Irresponsible Urban Planning & Fate of Pune Region !!

 

                                      

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“To say you have no choice is to relieve yourself of responsibility.”
― Patrick Ness.

“The right thing to do and the hard thing to do are usually the same.”
― Steve Maraboli.

Steve Maraboli has electrified, inspired, and entertained a wide range of audiences in over 30 countries with his unique style of bridging cutting edge Behavioural Science & such. Patrick Ness FRSL is an American-British author, journalist, lecturer, and screenwriter. Born in the United States, presently he lives in England. I always wonder about the diversity of thoughts & ideas in the USA, maybe that’s why they are the Land of Opportunities (well, at least till Trump Raaj, lol)! The quotes are about responsibility & the subject is not Forest (definitely not Tadoba), not Traffic or any such thing but about our urban policies or say responsibilities & many of us doesn’t even know what it means as Irresponsible Urban Planning (I too don’t claim I know, disclaimer) yet we all suffer every day because of it, that’s why thought of taking this topic. As usual, newspapers (I do read) & one message from a civil engg student Arwind Kadapure of CoEP about civic issues & their willingness to tackle the same, is the cause of this sharing (read as frustration). The returning monsoons are creating havoc in rural parts of our State & if the fields are getting flooded with water, then our cities (now as Smart City Mission is wrapped, so can’t even say Smart Cities; sarcasm!) are flooded with vehicles & outcome is the same, chaos! With due respect I am not comparing traffic jams or vehicle problems with farmer’s problems, the comparison scale is only to show the damage to both segments & cause also is the same, irresponsible planning of infrastructure! And as I am not agriculture expert (nor I am urban expert also but at least I see these issues around & is part of it) but I have been in rural parts & come from one such in Vidarbha though city life I live daily & my profession also deals with it directly, so can say few words about it!

Ok, the news was about the mess (sorry that’s the most decent word I could use) of so-called infrastructure especially around Pune city, more specifically the newly (that also is old now) merged 33 villages in PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) which actually are already suburbs of Pune & few such which are not yet merged in PMC or PCMC & behold, the world-famous Hinjewadi is one of them. The rains caused disruption in electric supply, road network, created flood like situation & even water supply issues, to such an extent that few of the IT companies threatened to quit the Pune region. On top of that there was news about many of the road infra projects (flyovers connection to these suburbs) are not getting into operation only because big leaders of ours have no time for their inauguration, which added to fury of the citizens. And then the Hon Supreme Court cleared the local public body’s election process & every political leader suddenly realized these infrastructural problems to the citizens of Pune & started visiting these localities, for obvious reasons! Suddenly Twitter (now X ), Insta & FB accounts of political leaders are flooded more than the rains with reels about how they are meeting people & taking their complaints & sorting them right on the spot vis mobile call to the authorities (it's good entertainment though) & its such visits of our leaders (read as rulers) which is my subject of sharing! As such trips, sorry visits, whether they have helped in solving citizen’s problems or not that time will tell but they definitely have exposed our (read as govt’s) irresponsible approach towards the city & entire infrastructure because we are irresponsible in our urban planning itself!

If you are confused with this IUP (irresponsible urban planning) term then let me tell you what happened during one of such visits from a high-profile self-proclaimed Man of Action leader from Pune region only. When he called to the authorities about agitation shown over residents of Sus / Mhalunge (western suburbs of Pune) then the reply from the officers was plans of the new projects are sanctioned by PMRDA (plz google) but responsibility of providing infrastructure to these projects is of PMC! The leader was zapped by this answer (I am more zapped as he didn’t know this basic fact before visiting such locations, anyways) the leader fumed & announced this ambiguity will be dealt & now the plans of the new projects in these villages will be sanctioned by PMC only! Great move, but two points (rather many), what difference this makes that who passes the plan, as citizen’s problem is not plan passing but they need water, drainage, garbage, roads (I don’t even dare to mention now public transport, education & public health too, are part of citizen’s needs) & uninterrupted electric supply! Who is going to provide that & the answer with the authorities is simple, the developer is supposed to provide that & then dashing leader instructs (read as, orders) take action on these builders, stop their works, simple, problem solved, media also get breaking news & people are happy!  For once, ever someone has thought what is all this tamasha (sorry again the best gentle term I can think) going on, that too regarding development of not just a city but entire region which we are looking at is, the future of the State in terms of economy, is my subject of sharing!

