Water War & Real Estate!

 

--

--

“People today have forgotten they're really just a part of nature. Yet, they destroy the nature on which our lives depend. They always think they can make something better. Especially scientists. They may be smart, but most don't understand the heart of nature. But nature never forget & forgive, the best example is what we have done to our water resources.” …  Akira Kurosawa

 

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed 30 films which includes Rashomon & Seven Samurai, in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. And what he has written about nature (read as water) nearly thirty years ago, we are witnessing it today rather than facing it, is the right term! The reason to use Akira’s above words is, a war is going on in the country for votes & who will rule the country for next five years i.e. General Assembly (Lok Sabha) elections then another war, a lot bigger than the Vote War is going on in the entire country & that is, Water War which unfortunately our leaders either don’t understand or doesn’t care about! The clear signs are in the election campaign nobody speaks anything about water shortage which every person is facing in less or more from may it be a developed (sarcasm) city like Pune, or some villager in remote part of Vidarbha region of State. Neither anybody has taken any cognizance of the changed pattern of the main source of water i.e. rains & disasters it is bringing month after month to the farmers & even the cities, is my reason for sharing! And on the top of it weird actions taken by the govt authorities but weirder than that is the way news about the water are covered by the news media & no wonder real estate is always under the wrong end of the stick which is held by govt as well the media, is my reason of sharing!

We all are witnessing the extraordinary (read as abnormal) heat our dear Pune has been witnessing & if you are ( read as you too are) cursing the builders for cutting the trees, concrete buildings, hard paving all around &  reduced ground water level then I won't blame you because that’s what has been hammered on the mind of common man that for every wrong thing which happens to this city, the builders (read as real estate) are responsible so may it be air pollution or water shortage the real estate should be punished & recent water war is not exception to this but what is the reality, let’s have a look…  I came across a photograph of a site worker watering the concrete of a building which is under construction & the heading of the news said, “when the city is facing water shortage yet real estate is wasting the water for concreting,” words may differ here & there but in the nutshell what the news meant is, reals estate is wasting the water by using it for site work! If you are thinking it's one more article justifying how real estate is right by a developer then also, I won’t blame you, as what can be expected from a system where logic, facts & reasoning has already taken a back seat & which knows only to blame someone else of for our failure & water is a biggest example of it! And obviously outcome of all such outcry is, everybody starts thinks because of the builders & the buildings they build Pune is facing water shortage & in a way they are not wrong because more building means more people & it means more water demand while the source is limited so the water shortage for all i.e. culprit for water shortage is the builders (its sarcasm)! But who gives permission to all these buildings, who buys these buildings, who lives in the buildings & who gets benefited from the revenue generated from building these buildings & whose responsibility it is to give water to these buildings, nobody speaks anything about these questions, is my reason for sharing!

For ages (read as decades) the water war is already going on between irrigation dept which is responsible for water distribution in the State & PMC / PCMC which are local civic bodies over the use of water & quota which is supposedly allocated for Pune & in this war now there is PMRDA i.e. authority for planning of urban growth outside of PMC & PCMC. And joke is all of these are govt bodies only so the State govt in ruling is the only final decision taker yet till today the water use vs supply vs quota issue has not been solved & outcome is day by day population is increasing & water is same creating water shortage in the Pune region & builders only are being held responsible! On top of it, last year’s rains were less & this year’s heat is extreme thus the water storage in the dams are vanishing like vapours, but nobody is thinking or doing anything about it! Need of the time is creating new water sources & proper distribution systems for the same, at the same time nearly forty percent of the population lives in illegal homes (slums) so who is supplying them water & at whose cost, this question nobody asks or conveniently ignores! We have every modern technology at our service & yet we are unable to decide the exact population of Pune & need of water for this population & get these figures frozen once & forever & then check who is wasting the water, will this not be a right action plan? At the same time how can be using water which is necessary for construction of the homes which are legal & being built for the citizens of this very city can be considered as waste as with this logic stop Auto Industry’s factories’ production also, as they use huge water & close down all IT Parks as they too need huge water for cooling of their AC units as well their employees also use water & so does every industry or at least make them also use recycled water from PMC waste water treatment plants, right?

And biggest joke is, No Construction Site (legally sanctioned by PMC itself) gets PMC water supply connection for its Construction & yet it’s been painted that real estate industry uses (read as wastes) water & that’s why city faces shortage of water, I have no words left to describe this attitude of the media frankly! I think it’s the silence of real estate people which has been taken as their cowardice as on one side the media gets huge revenue from real estate advertisements (rates of advertisement are maximum for real estate per sq. inch) but when it’s about publishing right facts, the news media always plays role of a villain for the real estate & present water war is no exception to this rule! And all our Mai Bapp govt do is warn builders (read as threatening) from the very same media about stopping the construction work till the water supply doesn’t resume to normal, means what, till the rains don’t come, come on guys whom we are fooling!  Our population is increasing & the need for water will increase multiple times, it is simple maths & we should come together to find the right answer to this water question, as here enemy is not some particular industry but it’s our approach to the problem of water! City needs people as their income is what keeps the city running & prospering but these people need homes & homes need water, for building as well post completion of these buildings for living, we must not just accept but respect this fact! Rather new constructions bring revenue in the form of development charges as well are source of steady & perineal revenue in the form of property tax from which city’s development is going to happen so for construction industry rather water demand should be made available of priority basis & if you can make it the at least don’t create hurdles, is what I will say!

On parallel track, there is huge source of groundwater in the Pune region & which can be used in a lot better way than present by charging it in right methods at the same time think of arresting the rain water in what-so-ever way we can, so it will be used from surface as well from ground percolation. Think of collecting (pumping) all the treated water through PMC’s wastewater treatment plants at one central place & distributing it throughout the city by pipelines, it may seem a long shot but worth thinking about than using diesel consuming water tankers to distribute such water.  Tree plantation is very much important for ground water conservation as well trying to save existing green cover & for that right building rules must be formed & all this, is needed to be done fast as in any war, time is the essence & water war which we are already losing, is no exception to this law of the war, mind it!

-

Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

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

 

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

 

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

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

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

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

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

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

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