Centre launches 'Harit Sagar' guidelines for ecosystem dynamics in port development, maintenance

New Delhi [India], May 10 (ANI): To meet the larger vision of achieving the zero carbon emission goal, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways launched 'Harit Sagar' the Green Port Guidelines on Wednesday.

The guidelines were launched by Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal in New Delhi. Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shripad Naik was also present at the occasion.

According to the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Harit Sagar Guidelines - 2023 envisages ecosystem dynamics in port development, operation and maintenance while aligning with the 'Working with Nature' concept and minimizing the impact on biotic components of harbour ecosystem. It lays emphasis on the use of clean and green energy in port operation, developing port capabilities for storage, handling and bunkering greener fuels viz green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol and ethanol etc.

These Guidelines provide a framework for the major ports for drawing out a comprehensive action plan for achieving targeted outcomes in terms of quantified reduction in carbon emission over defined timelines, through focused implementation and close monitoring of Green Initiatives and to achieve Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG).

During the event, Union Minister Sonowal said, "Ports are undertaking green initiatives and actively contributing to the fulfilment of the 'Panchamrit' commitments announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Harit Sagar Guidelines -2023 provide a comprehensive framework for our major ports, empowering them to create a comprehensive action plan aimed at achieving quantifiable reductions in carbon emissions over defined timelines."

The objective of the guidelines is to minimize waste through reduce, reuse, repurpose and recycle to attain zero waste discharge from port operations and promote monitoring, based on Environmental Performance Indicators, said the Ministry.

This also covers aspects of the National Green Hydrogen Mission pertaining to ports, development of green hydrogen facility, LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) bunkering, offshore wind energy etc and provides provision for adopting global Green Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards.

MoS Shripad Naik said the launch of the Harit Sagar Green Port Guidelines is a significant step towards achieving India's sustainability goals. These guidelines have been formulated with the aim of promoting environment-friendly practices across all ports.

The Ministry statement said major ports were conferred awards for their all-time best performance on select operational and financial parameters during FY - 2022-23. Ports having registered the highest incremental improvements were also honoured and they were ranked on the basis of their overall performance during 2022-23. The idea is to generate fair and healthy competition amongst the major ports and motivate them to perform better and better in the coming year.

The award for the best Absolute Performance for the year 2022-23 was conferred to the Deendayal Port, Kandla for handling the highest cargo of 137.56 MMT. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port received the award for achieving major milestone in Turn Around Time while Paradip Port got a performance shield on Ship Berth Day Output. The Kamarajar Port got recognized in pre-berthing detention time while Cochin Port received performance shield in turn-around-time (non-container port), the statement said.

The award for best incremental performance was bagged by Paradip Port for attaining the highest cargo growth rate of 16.56 per cent last year. In the incremental category, another award was conferred to Mormugao Port for best Ship Berth Day Output while the award was conferred to Kamarajar Port for best Pre-Berthing Detention time.

The award for the best port was conferred to Paradip Port on overall annual performance based upon cargo handling, average turnaround time, ship birthday output and idle time at berth, operating ratio, pre berthing detention, said the statement. (ANI)