First of-all, may it be PMC, PCMC & now PMRDA, the govt keeps on sleeping over the delays of making DP (plz google) of all these establishments & don’t do anything to control the growth while the DP is in making & then one fine morning cancels the DP again without thinking (needless to say) what will be next. In the entire world, planning is about making Plan-A & then keeping ready Plan-B & Plan-C if Plan-A doesn’t work but the joke with our urban planning is, we don’t have Plan-A in the first place, now what to do! And this is what I call IUP (refer first para) & this is the key to all our civic problems which we are not accepting & are busy in finding solutions which are applying bandages on the skin while fact is, the bone itself has been fractured, of the body names city! At the same time, we have not thought (cared to think) that growth won’t stop for your DP as because of our failure on planning front people keep migrating to Pune region as here at least they get a job to earn their bread & butter & these all migrants need home which eventually needs other infrastructure. So, whether you make DP, don’t make DP, cancel DP, make TP schemes, or delay them, this all won’t stop making people to shift their base to Pune region (or any such region) & chaos will keep on multiplying is a fact unless we improve our urban planning & its execution. And even when we cancel DP of PMRDA, we make jokes like merged villages & outside area by applying two different rules of plan passing for them, the list of our irresponsible errors is increasing faster than growth of Congress Grass (plz google for meaning) & outcome is, suffering of citizens on civic issues. We plan to build two ring roads at a time & then we reduce width of one of the ring roads & again as DP is cancelled the plan passing authority is in question what width to be considered for this second ring road now i.e. 110 m or 65 m, making future of thousands of projects along this ring road not just hanging but dark, for no fault of theirs & then we say illegal constructions are increasing! Do mind, whenever the laws are wrong & impractical, crimes are bound to increase & for that the govt is more at blame than the criminals, which is what has been happening on our urban planning front! And now govt is saying Structured Planning (new term, I also don’t know what it meant, hope govt knows) for first stage as DP of PMRDA in which basic reservations like Roads, STP (drainage treatment plants) etc will be finalized & in second stage finer details will be finalized! Great, just great as I have never seen or heard of such a way of planning that too for an area more than 5000sq km & what is the fate of all the lands till this two tyred planning gets through, has anybody thought of it? At the same time, what about the needs of the already existing citizens in these suburbs, what target we are setting for them as what’s their fault that they don’t have a clear idea about who is their governing body, right? Finally, while I was completing this sharing (for now) the powerful action minister told to the media that Baramati (a taluka place in Pune) will also be part of PMRDA! Well, with all due respect to good intentions of the minister sir, urban planning doesn’t go by impulse & emotions but with meticulous study & research of the region & then such decisions are made or else we are experiencing the merge, demerge & cancel game which only leads to total mess of the planning on the ground! Oh, yes, one more last, nobody is uttering a word about Water supply & provision for the same for the population in the entire PMRDA as well as merged 33 villages which now are part of PMC as nobody either cares for it or realizes the importance of it!

Need of the time is, form a special task force of competent people, & give them a dead line task of making DP of Pune region, & at the same time make specific guidelines for sanctioning as well governing authorities for the same & monitor all these developments by one single body, which itself is missing at present! And please do it fast because time doesn’t stop for your planning, which is what a good planner always knows! To conclude I will share a similar story from the movie Deewar which is probably one of the most famous dialogues in the history of Bollywood…

In the movie Deewar, Bachchan teasingly says to his Inspector brother Shashi Kapoor (that time even Police Inspectors were supposedly poor), aaj mere paas Bungala hai, Gadi hai, Daulat hai, Shoharat hai, Ijjat hai, tere paas kya hai? And we all know the iconic reply by Shahshi Kapoor, but going with today’s genre, a meme is trending on the social media, that Shahshi Kapoor also replies, Mere paas bhi Bungala hai, Gadi hai, Daulat hai, Ijjaat hai,! On this, Bachchan says, Ayae, fir Maa kiske paas hai!!

