Fighting Air Pollution & Real Estate!

                                                     

                                  

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“The more we pollute the earth, the less we deserve to live on earth!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

Climate change and air pollution know no borders, and antibiotics resistance respects no boundaries. Bacteria from Africa can make people in America sick. The burning of Indonesian forests can keep Asia gasping for breath.

--Rohini Nilekani

 

I have already written on this subject & has decided (like millions of other countrymen) not to write on it again as nothing will change but sometimes I feel like King Vikram who despite knowing that he isn’t going to succeed in conquering the might Vetal (plz google about Vikram & Vetal, if you are that dump or busy not to know about these two characters’) yet keep on carrying him on his shoulders & the story went on for ages, at-last from my childhood its still going! Though barring the efforts of writing nothing is common between me & Kin Vetal as after all he was a great king & in his kingdom his word was final which is not the case with me, yet the determination keeps me dragging (read as frustration) & here we are! And then it was a pleasant surprise when I get an invite by PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) for a meeting about air pollution which is trigger point for this sharing! The meeting was about setting up measuring air pollution index at construction sites & reason is the authorities (on basis of reports) thinks ongoing construction sites are one of the main causes of increased air pollution in the city. Though that is not totally wrong but I will comment on that aspect later, first let’s focus on the meeting. There were PMC authorities & representees of developers as well many people from Air Sensor manufacturers. The subject was fixing these pollution measuring instruments at ongoing construction sites to keep a check on air quality index. It's good thought & not at all a new thing as in developed countries this is a standard practice! We went through the presentations & the meeting was concluded with acceptance of the problem as well as forming a task force for the same which will study the subject in depth & submit a report for further line of action. I said I will send my suggestion about the same & here they are… (few things may seem a bit too technical but so is the subject).

 

1.Define categories of the buildings not on sq ft but on layout of the project.

2.Make zones of the city pertaining to existing pollution levels i.e. pollution index before the project starts as unless that’s known how we can decide whether the project has added in pollution & how much. For e.g. if a project is coming right at Nal Stop karve road then there already the air quality is poor because of the exhausts of millions of vehicles while if a building is coming up in suburbs where air is yet normal, so these two projects must be treated separately.

3.Air Pollution depends on stages of construction also as in early stages where there is excavation or demolition of existing buildings, generation of dust is more which is medium while casting of slab & practically nil when just shuttering work is going on. In all such stages if by just going via few days readings we may not know the real situation, in nutshell we will have to formulate the system for deciding parameters of the readings we get as per the stages of construction.

4.Air pollution is a tricky thing & it depends a lot on wind conditions as if the winds push one location dust particle away then the same winds can carry the pollutants to a certain location which can be our project’s site. This aspect we must keep in mind. Same is applicable with the season’s effect of readings as in summer air is lighter & air index is better as hot air gets lighter & pushes the dust up in sky while in winter air gets heavy & exactly reverse effects happens making air near to ground polluted.

5.As well when construction material such as sand or khadi or cement is being unloaded or being moved with the site again these materials have got fine particles of dust & the index may go high very temporarily. At the same time is a multi-storeyed building pollution levels can change as per the activities floor wise as if tiling/ internal plaster is going on some floors there the air will have more suspended particles while other floors where these activities are complete will show minimum & no pollution.

6.The quality or say type of air pollution also is important as site construction site there are no hazardous chemical superfine particles but dust mostly & it settles down with time unlike chemical particles which lingers in air for a lot more time as well travels a long distance with air.

7.We haven’t thought about the present measures we are using which makes the dust generated by the project work remain in the premise of the project which can give wrong results of air quality within the project.

8.Remedial measures vs effect on air quality is also something we need to take in to account as right from basking the entire external surface to sprinklers are not good practises for the health of the site staff especially when project is located on heavy traffic roads & led particles as well carbon monoxide levels are already high around the project site.

9.LED ScreenDisplay outside the project of mentioning air quality at project site can lead to serious misunderstanding among common people who don't know the technicalities of the subject & create nuisance value for the project as well for PMC & local authorities.

10. We must take in consideration adjoining project work status as well as stages as there can be conflicting readings because of overlapping activities, even because of projects in surroundings depending on season/ weather/ wind direction.

