Vision of Life; by Sanjay

Sanjeevani Dev.

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Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!

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Saturday, April 6, 2024

PMC, Revenue, Responsibilities & Pune!

Revenue cures everything in the business world… Jon Taffer

With great power comes great responsibility… Spiderman… Stan Lee.

Jonathan Peter Taffer is an American entrepreneur and television personality. He is best known for hosting the reality series Bar Rescue on Paramount Network and Face the Truth on CBS & second quote’s writer (read as creator) is the man who changed millions of lives through his creations via Marvel Comics & wrote the all-time greatest quote about power & responsibility! Why I chose the above two quotes is because of one news article about PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) which praised (rare thing) the organization for its record-breaking revenue it earned in the financial year 23-24. You will say what's special in it as that's the job of the PMC to earn revenue for the city & what it has to do in it, just grant permissions & so but then that's the speciality of Punekars, i.e. to criticize everything, so be it! For those who doesn’t understand the importance of this news & its impact (future) on the city lets first understand how PMC earns its revenue & how things like power & responsibility as well our future are related with this aspect & then will share my views about the revenue from building permissions, PMC is governing public body for Pune city & it earns revenue via various ways & just the way we pay tax to the govt & from that development works for the country are done, the city also works on similar basis. Though things like income tax or such taxes on earning are not there yet the major sources of the city revenue are Property Tax, Premiums as well Development Charges PMC charges for new construction (which are per sft area consumed) & GST collection share (which is receivable from State Govt). And then there are other revenue avenues such as Hoarding/ Banners (advertising) charges, road cutting & other charges as well whatever public buildings or properties are owned by PMC those rental but the major source remains property tax collected from the citizens for the services PMC provides to them & building permissions. And from all this revenue the infrastructure works in the city along with running costs such as salaries & other operating charges for the services PMC provides are taken care of.

Now, if you have understood the revenue model of PMC then let’s see the importance of increase in revenue via building permission charges, its reasons & impact on the future of the city. First of all, increase in revenue from building permission means “Achhe Din” for real estate (at least one side of it) as its possible because of more & more launches of new projects in PMC limit & the faster PMC will approve them the faster its kitty will fill & full marks to PMC administration for that as sanction process needs to be smooth & fast to achieve increase in revenue. I know many people will frown over this & can say “buttering” knowing my bread & butter depends on PMC also, but let me tell you one thing, to give credit to someone (even govt) for a good result is equally necessary if you want to slam the same system for its wrong doing, & take my praise with that mindset! And as I always say, speak up good things first if you want to improve the system & in this case if revenue is a power of PMC, then the responsibility will come in the form of infrastructure needs of the city which this revenue has or will generate! At the same time three to four years back even before Covid hit us the revenue of building permission was on a declining graph, so what has turned the tide? Answer is, UDPCR named “sim sim,” which means allowing more construction on the same piece of land which was a boon for redevelopment as well as the central part of the city which was already saturated! As well, post Covid demand for this city from all across Central India & other parts of the State was the reason for the need to fulfil this real estate space’s demand & which was completed by UDPCR!

Suddenly the central part or already developed part of the city once again came in demand as practically the FSI here got doubled & outcome is every alternate building which has been built in early 70’s to 90’s found themselves in race (rat race) of redevelopment. Because if on one side the buildings which don't have basic amenities like lift or attached toilet to the bedrooms or enough parking spaces are redeveloped for these amenities then many are being redeveloped for additional space the existing flat holders will be getting because of availability of FSI. As well suddenly the bungalows or vacant plots also are getting lured with the kind of remuneration which is too hard to resist & all of these resulted in more development proposals means more FSI consumption means more building permission revenue & thus this year building permission revenue figures for first time are more than property tax revenue, which is a good sign then I personally feel is not a healthy sign (read as warning sign) for the city! Because property tax is a permanent & perennial source of income which must be looked after & strengthened as building permission revenue is like waves of ocean which has high tide & low tide too! If you are confused then do know building permissions revenue is possible only when new real estate proposals are being submitted i.e. new projects are being launched & its one-time revenue, the reason why three to four years back the building permission dept’s revenue got decreased because most of the PMC limits lands has been developed & UDPCR was yet to come in force, naturally there was no scope for new development so less revenue, is the mathematics! But now as many new lands (read as potential) are coming for development the graph of building permission is on the rise but this will be on for next say ten or twenty years which includes lands in newly merged 33 villages (well, that’s another subject of sharing).