On the same line today, PMRDA & PMC, both will say, mere paas Planning hai, System hai, Minister hai, Budget bhi hai, but citizens will ask, Bhai fir Infrastructure ki Responsibility kiske pass hai, adios with a laughter (what else we can do)!

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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/

CM aka Chota Matka, not just a Name but Attitude!

Burning Fire, CM , Oct 24

                                    Damaged leg, alignment comparison with other tigers & swollen paw!

                                         

                                   

                                                                             Aug 25

    

               

                                                                CM with Kalua Oct 24

                                                            What's our future, Mom?

                                                Small CM with mom Choti Tara, Oct 16

https://www.flickr.com/photos/coexistance_is_the_key/54802063655/in/album-72177720321143099

link for late even walk of CM.

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“He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword”… Jesus Christ.

“Once you’ve decided to live by the sword it doesn’t matter whether you’re right or wrong. What matters most is whether it’s fun.” … Takehiko Inoue.

Well, no need to introduce the writer (read as creator) of the first quote & the second one is by Takehiko Inoue is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for the basketball series Slam Dunk, and the jidaigeki manga Vagabond, which are two of the best-selling manga series in history. And though the name of sharing is enough to make you about the content, so it is about tigers (rather, a tiger) & of-course Tadoba is there too, yet let me tell you, it’s not about Tadoba & tiger sightings but the attitude of a tiger! As the heading says recently most of the social media (read as wild lifer’s accounts) are full of a name CM & though the name CM has special glamour in politics here to CM is most sought-after tiger of tadoba. CM aka Chota Matakasur, named tiger was/ is in news in print media also for his injuries & as per the final updates by the forest dept now has been shifted to Gorhewada Zoo near Nagpur & will spend his rest of life there only! When I started to write this sharing, social media is already buzzing (for a while) with CM & there are two opinions, one hailing forest dept for not doing anything to treat the injured tiger & another, let the jungle live by its own way! As well, everybody who has visited Tadoba has been posting CM’s images & unfortunately he is beyond all that which anyway he was but now he will be behind the cage forever! I have thought of heading this sharing as “Rise & fall of Chota Matka’ but then I realize it will be unjust with the system named forest or wildlife itself by doing so as there is only one rise & fall nature knows & that’s is of Sun, around which entire lifecycle of wildlife moves, rest all is just survival! Wow, just wow, can’t believe I wrote its (the earlier lines) as they can be posted as some greats in wildlife but I have learned it by just being in the forests & it’s not to get likes but to tell you that even it may be a might tiger as CM yet what has happened is normal in wildlife or say New Normal!

Here is the catch as first let’s hear story of CM though most of you must have been known it by now yet as Disney or our Chandamama stories say, not long ago there has been a kingdom named tadoba in the dense forests of Chandrapur where our stories hero has been born, lol (just to add some dram a poor effort)! Ok, born in July 2016, exact nine years back & having two legend tigers as his parents i.e. Matkasur & Choti Tara, CM was accompanied by his brother Tarachand who was supposedly bigger than CM right from the childhood & once they get separated from their parents & started making their own territory sems that Tarachand became victim of Man-Animal conflict (earlier than CM) & supposedly got killed by electrocution in one of buffer villages towards Navegaon side! This must be some five years back, maybe six years & CM was busy too in establishing his territory by using the god gift of size he has got! That’s the main problem with conservation of the tigers & that does make them special too as they are individualistic animals especially a male tiger & with size of CM it needs bigger territory of its own which means more area of the forest which is fast shrinking from all sides. Here one will say, when there is core forest which is protected, so how can one say forest is shrinking & I don’t blame the questioner! Because here is where our (read as most of the masses & of our rulers too) knowledge of forest is inadequate because the core part of forest may not shrink but the numbers of tigers in this core keeps increasing with every mating season & this space gets a feel of shrinkage for the tigers, got it? Imagine a family of four having a piece of farm of say 1000sqm & it’s enough to fulfil their needs but in a few years the family’s younger two gets married & the family soon grows to ten to twelve from four but the farm producing grains is the same, what will happen? They will find the farm is not enough for them now, same is happening with core forests also as forest area is same but tigers are increasing means lesser space for more number of tigers & outcome is fighting for survival!

