Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) is planning to study a river water management scheme for Mangalore.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday evening as part of the 10th year celebration of the acquisition of MRPL by ONGC Ltd, P.P. Upadhya, Managing Director of MRPL, said that water scarcity in Mangalore had forced the refinery for a temporary shutdown in the last summer.

Mangalore gets good rainfall. In such a situation, there is a need for better water management system. Considering this, the company is proposing to study the management of water in Nethravathi River.

A study costing around Rs 1 crore will be commissioned for this purpose after the completion of elections to the Legislative Assembly in the state, he said. This will be part of the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.

He said that Samrakshan, the CSR programme of MRPL, is scaling up its involvement in sustainable development across fields such as health, education, infrastructure, and sanitation in the region.

The company is also planning to provide digital class room facility for five schools in the region. Under the contract, the service provider would provide five-year annual maintenance to the schools concerned. After five years, the hardware under the digital class room project would be the property of the schools, he said.

Upadhya said that MRPL is planning to construct around 10 bus-shelters from MRPL site to Mangalore city.

On the occasion, the company announced the donation of a computer lab for a school in Harekala village in Mangalore. It also assured the donation of a power generator to Roman and Catherine Lobo School for the Blind in the city.

It may be mentioned here that MRPL had committed Rs 21 crore for the construction of a 12,000 sq ft block for the 162-year-old Lady Goschen Government Hospital in the city.

>vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in