Vision of Life; by Sanjay

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

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Saturday, April 20, 2024

Balbharati Road, Traffic, Hills, Hon. Supreme Court & Punekars!

“I can't have my employees sitting in traffic when they should be in the office. Spending two-and-half hours in the car is a huge waste of productive time” … Azim Premji

“Traffic congestion is caused by people driving vehicles & not by the vehicles” … Jane Jacobs

“Your few minutes of patience can save hours of traffic jams!” … Anon

Three quotes to start a sharing is something I have not done in recent & many people may end their patience in quotes itself is one problem a writer may face but when the subject is as complex as our beloved Pune city’s traffic then even three quotes are not enough is what most readers will agree so be it! And then Pune has been blessed with a unique quality of making an issue out of thin air & here to we have nearly four kilometres long road which cut through one of the most celebrated hills (there are very few left now) of Pune, its range of hills spread across south-western part of Central Pune which are known as Vetal Hill, Hanuman Hill, Law College Road hill, ARAI hill & such. In nutshell these hills are the favourite destination for morning/evening walks of Punekars living in the central part of the city & indeed there has been lots of greenery also here. These hills are surrounded by three major roads (read as busy) on its three sides, on Southern West there is Paud Road, on Northern West there is Senapati Bapat road (SB Road) & parallel to these hills on its bottom side towards city runs Law College Road which connects SB road to Paud Road via short span of Karve road, which is one busiest road in the city! In a way Law college road is the only link right now which connects two major western suburbs of city i.e. Aundh & Kothrud & the commuters on this road can rash over half a million on a busy work day (guess). And then the entire law college road is surrounded by an elite area which carries the tag of costliest area in west of Pune & needless to say residents here are effluent people of the society. So, traffic congestion on law college road has become talk of the town where residents living on both sides of the road have to wait for fifteen minutes & more to even enter in their respective homes or lanes while coming from opposite lanes on the law college road. Crossing this road in morning & evening hours is near impossible & more than that the pollution of lakhs of vehicle’s exhausts cause, is one more problem this traffic creates! At the same time thousands of senior citizens reside along this patch of road & for them noise pollution by honking of the vehicles as well even to cross the road on any hour of time is a big nuisance.

Well, now if you have read up to this part then you will say what’s big deal about it as these are the issues which Pune is experiencing all around so what’s so special about law college road & you are not wrong but then that is Pune! To reduce the traffic on law college road some ten years back local body (PMC) proposed a road from Symbiosis which cuts through the hill range I mentioned above & connects to Paud Road which practically run parallel to law college road but if law college road run from foothills this road run through hilltop & that is the issue! As a road right on top of hill is major threat to biodiversity of these hills is what environmentalists (this term is used a bit liberally in Pune) are calming & obviously political parties joined the war & within the political parties there are parties which support the road & which opposed the roads & finally the battle for future of the road known as Bal Bharati Road went to Hon Supreme Court, this is subject of my sharing!

That way Pune is famous (read as infamous) for challenging everything & every-time, especially when the issue is related with city, may it be Metro route or River Development or Development Plan of the city or BRTS (plz don’t ask for full form just google, as its extinct now) & if in one way its sign of awareness then in other way it’s a mess on the front of planning for the future of the city! I am not taking any side or not saying don’t go to the court as its basic right of every citizen but its failure of planning authority as well keeping all due respect for the judicial system, it never takes into count the delay it makes to deliver the justice & that delay ruins the city! And then again with due respect Court can’t intervein more than certain limits in planning as it’s not planning authority so, somewhere its failure of planning authorities of the city (read as PMC, UD, Town Planning) which repeatedly fails to come up with a solution (read as planning) which will be logical enough to satisfy most segments of the city as even God can’t make happy all its devotees! And if you are logically right with an execution track record of what you have planned in the past then you must have legal authority to go through the project planned & no such oppose must be made as an excuse for the delay & even the Hon Courts also must expedite their rulings to save future of the city, is my subject of sharing!

Coming back to Bal Bharti hill road, the issue (read as was) going on for more than ten years & the work of the road has been stalled for decade & in the meantime numbers of the vehicles on law college road (read as in entire Pune) kept increasing in multiplying mode. Finally, Hon Supreme Court has appointed a committee which is headed by a Sr Forest Officer as well experts to examine & give their report about the actual feasibility of the proposal. The committee has conducted their site visits as well met with both the parties related to the conflict i.e. supports of this road & opposers of the road & will submit its report in due course of time. My point is, agreed, more roads won’t solve traffic problems (environmentalists say) but then why build any roads in the first place! We need roads & we need trees also & we need to protect the biodiversity on the hills also as we want to reduce the traffic congestion on the law college road & for that we must think for a solution which will try to balance all these things & that’s not rocket science!

I have been travelling to the forests for many years & for decades the road from Nagpur to Jabalpur which passes through Pench forest was a nightmare for the commuters for its narrow width & quality of surface. It used to take six to eight hours to complete this journey & widening would have needed cutting of thousands of trees as well as threat to wildlife crossing the highway! Indeed, trees were needed to cut but plantation has been done along the road, the entire road has been barricaded so that wild animals can come on the road & after regular intervals the road surface has been lifted above the adjoining ground level making passageway to wild animals to cross the road safely. This has been done some three years back & today the travel distance has reduced to mere four hours saving millions of man hours & fuel as well, road kills (death of wild animals under vehicles) has actually reduced, & forest is also growing along the road! If we can find a solution & execute for a forest way outside of urban area, why can’t we come up with a similar solution in city as developed as Pune, is my point of sharing, but we are Punekars & we love discussions than solutions & in that zest we are ruining future of our own city, is what we are ignoring!!

At Bal Bharati Road also we can think of making the road with planting all indigenous (desi) trees along both sides of the road & making underpasses for humans as well wildlife to cross & only after the growth of the trees is seen & verified by the experts then allow use of this road! The entire stretch can be with railing as well green net-shade of 20 ft high (just a suggestion) & no exit to be given on road on some emergency exits which will be gated properly from outside. I am not saying this is a final solution but something of this sort can be worked out is my point. As the environmentalists also should think of two aspects, by such approach no development will be possible for the city & to make tunnels of that sort has limitations of money from the city aspect & the vehicles which are making air polluted on law college roads, those also are residents of this city only! Agreed, trees are important & we are already witnessing the burnt by rampant cutting of trees under the name of development yet stopping tree cutting is also not a right solution. At the same time, the govt (PMC, UD) should understand that just by building one road the traffic issue may not be solved as strengthening public transport is the only way for which efforts must be taken as just one Metro won’t solve the entire city’s traffic issues! Road based public transport (PMPML) along with infrastructure is missing in the city & right from proper bus-stops to making new routes to increasing numbers of busses many aspects are pending & that’s why when any such new road or flyover is planned people oppose it pointing finger at the lacunas in public transport! Another aspect is, plantation & survival of new trees as agreed Pune has maximum numbers of gardens yet overall tree cover is getting reduced is a fact & we must try to protect as many trees & for that we can think of keeping distance in between the two lanes of this road & have a tree path in between.

Last but not least, Punekars also need to change their attitude towards transportation as no public transport can ever give you door to door service & you must learn to walk a bit & have patience to wait a bit while using public transport, absence of which is also one of the main causes of ever-increasing numbers of private vehicles! A city is not the outcome of just Gardens or Road network or IT parks or Education Institutes, a city is what its citizens live by! Tomorrow the Supreme Court Committee may approve or reject the Bal Bharati Road proposal but it’s our approach towards the city which only will decide our fate & not some committee, mind it!

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

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!!

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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...