This is the entire revenue model thing so, let’s see the responsibilities which will (rather already has come) come along with building permissions’ revenue of which first & foremost is the huge, trust me huge is also insufficient word to describe the need of infrastructure which these new permissions are going to generate in the city! Water is the first need as it is very basic of which the city is already witnessing the burnts & then will come power, roads, parking spaces, drainage lines & many such along with the new permissions which are in a way new homes! And I am not even counting the other needs such as education, public health as fortunately the private sector is there to take care of them yet entertainment & recreation is there & we don’t have enough public spaces is a fact. At the same time all these new homes are not affordable to the common man means nearly sixty percent of the population of this city which is in serving the lucky forty percent who can afford a home in central part of Pune will still need a good liveable (and legal) home, who & how they will be build, is the question which PMC only has to answer as they are the ones giving permissions! And do mind the permission revenue graph will be going to decline after a decade & we don’t have new villages or UDPCR then, so we will have to build the infrastructure right now from this revenue in the right way! And most important make building policies which will have space for trees (and assurance for their survival) along with buildings, as by reducing green cover we are indirectly reducing our future revenue forever!

And to achieve this revenue figures, we will also need right policies from business angle also, as on one side along Metro corridor we are asking for more density of flats & making smaller flats (below 600 sft, fifty percent in TOD zone) but that’s making building planning miserable (read as impossible) as well there are not takes for such flats as in central area rates are already beyond capacity of normal families, instead open up the planning restrictions, let it be the way one wants to build as that’s possible only by the selling capacity of the builder & city will benefit in that way more on revenue as well infra front! At the same time make more TDR available & keep paid FSI options available & don’t make compulsory which should be used & in what proportion as all around the world markets are opening & that's the only way of survival, look what happened in China & learn! If we want the city to keep on high-tide of the revenue then we must make positive changes to sustain that high-tide & prepare ourselves for the low-tide which is the course of nature! And we will have to do that fast because the responsibilities come faster than the revenue; mind it, adios with this warning!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.html

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below...

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/

Think Green, Think Life

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Forest Day, Sparrow Day & Birth Control of Tigers!

“You try to protect only the things which either you value or love” …

Fortunately, when the subject is forest, wildlife nature then I don’t have to search for appropriate quote but I myself have so much of them & this is not for boosting my own knowledge but to let you know that when you love nature or value it then it blesses you in so many ways, that being able to think & express above words is just one example! And International Forest Day , 22^nd of March which is celebrated a day after World Sparrow Day, 21^st of March are two such opportunities for my sharing! This year’s Forest Day theme is “Forests and Innovation: New Solutions for a Better World” & though there is no theme (to my knowledge) for the Sparrows yet we can invent one, as that is also part of the Forest Day, going by its theme! Let’s first understand what this theme of Forest Day means as Innovation, Solutions for better World, is nice catchy slogans but usually such slogan’s life is only for that year & as the dates fade so does the words of the slogans is what I feel & if you think it's sarcasm then tell me theme line of last year’s Forest Day (without googling)! Well, it was Forest & Health , making healthy forests for healthy people & if you can link these two themes then this year’s theme is like a sequel of last year’s theme of Forest Day. Because if you want to make forests healthy then you need to come up with innovative solutions for a better means of a healthy world, now you got it, I hope!

Coming back to the theme of Forest Day but before that, something about those who don’t know about Forest Day (read as doesn’t bother about forests) The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 March the International Day of Forests in 2012 to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests around the world. Countries especially developing ones & underdeveloped are encouraged to undertake local, national, and international efforts to organize activities involving forests and trees, such as tree planting campaigns are carried out on this day!

