Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Hi frds,
here is something about biodiversity & forests.
sanjay
June 2010
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly !
Long back there was a hit movie of Clint Eastwood,with three characters playing the attitudes as the title of the movie!
This time after my jungle trip at two of most celebrated forests in country Kanha & Bandhavgad & spending lot of time moving around tourists as well forest staff & the support system such as guides, gypsy operator & hotels around the park,some what similar heading I feel for my tour!
Well the Good is ...
about the forest that there are Tigers yet roaming freely in the forests like Kanha & the forest staff & more important the support system which is concerned about the forest.Though many things need to improve at route level & the first is the coordination between the three key factors related to any national park. They are Forest staff, the tourists ( here I mean common tourist & not the vip's) & the link in between these two i.e the support system which includes the hotel people at such places, the guides, the forest workers & the drivers of the safaris! Surprisingly all three hate each other enough so as not to have any dialogue or trust on each others interests & feelings about the forest & all three thinks that theirs are the most genuine specie if forest is considered & other two are their either to squeeze them or to obstruct them from their purpose.
For eg there was a recent case of getting a tigress got killed in Bandhavgad park & leaving three cubs of hardly 4 months old to survive on their own! Its said that the tigress has been hit by a speeding vehicle in forest which either can be of tourists or of forest dept. As only these two types of vehicles are allowed in the forest. Now there is a fight going between forest dpt & safari vehicles & guides that whose fault it is! There are many senior officers in forest dept who thinks that the tourists should be banned in the forest as it disturbs the animal movements as well their work of patrolling & protecting animals gets hampered. Its true in a way but then tiger or forest conservation isn't just one departments job! Forests are our national treasures & we cant keep them secluded from common man. Rather the more common tourists will learn about the forests,feel them around the easier the job of forest department will be come.
As it's the tourists which generets lots of empolyment in form of various services, for the local people which other wise would have been a problem. And its this segment who would have turned to poachers if kept idel & unemployeed. Now they understand that its the forest which is making them also to survive, so if forest survives they also survives!
But for this the department has to be properly managed & infra structured.Unfortunately this factor is not given a practical thought.Result is restrictions & more restrictions on tourists movement & then the common man feels dejected from the forests. At bandhavgad what they did is they closed the half of the park & kept just the ranges open where there is literly no water so no animals. Agreed I myself have seen enough of forests & know that forest is more than the tiger yet if u don't see even few birds or smaller animals like gazelles or mungus for miles of stretches then certainly u don't make good opinion about the forest or the way its being managed. The bandhavgad park is supposed to be the best for the tigers & that means the entire system is good but is it really true! As the only one range ie Tala is having water bodies so all the concentration of the animals is there & the department closed it that too only online booking 20 vehicles are allowed for each ride. This information one gets at the gate & even if the 20 vehicles who have booked online don't turn up yet those who have traveled for thousand of miles & came to see the park have to go away as they don't have online booking!
The ranges such as Khatoli or Magadhi where u are allowed to go instead, the guide & the safari operators themselves told u that there is no animal movement! Then what a common tourist should do than cursing forest dept? Here the fault lies with both as nothing wrong about the other ranges ,they have good forest but no infrastructural works for retaining water within them thus even the birds have deserted them! Also the tour operators or guides as they haven't any dialogue or trust with forest dept they just blame them instead showing whatever better things are there in two ranges!
The silver lining is Kanha, where at least a good rapport is there between the guides, safari operators & tourists. Also the forest staff is much alert & sometimes may be over disciplined yet keeping a keen eye on the animals. Lot of efforts have been taken & they are noticeable as I have been visiting kanha over last 7 years regularly,especially the center at Kanha & the way facilities like toilets being improved is remarkable,as we get hundreds of foreign tourists & they are bound to compair with their country.The museum & interaction center is also good.But here too some lacuna's have to be covered & that is it high time to make tourists clear that Forest is not The Tiger! And for this the first thing is to be done is close the Tiger show ,which is being conducted by the forest department itself. Here the men riding elephant start early in the morning to,locate the tiger & as soon they spot it, the elephants held or corner or pin the tiger at the spot & radios the center. At center then all the tourists get coupons with 100/ per head & the gypsies went to the spot where tiger is being held by elephants & then from there the elephants carries the tourists on their back to the tiger ! Well though its the sure way to watch the Tiger but its most ridiculous way for any real forest lover! Two things happens ,one is all the focus of the tourist spins around the tiger & they forget to look for other equally beautiful things in the forest & second is the tiger himself surely gets disturbed with this pinning up by elephants. And if the forest dpt on one hand claims animals getting disturbed by the movement of tourists on one hand then they are doing themselves more disturbance by tiger show.
