Indian Army's Chief Engineer underscores need to achieve goals to reduce carbon footprint

Indian Army's Engineer-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Harpal Singh while speaking at the valedictory function of the Group A Military Engineering Services officers and their induction on Friday, June 10, emphasised the need for reducing the carbon footprint. Lieutenant General Harpal Singh asked the officers to pay attention to conserving energy and aligning the Defence Sector infrastructure with necessary measures to attain the goal. Furthermore, the Chief Guest at the event was Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar, who encouraged the young officers to be inventive and use technology to solve the organisation's challenges.

Harpal Singh vividly talked about the Army's plan for the next few years and highlighted that sustainable development is one of the major priorities for the Indian Army. The Lieutenant-General said, "While defence forces have always remained in forefront of greening the desert and barren areas, sustainable development is of prime importance and to address the environmental concerns, defence infrastructure development has to be aligned accordingly."

Indian Army's Chief Engineer further added, "Renewable energy, conservation of water and energy resources and reduction of carbon footprint have to be focus areas and their importance cannot be overemphasised in the planning of defence projects."

It is important to mention that Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently stated on World Environment Day, June 5, that his government has taken a variety of measures to safeguard the environment, adding that India's efforts have been multi-faceted despite the country's minimal involvement in climate change.

Indian Army's 'Go Green' initiative

For the past few years, the Indian Army has continuously been promoting the 'Go Green' initiative across India and has thus taken an important step to reduce the carbon footprint. The Indian Army, in the year 2019, installed a 2MW Solar Power Plant at Kapurthala Military Station. Spread over 8.5 acres, it has 6,240 solar panels of Indian origin and will generate 29.50L lakhs units of electricity.

Recently, the Indian Army inaugurated a 'Go Green' programme along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Machil sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district. The Army planted saplings as part of this project in order to boost green cover and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Following the planting drive, the army spoke to the locals about the necessity of environmental protection through such efforts.

Time-bound delivery is an obvious prerequisite need of defence forces: Lt. Gen Harpal Singh

Lieutenant General Harpal Singh further emphasised the need for quick deliveries of infrastructure facilities and spoke about how critical time-bound delivery is for the defence forces. He said, "In view of the enhanced pace of modernisation of our forces and induction of new equipment, time-bound delivery of quality and infrastructure facilities is an obvious prerequisite and critical need of the defence forces."

He further added, "Military Engineer Services must, therefore, strive to provide allied infrastructure support so that these equipment are installed seamlessly. Needless to mention here that project management is of vital importance and the development of a relevant database will be a significant step in this direction."

Image: PTI, Representative