And here is where the importance of this year’s Forest Day theme is more, because in developed countries already most of the forest cover is gone & so has the wildlife; take example of entire Europe or Japan where hardly any wildlife exists! Do mind, green cover does matter but just trees or plantation doesn’t mean forest (this is my way of looking at it) but where entire life cycle exists from trees, grass, shrubs, creepers, water bodies to insects to big hunters like leopard & tiger or lions, that I will call as forest & our country fortunately is blessed with all these! This is why Forest Day’s importance for developing & under-developed countries is more as we still have something to save still but we won’t be able to save the forests naturally & that’s why innovations are important. Over the decades & centuries, the human population has been constantly increasing because of the innovations we have done to make our life comfortable & healthy & now it’s time we must use innovations for making the life of the forests healthy as forests on their own can’t save themselves, is a fact! And when we say life of the forest's healthy, it means making life of the people in & around healthy & for that we must start from forest dept itself which includes making them feel important as then only they will love their job to protect forests. Unfortunately, from budget provision to infrastructure, barring few blue-eyed forests like tdaoba, forest dept is ignored or neglected in comparison to other govt depts, is a fact! And result is the actual working staff of the forest dept are not taken proper care, though people do join the service as it’s a govt job but that’s all, neither they love their job nor they are able to make common people love forests or protect them, first accept this lacuna, is the start of the solution for making forests healthy! I move around in many forests & speak to guards or forest labours & their situation while working in the field is bad, right from stay conditions in the forests to basic infrastructure regarding vehicles or life protection weapons everything is below par & yet we expect them to protect forests! And if you don’t trust my words the go to any forest & try living along with forest guards, as agreed they know this while joining the dept & many will say situation is worse of Country’s border but look at the support & infrastructure (and respect also) the military man gets & look what forest guard gets, then you will realize the difference! Even the top-ranking officers of the forest dept (IFS cadre) are always kept under their own parallel rank services such as IAS as forest depts top boss has to report a revenue dept officer from same cadre, but why a revenue officer IAS is not supposed to report an IFS officer, if we want to put forests above all things, is the question we should ask. Here I am not discriminating between the depts but if you appoint an IFS office to protect the forests then all the decisions related to forests including budgets must be put under that office is common sense, right? You can have a revenue (IAS) officer as an auditor for forest works but, definitely not as a top boss or final authority for every decision related to forests; is what I feel, if we want to make forests healthy, as it’s a job of professionals!

At the same time the forest dept also must give up their “we know the best” approach towards the forests as indeed they wear Khaki & has authority in the forests but forest is an ever-evolving ocean of knowledge by itself & nobody can claim that he or she knows everything about the forests! And when the subject is of forests & people around the forests then the forest dept must be open or say welcome to the Innovations or Solutions given by other persons too, which rarely happens! As when we can’t provide proper infrastructure to the forest dept itself, how can we expect to come up with the right things for people who live in & around the forests! Outcome is, our Hon Judiciary (Courts) always come down heavily on the systems which supposedly manage the forests & the only way they know is, to ban or stop wildlife tourism which is actually the only way we have, to protect the forests! Technology use is important but first decide what & how we will be using the technology for as the world is going to AI but do mind nature is way beyond any intelligence & all we can do is learn from it to protect it instead of just going for technology. You can get intimation of arrival or approach of wild animals like tigers near human settlement with AI but why such need arises for the tiger to leave its forest & enter into some village, is the outcome of wrong use of our knowledge, mind it!

And now imagine if we don't provide enough infra or apply our minds for forests then who will think about a non-entity species like a sparrow! As we have literally driven the sparrows away from every town & city under the name of progress, growth, or development because all we think is about our needs & our comforts (read as human’s) & what about giving space or needs of species like sparrows, who will do that & we celebrate Sparrow Day, which is like “Jale pe Namak Chidkana,” means applying salt on the wound! Sparrows need spaces for making their nests, they need little privacy, they need some water, they need some grains as their food, they need little earth (dust, clay) for their dust bath & we have taken away every of above these basic needs & we think by celebrating Sparrow Day we can get the sparrows back, fools we are!

Lastly on my recent FB post (that’s all I can do) about recent death of a male tiger from some project tiger’s neighbourhood, few readers (of-course from developed countries) wrote why can’t we control birth rate of tigers if their population is growing or why can’t we relocate it to balance their population in a particular area to reduce man-animal conflicts! Well, keeping due respect to their sentiments, this shows our ignorance about wildlife & forests as if at all we need to control is, not the birth of tigers but birth of the humans & if we want to make more space available to the tigers (read as wildlife) then in our planning we must accommodate some part for forest & we must educate all the humans to live in harmony with the wildlife, there only lies hope for good health of the forests!