11.We must have proper anti air pollution measures designed as well executed at site as per all these situations & stages as well have a policy about which readings will be leading to what course of action & then only start the measuring of the air pollution index. And this task force committee must be in place forever to take cognizance of any complaint before acting on Suo Moto on the ongoing project!

 

Now, these are my suggestions & sure there may be many more or a few as the subject is multidimensional, so let’s focus on the actual aspect of air pollution & role of construction industry in it! In Pune as we all know there are nearly half million (sure more) vehicles & even if fifty percent of them are on road at any given hour, then the exhaust through their engines is a major contributor to the air pollution & what we are going to do about it? At the same time barring Diwali baring fire crackers is the latest fashion & these new types of fire crackers which go high up in air & create beautiful fireworks also generates loads of smoke i.e. again air pollution. And I am sure one such fire cracker is worth unloading ten or more dust trucks, so much smoke is created & again the dust at construction site is not hazardous as its mostly from natural material (except cement) but smoke for exhausts of vehicles & fire crackers is lot more deadly is a fact which a kid also knows & what are we going to do about it, is my question?

The problem of being a builder is, when the subject is like air pollution then if you mention other factors such as private vehicles’ exhausts & fire crackers then immediately you are tagged as saving your skin or hiding your faults by pointing fingers at others but that doesn’t change the facts, right? I am not justifying air pollution by construction works, what I am saying is, unlike vehicles or fire crackers which are here all year along & forever, air pollution at sites is temporary as once the building is complete it won’t pollute our air; so just keep this aspect while keeping a check on air pollution index at construction sites! And going by the attitude of authorities (read as Govt) towards real estate, all facts are neglected when there is any trouble & the first action with slightest of wrong things (here readings of air quality index) is, shut down the site! This is why we need to make a policy which will cover all loose ends as well as facts about construction sites, is the reason for my sharing! At the same time, even going as per the reports, construction sites are only 20 % or such a contributor to the air pollution of the city & as the work completes the stop polluting air is a fact. As well as these sites which also plants trees which is the only yes only real air cleaner we can have, so unless we don’t complete the buildings, we won’t be having new plantations too, this aspect of real estate also we have to keep in mind. To conclude I will only say this, whatever we create on this earth which is not natural is bound to pollute not just air but every natural resource is a fact we can’t deny but we all are jointly responsible for creation of every such thing, let’s keep that in mind & fight (read as make policies) together or any such policy will be on paper just to save every entity but nature, adios with this warning!

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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/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.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

Think Green, Think Life

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Illegal Buildings, Smart Villages & Trump Tatya!

 

 

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“A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether… Roy H. Williams

“We need a president with tremendous intelligence, smart, cunning, strength and stamina” … Donald Trump

“Smartness is being able to survive with all odds around” … Me.

Roy Hollister Williams is a bestselling author and marketing consultant best known for his Wizard of Ads trilogy. Another name the world was knowing already but now one of the most talked about i.e. Donald Trump alias Trump Tatya, President of USA & third one is mine, Mr Nobody (not sarcasm but fact) & my words are the outcome of the situation most of us are living in! Ohk, about the heading which is weird (I know) because what's the relevance of Smart Villages, Illegal Constructions & Trump effect with each other is any Smart person will ask but then Smartness & Wiseness are two different aspects of human nature, so be it. The common connection is, all above three terms were in news on the front page for their own reasons, unfortunately making negative waves & as usual we feel helpless if we feel something about it in the first place by reading all these news. Ok, let me share why I said so as the illegal construction is news because recently when the entire State (Maharashtra) was busy in welcoming Ganpati Bappa, a building in Virar, western suburb of Aamchi Mumbai collapsed taking seventeen lives & leaving many more injured & homeless. In the second news Hon CM has announced that the govt will make some three thousand villages Smart & third is about Trump tatya tightening the noose around our country’s neck by increasing import tariff in USA on many Indian manufactured commodities & our govt countering this moves! Let me confess, I am some authority on the first subject i.e. illegal constructions as I am a builder for my earnings & I have no shame in admitting that but pride! About second news, Smart Villages, I have some say as I am a civil engg & development is part of my studies & about third topic i.e. foreign trade I am a zero but as a businessman I have some say of my own which I feel like sharing (as that’s all I can do, sarcasm)! And then I will share how all these three things are related by the same thread!

