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NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 17:
 

Environment and Forest Department Secretary R Rajagopalan presenting the Leadership and Excellence Award to Kennametal senior manager Jai Bharath at a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Chennai yesterday. Also seen are CLRI director S Rajamani and Ashok Leyland executive director V R Pappu.

        Safety, health and environment of industrial units were the focus of an awards ceremony organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here yesterday.

        'Measures aimed at improving the safety of industrial units, health of its work force and their environment were as important to the companies as those of achieving growth and profitability,' said R Rajagopalan, State Secretary, Environment and Forest Department. Presenting the Leadership and Excellence Awards in SHE (Safety Health and Environment) for 2006, he said these honours and awards should motivate corporates to focus more on such critical issues affecting the welfare of the employees.

        He called for the adoption of good environmental practices through appropriate policies and services by the corporate sector. Identification and management of environmental issues should be integrated within business practices, he said. 'Corporates must pay greater attention to safety, health and environment (SHE) issues and have to devise effective means of waste disposal, instead of avoiding them in the long run,' Rajagopalan said.

        He further urged the industries to evaluate the technology available and whenever the problem of funding occurred, they should approach financial institutions and banks which provided them facilities like long period of repayment, low rate of interest and subsidy from the government.

        Chairman of Leadership and Excellence Award in SHE at CII V R Pappu said the awards were instituted mainly to recognise the best practices of companies in the area of SHE. Apart from serving as a forum to share their experiences, the awards were intended to motivate corporates to adopting high standards in safety and environment, he added.

        MICO Ltd bagged the award for Best Innovation and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd got the Best Presentation award.

        Kennametal Widia India of Bangalore, Exide Industries Ltd, Hosur, and GMR Company from Mangalore received the Leadership and Excellence awards in safety, health and environment.