The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Insist on e-waste disposal facilities for approving IT parks'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 05, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Insist on e-waste disposal facilities for approving IT parks'

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: Information Technology (IT) parks should have e-waste disposal facilities. The presence of the recycling facilities should be a factor that needs to be considered before permission is given for IT parks, said Lakshmi Venkatachalam, Principal Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Industry, on Thursday.

"We all think that IT parks are green parks. But that is not always true. They generate huge quantities of e-waste that needs to be taken care of properly," she said at the valedictory function of a seminar to debate e-waste legislation, organised by E-Waste Agency (EWA), a nodal agency comprising representatives from industries, producers and recyclers, and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

She said the development of new software units in the State as well as the increase in software exports meant more generation of e-waste. "Bangalore is the largest generator of e-waste. We need to see that its generation is controlled and that it is disposed off properly," he said.

Ms. Venkatachalam said e-waste recycling units had to be encouraged in urban and semi-urban areas as consumption patterns in these areas were undergoing changes.

Bhishma Narayan Singh, former Governor of Assam and Tamil Nadu, and A.N. Yellappa Reddy, environmentalist, were present.

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