First, a fifteen year old illegal building collapsed & many of its residents died, as usual govt arrested (or booked, what difference it makes) the builder & Hon Chief Minister told the media that govt won’t tolerate illegal construction & builders doing so! Great, but if I remember, the very same govt (read as State Govt, whichsoever party may be there) has made a writ-petition in High Court to regularize millions of illegal constructions in Mumbai, Pune & Thane belt on the grounds of right of owning a home to poor, which are already living in such buildings, then why the builder of such building has been arrested, right? And if the builder is arrested then why not minister of that dept as well all related officers are moving freely as they too are equally guilty in allowing such illegal building which was standing there for nearly fifteen years & not just that, even the Juridical System also should be questioned (can’t say punish courts) as what they were doing as if they can take Suo-Moto action in many cases (treatment of Chota Mataka named tiger) on their own, why not in illegal buildings’ matter? At the same time why such illegal buildings come into existence in the first place as unless there is demand, no product can survive; so, who is responsible for failure of legal buildings affordability which makes entry to the illegal homes or say need of such homes, right?

Then let’s have a look at the announcement of Smart Villages, as on the other side Central Govt has closed-down the Smart City mission recently without giving any statistics about money spent & outcome on the said mission in the last eight or nine years! Though one thing is sure, the Smart City Mission is a failure because or else going by the present trend had there been even slightest success in any form then we would have full page advertises, social media flood of posts about these projects & celebrations but nothing of it happened & silently the Mission Smart City was winded means it’s a failure. And if we can't make Smart things successful in overflowing populated cities, how we will be making it possible in villages which are already deserted is my question? And before that have we defined what kind of Smartness we are going to provide in villages & is it needed, rather first ask what villagers need & then provide it as a classic example is millions of people joining some reservation procession & all of them are from villages, what it indicates? Well, it indicates the people in villages doesn’t need smart phones or web check-in or online 7/12 but they need roads, water, education, jobs & right support of infrastructure for survival, if we focus on that then it will be a real Smart Mission for the villages or else it will be Smart Village Mission by the Fools! As, at present not just villages but even towns are running towards Pune, Mumbai & Thane for not job but for mere survival & only those who are too unskilled or lazy or old are staying back in these villages on the mercy of the govt or family members who are working in some big city! What use of Smartness to them, is my question to the govt?

And third point is Trum Tatyas’ tariff bomb which seems more devastating than nuclear bomb & our leaders’ (are they really, sarcasm) reaction or comments on it. First & foremost, what Mr Trump act or speak, we have no control over it, let's admit it & frankly why he is doing it & what he should do instead that’s none of our business because he is not an Indian, to think the way we think about our country. And even if Trump is doing wrong (read as foolishness) then that’s his countrymen’s choice or right to do anything about it & not ours as we are not American citizens. Rather it's important now that what we do & how, to tackle with what Trump Tatya has done to us! It’s a war & in any war, you don’t hold the gun of the enemy or the opponent, so when he fires at you, all you can do is, decide whether to duck the bullet, or run away or take shelter or surrender or return the fire, right? Similarly, our govt may be doing or should do & our PM has already said “Buy Swadeshi,” means we must try to reduce the damage of unsold (read as unexported) goods which won’t be now send to USA & only if we buy them then the loss of our fellow countrymen will be recovered or reduced, is what my understanding? At the same time as a businessman, I understand this also a bit, because the rate at which these goods were getting sold in the USA was higher than the price these goods would have fetched here, that’s why the manufacturers were exporting these goods is simple logic!