The best solution to protect forests & make them healthy is, sharing the knowledge & use it jointly without decrementing among ourselves means, we may be from any fraternity such as forest dept, revenue dept, NGO, private sector, researchers or even a house wife but we all need to come together & join hands for one cause & that platform is missing, so let’s take this as first step, on Forest Day 2024, adios with this note!!

---

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.html

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below...

www.sanjeevanideve.com / https://junglebelles.in/

Think Green, Think Life

Monday, March 25, 2024

Mananiya Bhavi Khasdar of Pune; an Open Letter!

“You can't understand a city without meeting its people who lives on its streets.”
― Erol Ozan

“The city, however, does not tell its past, but its roads are like the lines of a hand, telling all about past, present & future about it”
― Italo Calvino

Two quotes from two personalities while Erol is a Writer, scientist, thinker, futurist, and salsa dancer living in Raleigh, North Carolina (USA); Italo too was an Italian writer and journalist, his best-known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy & though both lives thousands of miles away & in different era yet the similarity between them is, their definition about a city! That is the reason I choose their words to start my sharing in the form of an open letter to none other than “future Bapp” (read as boss) rather proposed Baap is right word as in Marathi we call “Bhavi” which if rightly translated then can be called as “probable” as “future’ means certain which isn’t the case here! I am sure you must be confused (read as agitated or irritated) with the absurd start but it’s about our Greatest Indian Politician (just like Magician) Show i.e. Lok Sabha election & choosing MP i.e. Khasdar of our city, that’s why probable as we don’t know who that guy will be! Well, no gender biasness but two main candidates are Gents & till now no lady candidate has filed her nomination, so the “guy” word to refer the probable MP of Pune!

Ok, now the stage is set, for the election as well for my sharing then most readers will think that they know what this letter will be saying or what’s use of such time pass (it is in a way) as first which candidate is going to read it & even if he reads, yet am I a fool (any doubts?) that it will make any difference and things like that! Well, I agree with your points but first this is where the democracy aspect of election comes in picture & in case if none of the candidates read this sharing is ok but you people are reading it right & if you think you also won’t do any difference then you can stop reading right now, rather don’t read anything, just watch weird reels on Insta, that’s what you are made for! Sorry for sarcasm but it comes with the tag of Punekar, just the way an urge to write this sharing to our Bhavi MP is! That way Pune has taken lead in compare to many other sensitive or say sensational election centres in the country as already both the major contending parties have announced their candidates already when the election day is nearly two months away, a rare thing! And this if on one side is a challenge for the contestants as to keep the tempo of voting up for such long period is a tough task (for pocket also, sarcasm) then on the other side it has given them an opportunity to reach as many voters & understand what they want (read as expect) & here is where quotes from Erol & Italo came handy for me as this is what my letter is about!

I myself, now can be considered as a citizen of Pune (though the Nagpur roots will never be cut fully) as I studied here, got job here & now running business i.e. earning bread & butter here & in the process get to learn a few things about the city as my profession deals with city building while my academia is about environment! So, here we go…

Dear Bhavi Khasadar of Pune,

While we wish you best for the election, here are some points (you can read as tips) which you can keep in mind in your campaign…

First of all, if you are expecting I will be listing problems of the city, then you are wrong because I know you both are more hardcore Punekars than me & you definitely know her (city’s) problems, that’s why first I am sharing plus-points of the city! Best part of Pune is, culture of this city which is backbone of the society, as take example of Ganpati Utsav, where else in the country millions of people coming together on the streets for whole night & celebrate the festival & who can forget events like Savaii Gandharva, Firodia, Purushottam (please google about these, if you don’t know what these names are) & many such which provides stage to thousands of artists to perform their art & skills! So please see that this culture named backbone gets strengthened in your tenure as then the city will also grow in harmony of culture. And after culture the strong point of the city is education, with lakhs of students coming in this city for becoming a better human being by having education here, along with the culture the city offers to them. But of-late both these strong aspects of city are getting deteriorated fast, as now celebration means loud music, walls of speakers & drunk dancing with rallies of motorbikes with silencers making deafening sounds making celebration is nuisance to entire society. And if entire education system is in clutches of latest threat of drugs, then increasing numbers of minors (students) in crime is also an alarm for the education front of the city, this is where you will have to work most. Then comes environment or say weather of the city, this is the city which just a few decades back didn’t know summer & a century back when British ruled us, the very city is known as “No Fan City,” means weather was so pleasant that no artificial ventilation was required & look what we have done to this city!