Now another major aspect is about the park water management which is the key reason for animals movement within the park especially for the forests in central India, which don't have nay perennial water source. The park needs to have staff with the knowledge of such planning.Also important is to have separate staff to monitor the tourists & to monitor the forest as well animals. this will take the load off the existing staff & will help in having a better dialogue between the outsiders & the forest dept.
The Bad is...
On this front we are too Bad as the forest department is very poor on having infrastructure on manpower & infrastructure power. I never understood that we don't allow any vehicle except 4 wheel drive & petrol engine in the park & the forest dept themselves have diesel driven jeeps making more noise & exhaust pollution than any vehicle! Why we cant give them battery driven or cng driven vehicles at war level for patrolling! So many such small things right from the means of communication within the park to accommodation of the guards in the forest, many things are below par for human living. Many a chowkis have to fetch the water from nearly 4-5 km distance for drinking ! Proper bore wells with water softeners can be provided at such spots &a vehicle for drinking water supply to the guards can be donated even by some private corporates also! So many things to do here as forest guards & support system like guides etc plays a very vital roale in forest conservation as they are actually there at last end.But there needs a effort in this direction.
The attitude of most of the tourists! They just think that forest is a place where they can enjoy as they wish as they have paid the charges for entry. Irritating is the attitude of so called VIP's who roam in vehicle with govt tag & god bless us that they don't order the Tiger to sit in their vehicle! Even the police gypsies are there in breaking all the driving laws & blocking not only other tourists view but even the animals,just to get better snaps for their VIP guests! Even the common tourists get frenzied when sees tiger & force the drivers to put their vehicle ahead of others & ignores guides instructions to maintenance silence & enjoy the scene. This can be avoided only if there is a continuous awareness program & stringent punishment to the tourists & not just the drivers or guides.
Ultimately to save the forest & the animals in it isn't just one departments responsibility. Its our national treasure & all must contribute for the same. The extreme steps of banning the tourists wont work ,it will only increase in ignorance of common man towards forest.Rather more & more people should visit forests & contribute for the conservation of the same & also do something at their places when they go back to their cities from the forest. Important is this shouldn't happen at the cost of peace of the forest animals,that's what we have to achieve!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157624239269202/
( click on link above for more snaps)
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev
Envo_power Committee,Credi,PuneAnd the Ugly is...
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Visiting Jungles!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157624239269202/
Kanha Bandhavgad,my latest trip !
click the above link for the moments I had and do share with all ur frds :)
Frds, each time I visit jungle I realize how less i know about the forest! Its not just Tigers & the big animals but the smallest of the birds & the insects too, which makes the entire system survive! Its unfortunate that most of the visitors dont understand this and instead of enjoying the forest makes nuscence to the animals as well the forest staff in search of the tiger!
Though its equally true that not all the forests are well maintained & visitor friendly! Especially in summer time many parts in Bandhavgad forest are running dry & animals are having extreme trouble in surviving. What I feel is more & more visitors should visit the jungles & know about the actual condition of forests they visit ,and with open eyes instead just chasing the tiger.Also do praise the forest staff as well the support system like guides,drivers for good things they are doing as well point out or raise the voice for bad practices in the forest!
I think thats real escence of the forest trip!
Sanjay
Kanha Bandhavgad,my latest trip !
click the above link for the moments I had and do share with all ur frds :)
Frds, each time I visit jungle I realize how less i know about the forest! Its not just Tigers & the big animals but the smallest of the birds & the insects too, which makes the entire system survive! Its unfortunate that most of the visitors dont understand this and instead of enjoying the forest makes nuscence to the animals as well the forest staff in search of the tiger!
Though its equally true that not all the forests are well maintained & visitor friendly! Especially in summer time many parts in Bandhavgad forest are running dry & animals are having extreme trouble in surviving. What I feel is more & more visitors should visit the jungles & know about the actual condition of forests they visit ,and with open eyes instead just chasing the tiger.Also do praise the forest staff as well the support system like guides,drivers for good things they are doing as well point out or raise the voice for bad practices in the forest!