And if this is happening on the core side then on the other side of the buffer things are worse as here the partners in the space are humans too, means two fold enemy to fight for the survival & this is why the CM became the way is because it’s what he did to survive, a fighter! It was somewhere 2018 winters when CM & Tarachand started their journey for own territory, as their birthplace which is Eastern Part of Core, majorly Pandharpauni area (it’s a water hole) is being ruled by their father i.e. the mighty Matkasur, the name has been given to him because of his exceptionally large head which looks like a Matka (Clay pot) & no way he would buzz from that position is sure thing. So, both young males started searching for their own space & eventually CM settled towards the Navegaon/ Kolara side strategically where he can have access to both core & buffer. Pandharpauni range was always in limelight due to presence of legendary Maya & her list of lovers i.e. male tigers chasing her & that list is long, Bajrang, Matkasur, Rudra, Tala, Hilltop Male, Balram, Mowgli & many such & the place was a battlefield. The scene during 2020 to 2023 when Maya vanished suddenly, every male tiger tried his luck & either got injured seriously or backed up & result was, most of the cubs of Maya got killed in this because of the blood war between the male tigers here! Strangely, this is somewhat similar to the history of many human dynasties in the world where Kings keep battling over one throne & the entire region suffers for that battle! Tourism also suffered a lot because of this as suddenly there was no tiger getting sighted as tigresses doesn’t like to be in a place where there are many males roaming in & out as each male kills cubs from other male eventually leaving no tiger in that area, this did happen for a while in Pandharpauni part of core of tadoba!

CM was smart & though he has his share of battle over core area with Mowgli & Rudra as the father Matak surrendered to age & he also vanished, nobody knows his whereabouts, but CM retreated towards buffers of Navegaon & there he thrived on domestic cattle as well large territory covering nearly three buffer zones, Navigant, Allianz & Nadella. Here is a really interesting thing which I have observed during my so many trips to tadoba, the behaviour pattern is totally different from the tigers in the buffer & that in the core. Because the core tigers are used to total privacy as except forest staff & tourist gypsies there is no human movement in the core but in buffer lots of human movement is there as well people actually live here. So, the tiger in the buffer can display two types of behaviours, one is very shy & cautious & move strictly in non-human hours i.e. in darkness or too bold & move fearlessly with humans as part of life. CM chose later way of living & full marks to tadoba’s residents (villagers) as they know this big tiger moving fearlessly on roads giving full show to the tourists any time of the day means more tourists & that means money which is livelihood & for that they are ready to pay price of cattle kills. Of-course the forest dept also has been improved a lot in reimbursement of cattle loss & yes occasionally there was loss of human life too but, yet nobody complained, this coexistence is biggest gift of CM to Tadoba & that’s why he has been talked so much as he was loved that much by the locals also & not just the tourists! This I have witnessed by myself as in one of my trips when I came to know recently a farmer has been killed by a tiger in the field, I casually asked, whether it was by CM as the place mentioned in the news was near to his territory.  At first there was silence then the reply was, we don’t know Saab, koi naya tiger tha, (some unknown tiger must have done that) & when I said naya Tiger, CM aane dega kya, then there was a smile which told the truth that it was CM but they don’t want to disclose it as they feared forest dept will put him away & their star sighter will be gone!

