The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry commenced its North East Initiative with a significant and relevant programme titled “Strategy Forum for Energy Management”, on Friday, 10th April 2015 at Guwahati, Assam. It was the initiative of the North East Committee of the Chamber in association with Tea Research Association (TRA). Since tea is an important industry in the North East, the focus was on promoting energy efficiency in the tea sector, which could result in huge cost savings and therefore increase margins significantly. The “Strategy Forum for Energy Management” was formally launched by Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency along with Dr. Alok Roy, President, The Bengal Chamber; Mr. Deb. A. Mukherjee, Chairperson, North East Committee, BCC&I and Mr. Prabhat Bezboruah, Vice Chairperson, Tea Research Association.
The President of The Bengal Chamber, Dr. Alok Roy observed it was the responsibility of the Chamber to create the relevant forum for the States of the North East to discuss and strategize the various issues of concern in the development sphere confronting the North East. Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director-General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency observed that good business models should be created so that the gardens could use the technologies efficiently without being stressed financially. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the Ministry of Power assured its support to BCC&I and TRA to promote energy efficiency in the Tea Sector.
The programme was also addressed by Shri V Subramanian, IAS (Retd), Former Secretary, MNRE, Government of India; Mr. Prabhat Bezboruah, Member, North East Committee, BCC&I, Vice Chairman, Tea Research Association; Shri Sanjay Seth, Energy Economist, Bureau of Energy Efficiency; Shri Sameer Pandita, Asst. Energy Economist, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Government of India; Mr. Dipankar Dehingia, OSD to CMD, Assam Power Distribution Company Limited; Mr. Sanjib Bezbaroa, Vice President - Corporate EHS, ITC Limited; Mr. Anirban Chatterjee, Technical Director, IGS – Advisory Management, KPMG India; Mr. Puneet Bhatia, Director , CISCO and Mr. Mainak Chakraborty, Co-CEO, Green Power Systems, Global Shaper, World Economic Forum. Mr. Subrata Dutta, Member, Managing Committee, The Bengal Chamber and Managing Director, The George Telegraph Group delivered the Vote of Thanks. Mr. Subhodip Ghosh, Deputy Director General, The Bengal Chamber commenced the forum with a presentation on the activities and the mission of the Chamber.
Senior officials from the tea sector and the Government were present on the occasion. The strategy forum also brought together corporate leaders and technology providers from various parts of North East. There were more than 70 senior participants and members of the media.