India's Green Industrial Parks

Can you believe this is actually a Food Manufacturing Hub - an Industrial Park developed by KINFRA? It was incidental that I bumped into a place during my visit to Kerala this monsoon. I knew there was an Industrial park near my home but never had the chance to go there despite the fact that it is located just 4 kms away.

I was actually destined to Vizhinjam for a day and later on drop in to some resort at Kovalam for an overnight trip. This was a cool 100 kms away from my home and I had a vehicle to myself and was expecting an early morning departure via tourist spot Veli.

As I woke up at 4.30 AM and peeped out of the window, I realised it was raining continuously for the whole night and I should not expect any mercy anytime soon from the heavy downpour. I could still leave because the weather conditions on my phone displayed light showers on the way. But I had another problem. No company for the trip of around 4 hours each side. 100 Kilometres in Kerala is not exactly 100 Kilometres in Gujarat, where I am based. Let me rephrase this. 100 KM in Kerala will take 4 hours in Kerala while it takes 2 hours in Gujarat. Not because of better roads or infrastructure but because of topography. Kerala roads are mountainous and zig-zagged and take longer to cover a distance than what you find in plains. But I was prepared with the unplayed BBC Documentary Podcasts that I had stored well in advance exclusively for this trip to cover up for my loneliness.

But then suddenly a thought came to my mind. Why not explore the nearby areas? Though I have a home here, I visit here once or twice a year. The childhood memories of visiting home town during vacation are limited to staying at home for a full month. First there was hardly any budget to travel to the famous hill stations or stay at a hotel there. Second, the parents never attempted to take us. When you have a home here, why go to Hotel and stay - was the permanent response when asked to make a trip. Kerala, then was not a big tourist destination as it is now. So we, as kids, hardly got to see even our own surroundings. To make up for those lost years, I make sure, the same excuses are not thrown to my kids when they are with me.

An hour passed since these thoughts went through my mind and I was still staring at the heavy downpours from the window. Water was gushing through the front gates onto the verandah which will make way to the nearest stream travelling all through the backdoor entrance. For a long time, I have been thinking of creating a water recharging plant to get the water down under rather than to the stream outside. May be at a later stage. I had parked my vehicle at the next door neighbour - who happens to be my uncle - and I could easily hear the drops hitting the metal body of the vehicle which indicated the rains are heavier than I can see with the rising sun.

Childhood buddy and former Sarkari Office colleague, Binoy Samuel - who is now based at Kochi - was supposed to come on that day to visit his parents who stays just another 2 kms from the Industrial park. I gave a thought again - let's get around the neighbourhood instead of a long drive. It was 6.30 by this time and I came down to the Kitchen to see my mom and aunt preparing tea. They had presumed that I had cancelled the trip. So breakfast has to be prepared for me too.

Typically, when I am at home, the breakfast is tapioca with sardine fry. But this time I replaced Tapioca with raw jackfruit typically cooked in Kerala Style and asked not to prepare lunch for me. Typically, I prefer lunch at wayside joints in Kerala. They are not only hygienic and delicious but even economical in every sense.

First I set out to buy some Mundu - a typical Dhoti type Cotton drape. I have started wearing Mundu on Sundays to Church. Though I am not very familiar with its nitty-gritties, I make sure it doesnt fall through by having a velcro belt around my waist. You have single and double mundu. Single is more transparent while double have lesser transparency. Though I like transparency in all the field that I work, this is the only field I would stay away from it.

By the time I reached the market area, rain had a brief break which allowed me to park the vehicle and get into a shop - perhaps not more than the breaks you see during Television soap operas - and post shopping I was wondering at the shop how to get into my vehicle which was parked on the opposite side of the road. Rains started pouring again in plenty. Fortunately, break came sooner. I made my way to Binoy's home. Here I was expecting a stomach full of Rambutan.

And I was not disappointed. But consuming it needs special skills. It looks like Litchi but you cannot eat it like Litchi. You need to use your sharp teeth to slice it from bottom - right near the seed. Or else you will end up eating a Cadbury's Five Star Bar with residues inside your mouth stuck permanently like a wrong politician you voted for and cant get rid of for full five years.

8 years ago, at an office party in Kochi, I had met a farmer turned entrepreneur called Alex Thomas. He had told me then that he is trying to harness the potential of agricultural crops grown in Kerala, process it and turn into food products and market them across the globe. After a couple of years, I heard from his consultant - who happens to be a good friend - that he has started his venture called Tierra Food India Pvt. Ltd. at Kinfra Food Processing Park, Adoor - very close to my home. But each time I tried to visit his plant, he was at Kochi. And this time, along with Binoy, we decided to take a plunge and visit the park.

As we drove through the road leading to this industrial park, I was amazed and astonished to see the beauty of nature. I never realised we had a Hill Station so close to my home. I could see the clouds beneath me and the green belt could be a food processing park was something I was not able to fathom. It has a reason. In Gujarat, Maharashtra and a few other places, industrial parks are the most dirty places where breathing is itself a big sin. The canals and rivulets flowing through these industrial corridors are so polluted that you can see Chemical Rainbows through it. Places where you could barely stay for minutes. But here, we decided it was the best place for a selfie.

Now the question is can greenery and industry co-exist? I think setting up an industry cannot be a recipe for ecological disaster. But in India it is not mandatory for industrial parks to have green cover. They are least bothered about biodiversity, retaining soil moisture, ground water recharging or using plants to improve air quality. It is interesting that India's Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) initiated policy initiatives to promote integration of environmental concerns in developmental projects is not visible on the ground. Even notifications on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of developmental projects and provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 has failed in the absence of poor execution and supervision as well as punitive action.

This is what the National Forest Policy, 1988 (NFP) says : Encourage the planting of trees alongside of roads, railway lines, rivers and streams and canals, and on other unutilized lands under State/corporate, institutional or private ownership. Emphasise on the green belt development. Green belts should be raised in urban/industrial areas as well as in arid tracts. But where is it implemented in real sense? On the contrary, such parks have given way to large scale destruction of ecologically sensitive forest areas.