Guys this is what CM could do as I always say sitting in  comfortable gypsy, clicking photos of tiger walking on road & then editing them after going back to your secured homes is very easy but imagine a tiger which ways nearly 300kg & he is walking around your farm, your home, watching you when you or your family members walk to places alone on feet, just the thought gives me goosebumps & yet here the villagers worshipped a tiger with all this as tribute to what he is doing for their families. And indeed, CM is a gentleman, at least for humans, as he has never attacked a human deliberately for sure or else he could have killed hundreds of them easily but he was smart also as that would have meant enmity with the humans & that’s not the way you rule the forests of buffers, which CM has learnt & followed till end! Though this gentleman mask wasn’t for other male tigers & this is where the Jesus’s quote comes in the picture with CM as with so large territory under single control & three to four tigresses & their cubs as family to protect, the king had to be always on alert for intruders & there were many! So, the battles continued & CM fought each battle with only one intention, leave my territory or die & outcome was two sure known kills, Bajrang & Bramha & two fatally wounded male opponents. But no battle has been won without getting bleed (exception, you have to be a Rajnikant, lol) & CM also was no exception to this basic law of battle. His first major injury happened in Aug or Sept 24 only as he took a blow on front left leg & paw & for the first time since he started ruling buffers, the locals witnessed a limping CM walking around. He was unable to walk & with his heavy weight which is a weapon in battle, is the worst enemy when you are injured as well the large territory to protect is another problem as you have to be on move continuously. Luckily cattle are an easy prey to catch even when you are injured & with the power of three hundred kilo, one slap also can break the neck of a cattle so CM survived but never recovered fully. Rather at that time only his injuries should have been treated or looked after as in that situation he kept walking & the aggressive attitude. Outcome was final battle with Bramha named young male in May or June 25 which must have completely broken his already damaged front left leg & canines’! And problem of being a tiger is, nobody cares for you in the forest rather this is the time when you are most vulnerable & fortunately with the reputation of CM even when he was so badly injured no other male tiger tried to venture in his territory yet tourists & locals could clearly see the end as this time he was not just limping but jumping on remaining three legs, yet trying to mark his territory & ready to fight for it. I think my friend Nikhil Abhyankar has his last of the footage before the Hon High Court intervened (again a matter of debate) & forest dept tranquilized CM for treatment. I remembered, when the Super-Star Amitabh Bachhan got injured in a shoot on the set of the movie Koolie, the entire nation was waiting to get an update of his health, same was with the wildlife world about treatment of CM, which shows what he was for not just Tadoba but for entire wildlife! Unfortunately, the bad news came that CM won’t be physically fit to enter into the forests as that can be a threat to him as well the villagers as hunger often leads to desperation, is we all know, so he has been shifted to Gorewada Zoo in Nagpur! As I said the social media was & is full of stories about his rise & fall but forest knows no such things, all it knows is survive or leave!

About the debate of whether humans should intervene in such nature’s process, my opinion is, we need tigers like CM as they are true Super Stars & Brand Ambassadors of wildlife along with making many families survive & prosper because of them. And we have already intervened enough by reducing spaces for the entire wildlife which is main cause of such battles which are getting more regular, so we must protect in every possible way when such injury happens to tiger like CM just lay a permanent policy so the delay won’t be too much & every time High Court doesn’t have to intervene for treating any tiger & time is the essence in the forest! There are many famous tigers & there will be, in Tadoba as well in other forests yet CM’s place will be like the Dhruva tara in star studded sky, permanent & steady, just like his attitude towards life!

I have clicked CM & Tarachand when they were toddlers with their mom Choti Tara but somehow missed CM to watch & click him as a grownup male but in October 24, he did give me a full show with some candid moments with his sub adult son Kalua, & it was very low light when I last saw him walking behind my gypsy. It was a painful walk as then & there only I realized the graveness of his injury & scarred face but in that low light, two things were very clear, the burning bright & steady eyes & the firmness in every step! That’s why CM is not just a name, it's an attitude to take on the entire world & live by only one way, My Way! I will be visiting CM in Gorewada Zoo, it will be painful to watch him in confinement but I want to tell him, a King even in a cage, still gets acknowledged as a “King in Jail,” which you are & you will always, adios with this wish!

