December 26 :Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, today inaugurated the Waste Paper Recycling Unit in the Ellerslie Building of Himachal Pradesh Secretariat, here today.
Chief Minister said that the new unit would be capable to recycle about 30 kgs. of waste paper daily and convert the same into file covers, file boards, demi official letter pads, visiting cards, conference folders, envelopes etc. in a strictly eco-friendly manner. He said that on successful experimentation of the unit in the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat, similar units would be established in other offices which had heavy waste paper disposal every day. He said that it would not only save the environmental hazards but also utilize the waste for bonafide purposes. He said that henceforth there would not be any littering of places with waste paper and other material from the offices. He said that the Unit would be operated by an NGO TARA from New Delhi which would maintain it for one year period initially on no profit no loss basis and also train the officials of the Secretariat in converting the waste paper into useful articles for official use in different capacities.
Prof. Dhumal said that the State Government was making all out efforts to avail every opportunity of protecting environment and check pollution forthwith. He said that lots of innovations were taking place in protecting the environment in a most eco-friendly manner and the State Government would be opting to incorporate such machinery for recycling of the waste official stationary material. He said that recycling the waste paper was an innovative idea which had been adopted by the State Government and would be replicated soon in other big offices. He also inspected the pulp making and card board manufacturing process.
Smt. Asha Swarup, Chief Secretary, Smt. Sarojini Ganju Thakur, Additional chief Secretary, Environment and Pollution Control, Shri Bhim Sen, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Shri Ajay Bhandari, Secretary GAD, Dr. Nagin Nanda, Director of Poillution Control and other senior officers were present on the occasion.