exotic, diversified, in-urban public spaces and
spread awareness through education and research. This is not just greenery
compliance or token symbolism. GVK wanted to go beyond that to create
awe-inspiring parks and gardens as an integral part of the development.
Today,
the conglomerate is known as the pioneer for developing an environmental
friendly industrial infrastructure which not only helps in fostering the
economic growth in India, but promoting nature. Similarly, Founder and chairman
of the group, Dr. GV Krishna Reddy is known for his passion and commitment
towards making India a green abode. Be it the philanthropical arm or power and
infra, GVK has already set milestones in the direction of advance sustainable
environmental infra projects for the coming generations to be inspired from.
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