Akhilesh Srivastava addressed the Conference on Chemical & Industrial Disaster Management (CIDM)

A conference on Chemical and Industrial Disaster Management (CIDM) was held on March 14th and March 15th, 2018, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India, the National Disaster Management Authority (a body under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India), the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) of Government of India (GOI), Government of Gujarat (as the State partner), and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) had collectively organised the conference. Akhilesh Srivastava, Chief General Manager (CGM) of IT & Highway Operations delivered keynotes on the topic "Transportation of Hazardous Chemicals by Road" on the invitation of the technical committee of the conference on 14th March, 2018.

The conference, which also hosted an exhibition, was centered on the management of chemical accidents and the protocols that are to be followed while managing the chemical accidents. Apart from the discussions, this conference also provided a platform for global and Indian companies to share their success stories and processes they followed while dealing with chemical accidents. Many presentations and discussions happened on better In-situ and Ex-situ management and handling of hazardous materials. Around 300 delegates from across the country participated in this presentations-packed event, which really gave the expected boost to the conference.

The main factors affecting the transportation of chemicals and other hazardous materials are:

1. The distance between production and disposal sites
2. Markets are too far from production

Why industries prefer roadways over other to transport chemicals and hazardous materials?

The traffic on roadways has been increasing day on day due to the rise in industrial activities. Many industries are relying on national highways to transport their goods.

Though the national highways constitute just 2% of all the road networks in India, they have been facilitating around 40% of the trade happening in India. As they connect major industrial cities with markets, many industries like Chemical, Petroleum, and so forth have been leveraging the national highway network for years. Even the government of India’s Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) transports the hazardous and inflammable materials to other countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal through border roads.

But, what concerns the governing bodies of roadways is the management of accidents and disasters. Among all types of accidents, Chemical accidents proved costly, many times, to the environment as well to the victims. Though, there are many laws and rules that govern the transportation of materials on Roadways, but they need to be updated to the world standards to make them more effective. CGM Akhilesh Srivastava was invited to deliver his thoughts and ideas as he is the Head of operations division, managed many emergencies and disasters.

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Aadhyakalyan completed her PG from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in 2008. she stories have previously been published in Writing Magazine and Best journals. she lives in Hyderabad, India."