I think thats real escence of the forest trip!
Sanjay
Monday, May 24, 2010
May & the Monsson!
Here I remember a tell of Akbar & Birbal.....
One day Akbar asked in the Darbar, that how many blind men are there in Delhi? Every one got surprised & tried guessing with different numbers but not Birbal. He said Badshah, I will tell u tomorrow evening, exact figure.
Next day morning Birbal sat in midway of busiest road of Chnadani Chowk & started repairing a Khat ( cot with ropes) with note pad along.
Soon the news filtered till the Darbar & even the Akbar got curious & went to see what’s up! When he saw Birbal repairing the Khat in mid road, he asked " Birbal what are u doing"? Immediately Birbal entered his name in list in the note book. Akbar asked '" What’s that u entered my name in?" The sheepishly Birbal replied, respected sir, u have asked me to tell u the numbers of blind men, here is the figure till now & sorry to say even your name is in the list, as just one man asked since morning that " Birbal, why are u repairing the Khat in mid way?" rest al asked Birbal what are u doing? So u know...... Akbar realized what Birbal wanted to say, that even with having eyes how many people see what the see!
The greatness of such stories is they prevailed in today’s times too! Look at the each year burning issue of water which comes along with summer & brings along talks about Rain Water Harvesting / RWH!
We live in a metropolitan city like Pune & we are proud of our life style. By official claims, we get water of more than 210 lit/head /day which is way beyond imagination even for many other metros also, leave apart the rural india! For many of us May is the month with Vacation time of Schools & Colleges. For some, it’s the time of watching New Releases in the Multiplexes with cooling down amongst the friends in the evenings at popular hang outs. For many others it’s outing time or just leisure afternoons reading books or watching DVD's at home.
Each time when Summer starts heating up & front page of news papers get packed with snaps of tankers & queues for water & dry wells!
Not all around us are so fortunate... In States like Rajasthan, Gujrath people are busy with preparations for water collections as Monsoon is the sole source of supply for the remaining 9-10 months after that. In some part of Rajasthan it rains hardly 3"-4" ,which is one tenth of what we got in Pune.Also the land over there is arid & it don’t hold water so what ever falls on the open land is gone for ever. There, people starts cleaning all the collection tanks, roof terreces,village roads, open spaces in front of the houses & making them water tight. So whatever rain falls over, it gets collected without minimum wastage.
Not far from our beloved city, if you take a drive in rural areas of Maharashtra & you see Faces dried up with no water, Faces busy in making their fields in extreme heat for next crop, Faces tense with the thoughts of arranging the funds for buying seeds for the new crop, Faces with doubts in mind about the timing & volume of rains!
On other hand, at some places like Orissa & W.Bengale's Deltas (Delta is a part of land formed like small islands where river merges with the sea) people are in mode of migrations as the rivers bring along huge volume of water & mud ,rising the water levels by many feet & submerging large chunks of the lands.
Monsoon is same but the preparations to face it are different everywhere.
Its all about Monsoon, every other person than us is thinking of in the month of May.
In our city all we care or get known to its arrival is by news papers that Municipal Corporation has undertaken pre Monsoon road repairs & rain Water Gutter cleaning! We take it as a usual joke & divert our concentration to our TV sets or go along planning our evening parties, without even thinking for the many Faces who are desperately awaiting the Monsoon with a smile in one eye & a tear in other!
Friends, just do give a thought while wasting a glass of water this May that some where some one is going to remain thirsty or going to get flooded in coming Monsoon & decide that you will try to share your fortune with them in some way or other. Well, that will be the least but best preparation you can do for this Monsoon as an aware Human Being.
For builders it’s a war time so as to finish all the outdoor works which the rain may hamper or delay i.e. Plaster Ext & painting. Excavation becomes risky as of wet subsoil. Especially the gaothan area buildings as the adjoining properties get dangerous to slide down.
The labor hutments need to be taken care. Other worry is most of the labors are having their farms at native places so they went back to take care of fields & labors are in shortage.
We are fortunate enough to have rainfall of average nearly 30”-32” per year & which is very good in compare to many places.