Now my question to the Govt is, what is it actually doing to make the manufacturers promote their goods here & sell at such price that it will be affordable to both i.e. the buyers & the seller too! And answer is nothing (well I have some different terminology in mind but this is gentlemen’s platform) as where is so called One Window System for all the clearances for every business, which every govt announces & that window never opens & that’s where losses start for any business even before it starts! As may it be real estate or setting up an industry or even starting a small eating joint, look at the list of NOC’s & approvals & the grind the person has to go through to obtain these even to start something & there lies the reason why our brains are running to western world! If at all govt wants to fight with the USA then the way is to improve the system here in our own country which makes production of goods. This is the reason why millions join processions for reservation of some thousand jobs rather than trying to become entrepreneurs as they know they can fight with govt for reservation but not to get NOC’s for their small startups! Here if I put on a small banner advertising my project on my own site immediately the notice comes with a penalty of some local-body but every footpath is blocked by illegal hording of some small-time leader nobody dares to remove them & the govt expects me to make business, earn money & pay taxes! Here in real estate, jokes like compulsion of getting a non-agriculture certificate for a land where a govt sanctioned building is standing, can happen. And here in real estate only a joke can happen, where even if I dug foundation for my building it's tagged under mining excavation & I am needed to obtain NOC after paying fees for dumping it happens & when the local body has already taken deposit from me for the same! This is where all three subjects which I mentioned in the heading, are tied together & that thread is, Foolishness of Govt in understanding the needs of the common citizens & making policies accordingly! Today in our country the youngsters are afraid of becoming businessmen not because they don’t believe in their talent or ideas & lack hard-work but they are afraid of the system of their own country which kills such talent & ideas under the name of govt procedure & NOC Raj! Here, on one hand our govt doesn’t do anything about Ease of Doing Business in real estate, rather makes efforts to promote illegal homes by legalizing it & on other side expects the builders (which are building legal buildings) to sell their homes at cheaper price! Here, our govt take decades to make development plans & then cancels it in a single day for their own political reasons & expects builders to provide affordable legal homes to masses but takes no responsibility or providing basic infrastructure like water or drainage or power, & the list is longer than Hanumanji's Punchh, this is the reason, our own country’s businessmen neither can make affordable legal homes or products nor our remaining countrymen can afford to buy them! This was my reason of sharing Hon PM Sir, if you really want to take head-on Trump Tatya & his country &  if you really wish to give legal & safe homes to every citizen & make them Smart then start from the system named govt, irrespective of party or else Smart Missions will remain only in agenda, on the ground there will be only illegal buildings to stay & every brain in this country will join the queue of H1B line kneeling in-front of Trump Tatya, adios with this warning!

 

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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/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.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

Think Green, Think Life

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

Nilgiris, not just a Movie but a Warning!

 

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“The only biodiversity we’re going to have left is Coke versus Pepsi. We’re landscaping the whole world one stupid mistake at a time.” ― Chuck Palahniuk

“I always say that the Earth is not our home, because the term "home" has the connotation of permanent ownership. Rather, it is a dormitory where we need to learn to live together by sharing with each other and caring for one another.” ― Shivanshu K. Srivastava

“Neither Superman nor Captain America is real. Real heroes who will save our planet are activists and biodiversity savers.” ― Hakan Kapucu

Charles Michael Palahniuk is an American novelist. Shivanshu K. Srivastava is an accomplished writer, poet and legal professional based in Lucknow, India. Hakan Kapucu is Technoversal Leader at VC Law & Consultancy, Istanbul, Turkey. Interestingly, two of the above quote writers represent the Law fraternity also & the subject of sharing thought isn’t law making or such (thankfully) yet it has lots of social law thingy involved in it & how animals are far better on that front than the humans! And the subject of sharing merges two of my most favourite topics (no, it’s not tadoba & cricket) i.e. movies & wildlife at large! I bumped (that’s right word) on a movie named Nilgiris, though the names sounds like of some beautiful lady (that’s true actually), it’s a documentary film about Nilgiris mountain ranges which lays in southern peninsula of our country & joins eastern & western ghats! The name Nilgiris must be because of the bluish haze its most of the time covered in i.e. Blue Mountains!  Well, this is like the way they teach us geography in school to get marks but such words hardly make us realize the kind of heaven this place is & they fail to make us know the importance of Nilgiris in not just our lives but in the lives of thousands of species of every kind & many of them are found only in these mountains! At the same time geography textbook words fail to make us realize the scale of this wonderful heaven & its relation to so many things which makes the entire world's life a shade better, that’s the object of my sharing!

