The CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur is India’s premier organization under Council of Scientific & Industrial Research. As a part of stakeholder connect, CSIR-NEERI has organized a ‘Stakeholders’ Conclave and Brainstorming on Current Challenges and Environmental Issues in Southern Region of India’ at Chennai Madras Complex, Chennai on September 19, 2025 to deliberate upon current challenges and emerging environmental issues in the Southern Region of India, to share best practices and to strengthen dialogue between industry, regulators and scientific institutions.

Dr. Jayanthi Murali, IFS, Chairperson, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Chennai, Er. S. Sreekala, Chairperson, Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Thiruvananthapuram, Dr. N. Ramesh, Member Secretary, Puducherry Pollution Control Committee and Dr. K. Rajeevan, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Larsen & Toubro Limited, Chennai are the Guests of Honour of the Conclave.

Around 350 participants are from various State Pollution Control Boards namely TNPCB, Kerala PCB, Karnataka PCB, PPCC, ANPCC and LDPCC and representatives from the industries L&T, Ramky Industrries, Saint Gobain Pvt. Ltd., Ranitec CETP, Best Colour Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Tamil Nadu Integrated Waste Management Association, Industrial Waste Management Association, etc. have attended the conclave.

 Dr. S. Venkata Mohan, Director, NEERI has expressed concerns on overuse of ground water, issue of emerging climate change, threat on region-specific species due to the wide spread pollution, and various pollution issues in Southern India. He highlighted the capabilities of CSIR-NEERI and shared success stories of CSIR-NEERI’s interventions in biomedical waste, soil remediation at Kodaikanal, tannery and textile sectors.

 Dr. Jayanthi Murali, has expressed her concerns on issues of heavy metals, micro plastics, circular economy, biomedical, e-waste management, single-use plastics, odour from fish industries and coastal dump yard related issues in Tamil Nadu. She highlighted initiatives of TN government on focusing of women participation across sectors and development of tire 2 & 3 cities, incentive programs for recycling of fish nets, observance of open house day on the 5^th of every month, Green Champion Industry Award and the Meendum Manjai Pai program.  She also highlighted on the need for integrating advanced research programs to address the environmental related issues.

Er. S. Sreekala, Chairperson, KSPCB, expressed her views on contamination of potable water bodies due to sea water percolation and ultra filtration is required to treat water percolation, E.Coli in well water and the presence of anti-microbial resistant residue in the water bodies, difficulty of treatment of hazardous chemical in the presence of water. She insisted on need of intensive R&D on treatment of urban waste and land erosion and intensive R&D is required for this. She also expressed support from CSIR-NEERI for carbon credit analysis and climate change.

Dr. N. Ramesh, MS, PPCC highlighted water resources are in deep stress as they are contaminated by heavy metals, population of parrots and fireflies are decreasing due to environmental issues. He suggested that collaborative approach is a holistic approach for addressing by working together industries, government agencies, regulatory authorities and academia are all working independently.

Dr. K. Rajeevan, Vice President and CTO of L&T stressed on the importance of use of recycled water. He mentioned that aged STPs should be renovated and importance of sludge treatment. He also pointed out that cost effective solutions are required to address the issues of emerging pollutants. He suggested that collaboration between NEERI and L&T is required and requested NEERI to conduct training program in the area of operation and maintenance. 

Scientists from CSIR-NEERI have showcased capabilities and technological interventions of CSIR -Neeri in all  Emerging areas of environmental Science and engineering. Dr. Sunita Shastry, Head, BDPMD,  briefed about CSIR-NEERI' achievements and technologies. Dr M.P. Patil Chief Scientist & Head, SHWMD has highlighted on the NEERI's technological intervention on the hazardous waste management. Dr. Rima Biswas, Senior Principal Scientist, highlighted the importance of Wastewater Management in Tanneries, Textiles and Distilleries Sector. Dr. Padma Rao, Chief Scientist & Head, Environmental Impact Assessment, Audit & Planning briefed on Environmental Impact Assessment & Carrying Capacity.

There is a technical session on “Industrial Waste Management: Challenges, perspectives, issues”, in which , representative from various industries has delivered on the issues, challenges, and solutions in Industrial Waste Management: Challenges, perspectives, issues, in their respective industries. Mr. Venkata Murugan from Saint Gobain Pvt. Ltd., Chennai spoke on low-carbon products, the necessity to find the alternate RAW materials, etc.  Dr. C. Shankar from Tamil Nadu Integrated Waste Management Association, Chennai briefed on Waste Management scenario and challenges in Tamil Nadu, Dr .D. Sivakumar from Ranitec CETP, Ranipet spoke about the success stories and the current challenges about Wastewater Management in Tannery Sector, Mr. Suresh, Best Colour Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Tirupur briefed on the Wastewater Treatment in Textile Sector: ZLD. Dr. P. Ganesh Kumar from L&T Water Technology Centre, Chennai spoke on Circular Economy in Municipal Domestic Wastewater Treatment for urban cities. Mr. Sudhakaran Kalidas, Dyers Association of Tirupur gave an overview about the Challenges in Industrial Wastewater Treatment-Tiruppur Textiles Cluster-ZLD Plants. Dr. B. Chakradhar from Re Sustainability Solutions, Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad briefed on the Management of ZLD reject, bio-medical waste and hazardous waste. Mr. Baskaran from Industrial Waste Management Association, Chennai spoke about Industrial Waste to Resource.

In the panel discussion, Dr. M. Saravanakumar, MS, TNPCB mentioned that Tamil Nadu is one of the major industrial hubs and also pointed out on the importance of ZLD system. Dr.N. Ramesh, MS, PPCC, suggested that desalinated water can be used for industrial development. He also mentioned TSDF facility should be created in several places and clean fuel technology is required. He also mentioned that non-attainment cities have increased. He also suggested to adopt extended producer responsibility, EPR. Er. Bincy, Environmental Engineer, KSPCB, mentioned that e-waste and solid waste are prevalent issues in Kerala. She also mentioned about the presence of anti-microbial resistant residue in the water bodies. She mentioned that rivers, marine and animals are now contaminated with microplastics. She also spoke on the need to focus on fecal sludge treatment. Dr. B. Chakradhar, Director, RE Sustainability Solutions Private Limited mentioned that several guidelines provided by MoEF&CC are not followed aggressively. He suggested that precious metals can be extracted from solid waste and e-waste. He also mentioned that energy can be generated from municipal waste. Dr. Devotta, Former Director, CSIR-NEERI concluded that inter-state collaboration is required to address environmental problems. He suggested that comprehensive National Level policy is required to address emerging environmental problems. He mentioned that most of the treatment processes are cost-intensive and as India is still a coal dependent economy effective particulate emission control technologies are required. Although emerging pollutants needs to be addressed however the fundamental environmental issues need t be addressed on priority. He also suggested that the cost of ZLD system needs to be reduced for it to be viable.

Director CSIR-NEERI has concluded the conference that such Stakeholders conclave will be platform to bring together the stakeholders  is a holistic approach for addressing by working together industries, government agencies, regulatory authorities and academia for collectively address the issues of Environment.

Dr. Sivacoumar, Scientist & Head CZC, Dr. Sunita Shastry, Head BDPM, Dr. Salve Chief Scientist, Er. Satish Dabe, Sr. Principal Scientist, BDPM, Dr. G. Sarvanan & Er. R. Kathik, Principal Scinetist, Dr. T Rajesh, Sr. Scinetist, CZC, Ms D. Catherine has actively contributed in the organizing the event.

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(Release ID: 2168790)