Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus and Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Center, Kochi, were presented with the Excellence awards by the Honorable Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri. Pinarayi Vijayan, at the World Environment Day celebrations held at the Mascot Hotel, Trivandrum, on June 7, 2018. 

The award included a cash award of Rs. 1 lakh, a trophy and a certificate. The award was bestowed for the sustainable initiatives in proper waste management, water management, energy management and the social responsibility initiatives, as well as other initiatives for environmental protection for 2016-2017 period.

Dr. S. N. Jyothi, Principal, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, received the award on behalf of the Amritapuri Campus along with Br. Sreevalsan, Prof. Jeena Arun, Prof. Arun Krishanpillai, Vishnu Vijay, Amritesh and Manhardas. The award for Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Center, Kochi, was received by Dr. Jaggu, Administrative General Manager, V. Rajappan, General Manager of Water Treatment & Biomedical Waste Management and R. R. Rajesh, Senior Research Officer of Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences. This is the second award for Amritapuri Campus and the fourth consecutive award for Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Center, Kochi.

The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) awards were introduced in 1989 for industries and other institutions. Present on the occasion were Pollution Control Board (PCB) Chairman Shri. K. Sajeevan, MLA Shri. K Muraleedharan, Haritha Keralam Mission’s Vice-Chairperson Dr. T. N. Seema, PCB Member Secretary Sri. T. A. Thankappan, the PCB board members and the PCB officials.

Some of the key highlights of this year’s initiatives include:

• Efficiency treated water passed through ultra filter and stored in overhead tanks and reused water for toilet flushing resulting in savings of 16000 m3 / annum.
• Water tanks have been automated to prevent overflow, in-house devices developed by IoT Labs of Amrita Center for Cyber Security Systems and Networks.
• Rainwater harvesting measures completed for over 13,000 m2 roof area resulting in 18,000 m3/year rainwater saving in 2017.
• Water squeezers for food waste dewatering resulting in electricity conservation of up to 20%.
• Poly House with concrete flooring for drying and storage of dry compost & ETP sludge and reuse the same for gardening throughout the year.
• Increased capacity from 23 to 43 lakh litres of sewage storage holding tanks to avoid any possible environment discharge for special events for Chancellor Amma’s birthday.
• 58 KW of solar panels installed and the resultant solar installed capacity increased to 232 kW.
• LED lights with solar panels all around the ETP area and replacement of tube and halogen lights with LED lamps across the campus resulting in 45000 kwh power saving.
• Massive clean-up campaigns were organised on Independence Day, Environment Day, Gandhi Jayanti, Chancellor Amma’s Birthday celebrations, etc.
• 2 lakh hours were dedicated for community outreach and social responsibility by the students, staff and faculty members of the campus with an annual commitment of over 6.5 crores.