--

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/

Civil Engineering & Teaching Coexistance!

                                    

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“Often what we call development for some species, can be destruction for many other species”… Me.

I know these lines will suit better (read as right) by some hard-core environmentalists or conservationists & not a civil engg  plus builder like me but that doesn’t change the facts about the development, & this was the theme of my sharing. The occasion, which was actually an honor as I have been invited to deliver (share as per me) a speech in front of a group of Professors of Civil Eng of Polytechnic colleges across the State by my Professor friend Seema & her colleague Pro.Sindhu of Govt Polytechnic Pune, fondly called as GPP! When they said I can choose topic of my choice, I suggested as its ending session & most of the participants must be already overdosed with technical stuff(engineering topics) for five days, so I will prefer to share about something which may not be part of syllabus but is future of our civil engg branch & that is coexistence! They Immediately agreed & left it to me to cover the topic the way I wish, a rare thing & an honor too! As well Engineers Day which is celebrated in the Honor of Sir Visvesvaraya happens to be on 15t Sept i.e. very close by, so I decided to make a fusion of two things: Civil Engg & Coexistence! I will be covering this sharing the way I did pointers of PPT so as to make the renders understand the concept & importance of the aspect of sharing.

 

1 Civil Engg & Learning Coexistence

Diploma Faculty meet 12^th Sept 25

Sanjay Deshpande & team Sanjeevani with Jungle belles.

Govt Polytechnic Pune.

I deliberately mentioned Jungle Belles name also, as Civil Engg is science or say has a frame of rules & formulas but coexistence is a life style & you can't frame it on general scale but for that you will need support of some catalyst which deals with lifestyle of species which jungle belles did to the civil engineer in me!

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2 What is a Civil Engg?

“Someone who uses his/ her technical knowledge to make lives better by creating structures!”

Term “Lives” includes every Living Species, even Plants, Forests, Earth, Rivers, Hills, Lakes,  Ocean & every thing which either breathes or helps someone to breathe! Unfortunately, we have forgotten the basic definition of a civil engg as we are restricting the term “Lives” to “Human Lives” only! And this is the reason for the man- nature conflict we are witnessing (read as suffering) pf late more & more! You may have come across the term man -Animal conflict but it's a very narrow window, as humans are actually at war with nature & we the civil engineers are like an army of humans attacking nature. Though we don’t name it enemy, we don’t try to protect it while we build our structures, which in the end are like mass destruction weapons for the nature we need to understand & accept! It’s time to expand the definition of civil engg so we will think about making every living life comfortable by our structures, is my intention to have a dialogue with you.

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3 What they Teach Us in Colleges…

Concrete, Steel, Bricks, Structures, & Formulas about building Strong yet Dead Things! And using all the formulas & materials with the help of machinery like JCB, Bulldozer, Tower Cranes & such we build structures which we name , Buildings, Bridges, Dams, Canals, Jetty, Airport, Railways, Highways, Tunnels, Drainage & Water Treatment Plants, the list is unending! But unfortunately (again) these all are dead things & they don’t teach us all above dead things for the comfort of humans. No civil engg syllabus teaches us about biodiversity & our responsibility towards it & that’s the reason for so many other species getting extinct in just the last hundred years of our development. And all these species were sharing their home i.e. earth with us for thousands of years before that, this we are forgetting or ignoring, is my reason for sharing.

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4 Growth Vs Development

Growth is a natural phenomenon, development is shaping that phenomenon in a Healthy way, that is Sustainability! 

One we understand the true job of a civil engineer, then comes understanding growth via development. We all are forms of some life & every life has a basic instinct of survival. So, even an orphan human child thrown on the streets abandoned by his parents somehow learns to survive & grow in size but that growth is just part of ageing & not through development. Same way, if your biceps get hit by an accident & becomes swollen, will you call it growth, no, it's swelling, right? Same is with development as only when it’s done in the right way accommodating everybody associated with the earth & getting their share of space happens then its growth via development. Again, only a civil engineer can make this happen as we are the one who are the first line of development army & we dig, we build so we only can define right development & follow it!