Well, Nilgiris as I said, is a documentary made by Indian Technicians, Photographers, Director & all such crew & first & foremost, hundred percent marks for their efforts in making a film about this hidden jewel of our country. Hidden I said because, not just the wild lifers (read as common wild lifers which has good gear of camera & thinks they know everything about wildlife) but forest dept & lastly our rulers (do they know ever any such thing, sarcasm) doesn’t know such forest exists & it’s under great threat (as usual, sarcasm) & problem is because of its remoteness & lack of tiger sightings, not many are aware about the damage its being put under! Needleless to say, the threat is none other than we the humans & reasons are Tea/ Coffee in & plantations around Nilgiris as well as tourism & so-called developments such as roads, railway lines & many more. Best part of the movie is the efforts they have put in visuals of road crossing efforts by Indian Gaurs & CCTV footage of Sloth Bear entering a vacant farm-house amidst tea estate & a Leopard hunting a domestic dog from a bungalow’s veranda. All such moments make us know the desperate efforts which these wild species are trying to keep themselves alive among the humans which are surrounding their home (and polluting too) from all directions & these animals have no means to protect themselves but to learn the rules of human beings & start living by them!

Usually when not many people go to such wildlife films in movie theatre or talkies & those who goes usually gets mesmerized by the cinephotography of such films & thanks to NatGeo or Discovery or Animal Planet, even Indian people have got lot of exposure of wildlife photography & comparison of all those things are bound to happen with Nilgiris! I will tell to all of them, please don’t expect exotic photography of tiger hunting or some underwater diving type shots or chase for life type drama in Nilgiris! Indeed, there is some wonderful footage of the drone of a tiger & its unsuccessful hunting as well as rare documentation of wild dogs’ pack lifestyle but watch Nilgiris for the day-to-day photography of nature around us & its destruction! This is where Nilgiris is different & special as it shows us wildlife living right within the humans & reasons behind it. How these wonderful biodiversity rich mountains/ hill ranges got under tea & coffee plantation due to British Raaj & how that changed the core of this habitat, which is core of the film. This one single aspect is enough to make us know the damage the British have done to our country & even when they have left us the damage is continued due to the way they have done it & we are carrying it ahead! British may have taken away Kohinoor & gold & jewellery from us but that’s one time loss, the encroachment they did on our culture & nature, we are paying the price even today for the same & Nilgiris shows this aspect in a naked crude way to us which till now nobody has shown.  As till now the Coorg, Kannur, Madikeri, Uti all these locations are considered as tourists paradise for the greenery & scenic beauty of the green hills the coffee/tea plantation resorts offer to the visitors but what price the surrounding wildlife is paying for this development that no-body has tried to show, which Nilgiris dared to do! Another aspect is the way wild animals are adopting to live with humans which not many urban people are aware of & with the help of local CCTV footage Nilgiris shows us the scene on the roads of towns here, after the sunset. The way wild animals have adopted to shrinkage of their homes due to humans is admirable & sad also, as leopard hunting domestic dog or Indian gaur trying to cross the road adjusting its vision to floodlights of moving vehicles hits us hard, if we care for these things a bit in the first place! As well, the way sloth bear family & leopards have adjusted their own living according to seasonal changes of human movements in & around tea plantations, is also very touchy & informative!

Last but not least, Nilgiris is not a mere film or documentary but it’s a message (read as warning) to the entire man-kind (especially our country) about the destination we are heading to, under the name of development which actually is destruction! In Nilgiris’ script it’s not the people, not animals, not trees but Nature (read as Biodiversity) is in the lead role, rather is the only character in the entire movie! Nature is also the main lead in our lives but it is mostly in the background & silent, until it screams! And once nature starts screaming then we must pay attention & pay the price of these screams also.

 Nilgiris also touches on an aspect of ever-increasing human population about which every ruler & every political party is silent & has turned a blind eye but nature hasn’t done that! One day or other if we don’t learn to accommodate the wildlife in our growth then one thing is sure & that is not development but disaster, I think that’s the warning Nilgiris has given us! And yes, thanks to Mr.Nandan Nilekani & his family as they have funded this project & wildlife even awareness needs lots of money & not many rich people’s pockets are open for this cause which Mr.Nilekani did, so sincere thanks to him! And thanks to the forest depts of respective States also for supporting the project! Speaking about the movie review, all I will say, everybody must watch “Nilgiris”, & adopt just one aspect of living after watching it & that is, learn to coexist with wildlife, if you want to live in a world which has butterflies, birds, flowers, grass, trees, streams & yes tigers too; adios with this note!

-

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/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html

https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.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

Think Green, Think Life

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