But where’s the rain water going…?
Each time we miss the most important part “What we are going to do with the Rain?”
Unfortunately the answer is nothing. Crores of litters of water flooded the cities, towns, villages, and farms & gets spilled away. Though there have been efforts at various levels for Rain Water Harvesting, such as making of “Gaotali” i.e. formation of small ponds within the fields, some buildings have been furnished with the roof water collecting systems but over larger scale the efforts are very less.
Here I think we are playing the role of all the people who kept asking Birbal, what are you doing? It’s like we are blind about the Rain Water Harvesting with having eyes! And for that we have to understand first what’s the rain water harvesting actually means?
It’s a process in which the water generated due to rainfall is used to its optimum which otherwise would have been wasted due to the surface losses or evaporation or getting percolated deep down the earths crust.
Few years back when PMC published the Rain Water Harvesting policy, interestingly to my knowledge only one suggestion objection has come & that’s by PBAP’s Environment Cell J
I am sure in the current scenario everybody knows about the importance of
Rain Water Harvesting (RWH), the question what’s the effective way to achieve
the target.
RWH doesn't necessarily mean to store the rain water but it means proper
utilization of the rain water in any form i.e. to minimize the wastage in
the form of surface evaporation or uncontrolled percolation in a stratum
from where its recovery is impossible.
On primary basis we can categorize the same in five types:
1. Surface to Surface collection & use, such as small lakes, bunds etc. This is possible at large scale & most govt's Irrigation dept/Water works etc are doing it. At village /town level local gram panchayat/municipality keeps on doing it via Rojgar Hami Yojana". The concpet is try to stop runoff & store it above the surface.Runoff is the rain water which flows actually over the earths surface & gets collected. Gaotali is a fine example of the same. In USA i have seen many large urban developments having their own lake,especially in Florida state which does get ample rains. I was wondering how lucky these developments are to have lake in each area! But then I came to know that ,its the norm of local body to have the space like we have open space to collect the rain water & its mandetory.
Many will, say, USA is a big country & they dont have land problem for such land use. Here I always think, why our local bodies cant work out this way, we too have concept of open space of 10% for lay outs bigger than 1 acre,now when we do have adequate rain fall ,why 50% of this 10%open space cnat be made mandetory for water storage above surface, or relax the height & coverage norms & make space for water storage. This is what we need to work out to deal with environment conservation,not emaining idle on the rules what we have but flexible & imliment them fast..
2. Surface to UGWT collection tank & use. This is what we all mostly meant when it’s RWH, but how many times & places its possible is the question. As we receive all our rain fall in span of 3 month & that too in some weeks of these months. Issue is how much we can store & how we are going to use it & for what? As this will need purification & which is a costly affair & during these monsoon times any ways plants don’t need extra water so we cant use it for the same ,then what we do with this water? Also we are getting the PMC water which is nonmetered & included in property tax, so how we are going to make people aware to use Rain Water instead PMC water?
3. Surface to subsurface strata charging & use by lift irrigation such as
open or bore wells. This is what best we can do in cities like Pune where rain isn’t a problem. As subsurface strata acts as a water reservoir & which we can use in summers too for non domestic uses such as gardening, flushing in toilets etc. For this we ned to have provision in storage water tanks for seperete compartments of storing bore water & drinking water. Where the developer hasnt made such arrangement there the society can have seperete tank at terrece level & lift the bore well water directly to the same & use it for non domastic purpose. Unfortunetly we all are ready to spent a lot on our home interiors but not for such colective cause.
4. Surface to near by Perennial Source, such as Stream, River etc. In many places especially where we need to see that the rain fall reaches to the towns/villages at downstream, this particular system can be used. As rain water harvesting isnt utilizing the water at the source only, anybody who can utilize it should be able to use it is important.
5. Collection at central place via underground channels (rain water
Gutters) filter & distribute it. Such systems have been used by the public bodies at city level e.g. Singapore. This is one thing which we can consider at city level as it will reduce the cost of treating the collected rain water & PMC can recirculate it via its water line network.
What is need of the time is identify the system of RWH & see that it gets executed. The traget is tough as ultimetly success of any RWH system is how much treated poatable water is saved & for that metered water supply is a must.