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5 Destruction not Development!

What are we doing under the name of Development?

If you ask this question to yourself as an engineer & look around then you will realize the outcome of this development is, Floods, Deforestation,  Man-Animal Conflicts, Road -Kills, Species getting Extinct, Pollution & Natural Disasters! And if you think this is some Right-Wing Fanatic Environmentalist saying these words then sorry, I am a civil engineer & I have been constructing projects for the last 35 years & yet I am saying this! Though this doesn’t mean we (read as me) will stop building homes & go to Himalayas for Tapsya as my Prayashcitt (punishment for sins I have done) but what path I have done is, try to balance as much I can & that’s where civil engineering only going to help me as well the world, is my point of sharing! As we say sparrows has been moved away from the cities & there are no butterflies, & if this is the story of these two simplest species with minimum demands just don’t think about monkeys & Bharadwaj like species which were common sight around just two decades back

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6 What is Solution?

… Coexistence !

Well, this is not rocket science & as I said this is not a problem which can be solved by some formulas of structures or concrete technique, well, some parts yet but the solution to make right development in understanding coexistence! The way we humans need homes, roads, water, food, education , all such things (except luxury) every other living species also needs & we have to create that space in our structures. Give space to every life form as per its need & that’s the solution. We are not owners of Earth; we are Co-owners of it along with millions of other species. We have 'Civil Enggs’ for our comforts, what about other species, ask this question to ourselves & that's the first step on the path of coexistence!

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7 Plan your Project keeping in mind all the stakeholders of Planet Earth

No Cut-Paste Solution for Coexistence!

First of all, as we are speaking about coexistence then there are no fix sets of rules or formulas or AutoCAD drawings available to achieve it, understand it clearly. You can’t copy something done in a neighboring town or city in your project site , so definitely not looking towards western world or AI (present trend) for solutions! But look around & study what the world is doing as reference scale/ For e.g., Autobahn through Black Forest Germany Frogs Case. In our country right from house sparrows to honeybees so-many species need attention & the solution will change as per their needs & not we defining that aspect of their life! . For e.g. in Tadoba villagers around the forests were needed to go in open for nature’s call & as it's usually at early morning or late eve, man animal conflicts were maximum during those timings. So the government built public toilets within all villages but if these toilets don’t have proper water supply or sewage treatment backup then this solution will only remain for show & conflicts will keep on happening. This is just one small example to make you understand the approach towards coexistence right in planning & in execution till end!

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8 Understand Coexistence first as then only we can share!

How Can We Do It?

Make Nature as part of your Studies. Develop Philosophy of Coexistence in working right from planning  you build only what you plan in your mind & on paper before you start execution. And there have been wonderful examples in recent NH 44 highway connecting Nagpur Jabalpur is uplifted over the forest part around Pench to save the wild animals corridors & on Samruddhi Highway also there are Animal Crossing passages above the highway! Agreed no solution will stop hundred percent conflicts of wildlife & humans but it will definitely minimize it, that’s the key!

Films, Field trips, Interaction with Experts, Conservationists. Learn & Share.

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9 Teach your students to become a Right Human Being, not just a Civil Engineering Degree Holder!

And this is where the role of a civil engineering teacher becomes most vital as today what you will be teaching to your students will only get executed in the respective fields. So, make your students know their duty towards planet earth as a civil engg & tell them you have shown them a path, now they only have to build it & extend it because coexistence is not some finish line of a race but its way to living & failing to achieve it, we the civil engineers only will be held responsible by our future generations, choice I hours, adios with this note!

You can watch the presentation on youtube link along & plz share to make others aware, not just the civil engineers!

https://youtu.be/56xNo4wLUIg?si=u8r790TnxDhBVduB

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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/

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!

-

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/