One more plus point of Pune is, the opportunities it offers to every person may he or she be from any class of age group & this is the main reason the city is one of the most peaceful in compare to other cities of its size in the country. As when majority of people are involved in building their respective careers (by legal ways, of course) then only there is peace in the society, is the side effect (good) of the work culture! With lakhs of migrants coming to the city every year for education as well for job, its like industries, services, companies are coming here because man-power is available here & Vise-versa, making Pune city for entire Central India, what USA is for developing or underdeveloped countries! And this is the reason why Pune is prospering continuously as like a chain reaction this process is going on now for decades & as a boss of the city all you have to do is just keep this chain reaction on! Last but not least is public health at large, an aspect which nobody ever cared or bothered till Covid hit us & suddenly now everybody is worried about health & health care facilities which Pune has best in comparison to many towns in the country & this is one more reason people want to settle here as they feel the city can provide them good health care centre when needed. So, as Bhavi Mai-Baap of the city, do keep an eye for making this public health named arm of the city stronger as it has benefitted to the city’s growth a lot! And yes, one more most important aspect is crime rate of the city, which on the face may seem a lot (it is, but in different form) but considering population & size of the city its actually less! Yet it will be a challenge for you to keep this city safe on crime front as wealth usually attracts crime & if you will make this city wealthy then keeping away the criminals will need special measures especially for rapidly increasing cyber-crimes!

Just the way in any examination we have been taught to complete the easy questions or our well-prepared portion’s questions first & then give time to the harder ones, now comes the hard part of the city, lol! And as I said needless to say, you know it better than me about all the hard-hitting aspects of the city which starts from traffic & ends at traffic only, because many issues are directly related to the traffic problem of Pune. The time wasted in traffic is main reason of frustration & reflects in increasing numbers of road rage cases (crimes) at the same time millions of vehicle’s exhausts chokes breath of the citizens & the Carbon Monoxide emission increases temperature of the entire city making it “AC Must City” from “No Fan City”! The only solution is not just the public transport but making it as lifestyle of the citizens, that is the harder part as you may build Metro but who will teach the citizens to walk a bit to reach to that Metro, is the problem! Apart from poor public transport, the way Karna in Mahabharat has “Kavach Kundal” as part of his body, Punekars considers their two-wheeler or four-wheeler as inseparable part of their body, making entire city a parking lot & a racing track at a time, is the real problem! And for that apart from awareness strict policing from traffic management view, is equally important!

Three issues I won’t need to comment & they are, water, drainage & garbage as no rocket science is needed to manage them, just a strong will, is what we expect from you! One more aspect is, constantly reducing green cover of the city but its solution is not only in tree policy & planting new trees but in making right housing policy which will accommodate trees & people & understanding need of the housing! The city is growing on population front & this population needs homes & lots of them, & the way we will be building these homes will only decide fate of the city! Bhavi Khasadar Sir, this is the weakest link of the city & that’s why I kept it for last as its hardest & your voters first basic need is not Roti or Kapada as they can manage it on their own but Makan is their main problem! Hardly twenty percent of the population has their own legal home here & millions of people either surrender to urge of buying an illegal home or live in slums on rent, is a fact & if you think I am exagereting then conduct your own survey & check! And only when the end user citizen of the city i.e. a driver, a house maid, a deliver boy, a peon & many such will be able to buy a home of their own in this city then they will be at peace & many problems the city is facing right now will be solved in the process; high time for you to know this very basic fact about the city & its people is what I thought, so bothered!

Lastly for the citizens of Pune (read as the Voters), I know many of so-called learned people (there are many in this city do hate politics & the politicians & thinks nothing will change by election & all are same blah blah but seriously nothing will change if you don’t vote is the fact! There is NOTA (None of the above) option i.e. not choosing to vote to any candidate, which many people proudly say they opted for it but on personal note I am not for this option! Your vote does maters, if not for you then for your city it does matters rather by not opting to vote of using NOTA you are running away from making the choice, however bad options there may be, yet there always is better of all the options, go for it! Punekars, city’s fate you will be putting in the hands of one person, so choose wisely & just casting your vote doesn’t end your duty towards the city, rather it’s a start, mind it; happy voting, adios with this note!

Sanjay Deshpande

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/01/choosing-your-home-along-with-future-of.html

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below...