Dailycsr.com – 24 July 2015 – The government of Kerala, a southern state of India, plans on earmarking “Rs 220 crore” for investing into “environment protection and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives”. The sanctioned amount will come from the shares of “Vizhinjam International Seaport Project” whereby its 8.2% share will be utilised in the environmental venture. The earmarked amount will also cover the welfare of Ports and Fisheries as reported by the “Minister K Babu”.
Jameela Prakasam from “the JD(S)” put forth a demand of increasing the amount declared for conservation work along with CSR oriented “Vizhinjam project” to triple the present expense rate. In order to reply to this demand, the minister was present in the Assembly, whereby he explained:
Jameela Prakasam from “the JD(S)” put forth a demand of increasing the amount declared for conservation work along with CSR oriented “Vizhinjam project” to triple the present expense rate. In order to reply to this demand, the minister was present in the Assembly, whereby he explained:
“Out of the revised estimate cost of Rs 7,525 crore for the project, the state government has to spend Rs 2,690 crore. As suggested by the Environment Impact Assessment report of 2013, the government has already earmarked Rs 140 crore for activities relating to social commitment,” Babu said.
Moreover, it was also informed that along with the sanctioned “Rs 140 crore” an extra amount of “Rs 80 crore” has been added to the previous earmarked sum “for similar activities” whereby the total amount earmarked comes to “Rs 220 crore”. K Babu also tells that
“This amount is roughly 8.2 per cent of the state’s share in the project”.
Giving a detailed breakup of the plan of action according to which the fund will be utilised the minister enumerates that for various initiatives of social responsibility “Rs 180 crore” have been put aside. Moreover, another amount of “Rs 96 crore” will go into “building a fishing harbour” while the rest will be used to support conservational efforts. As a part of social commitment the government will be creating “fish processing park”, harbour for fishing, “logistics training centre” along with all these the government will also launch various projects for “solid waste disposal” and drinking water availability. Furthermore, government will also conduct various programmes on healthcare and perform an “upgradation of Muloor School”.
There are possibilities that the project may affect the livelihood of some people. Therefore, government has kept aside “Rs 8.6 crore” to pay as compensation to the people affected, whereby almost “2,325 people”, fishermen and other related workers “will be rehabilitated”.
“A five member committee has already been formed with the Revenue Divisional Officer as the chairman and Fisheries Department Joint Director as the convenor to identify the beneficiaries under the project. An appeal committee, with the District Collector as Chairman and Fisheries Director as convenor has also been constituted,” Babu said.
There are orders on the committee member to complete all the issues related to rehabilitation by the 1st of November 2015. Following the completion of this activity other construction work is scheduled to commence. Furthermore, the minister K Babu informs that
“The company to be floated by Adani Ports will be asked to carry out its various CSR initiatives as laid down in the Companies Act of 2013”.