India is a tropical country where three different seasons i.e. Summer, Winter
& Rains. We get rain water in 4 months time span & that too few weeks out of
four month produce the maximum rain fall. Also we got a varied geography to
dealt with like high altitude differences of Himalayas to arid dry lands
of Rajasthan to Maharashtra Deccan platu.Then again rural areas & cities
like Mumbai & Pune, in such situations a single policy can’t be worked out
for every project. Studying all above aspects the city wise & then at
Micro level project wise policies have to be decided.
Reusing of the rainwater is also a very good thought, but for residential projects & for domestic use it’s some what impractical because considering the intensity of
rainfall in a short period of span, we will need huge storage tanks and
filtration arrangements, which will be idle during all other seasons.
Instead we can use the rainwater collected from terraces & on hard paving for harvesting
purposes & also can route the same for nature parks or landscaped areas around, that’s using it for the gardening.
Filtration and reusing of rainwater is usually adopted in the areas where
there is very minimum rainfall and the water is scarce commodity for any
use and most importantly geological conditions are such that it’s impossible
to raise the ground water level by harvesting for e.g. : Arid/ Desert lands of Rajasthan.
Also its found workable in the rural areas where the built up portion is less & the rain water can be used for even farming or other agro based business like drinking of cattles,poltries i.e. mainly in non treated form.
Once we decide to go for it then the techniques can be worked out as per the case wise. Important is open up our eyes & look at the problem with them !
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev, Chairman Envo Power Committee,PBAP.
smd156812@gmail.com
Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani!
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
www.sanjeevanideve.com
Think Green, Think Life
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Short forms of Life !
Few days back I conducted a small test with my few of the younger school/college going friends by sending them a mail about some of the short forms & they are real terms in general, approximate 10 odd numbers of them. Below are the answeres in bracket & former are the replies which I received & are 90% outcome!
DDLJ dilwale dulhania le jayenge
LSD love sex & dhoka
APGK ajab premki gajab kahani
KANK kabhi alvida na kahana
TJP tare jamipar
BDP ??? (Bio Diversity Park)
PMC Pune Municipality ?? ( Corporation)
DP ??? ( Development Plan)
RWH ??? ( Rain Water Harvesting)
ETP ??? ( Effluent Treatment plant )
ICBM ??? ( Inter Continetal Balastic Missiles)
IBM International business Machines
AK47 Gun ( Automatic Kalashnikov)
SLR Self Loading Role
SUV Sports utility Vehicle
Now what we see? Most of them were very perfect about the movies & then about gadgets ,vehicles, computers etc. But what I feared most & got myself correct was the awareness about the surrounding, I mean real surrounding. Still I didn’t asked about PMT, BRT, MSEDL i.e. formerly MSEB & things like that!
All the time we ourselves so called literate, aware citizens of this city are screaming these short forms from News papers, various forums, Yahoo groups, chats but is it filtering enough? Every day people like NGO's heads, Volunteers, Editors of leading news papers are screaming about the rotating condition of the infrastructure in the city, the effects of deteriorating environment, use of excess conventional energy sources. We furiously discuss about the steps to be taken by the administration of civic body, politicicn’s thick skin attitude about their responsibilities & each segment of the society blaming other segments for worsening the situation! But I kept wondering still why every thing remains same, rather getting worst!
I think some where the answer lays in this mail of mine too! Are we really giving enough attention to a very large segment of the society to make them aware & exposure them to the situation about their responsibility towards it? Somewhere we are neglecting it, taking the losing battle against all to us only, which we are either worn out of fighting with wrong strategy. Otherwise why when each of us is aware about the simplest thing like proper driving/traffic rules, still we are unable to have a smooth flow of traffic & numbers of accidents happening all along the city roads!
If you refer the recent paper news you must have been used to the child crimes events. The most shocking is murder by school goers in filmy style of another boy just for the suspect of he is from enemy camp! Wow! Are we leading to "Al Capone" era of new age? These schools goers can think of murdering their own friend & coolly cut his head & destroy it so as the police won’t have clue! But they are not ready to take on so many social problems around & use their brain/daring/energy/ anger whatever you call it, for solving the same! At least identify the issue & go for it, isn’t it bare minimum expectation, if they can plan crime as dangerously planned as above! Pity is they are angry about the enemy & eager to finish him at any cost but won’t do anything about eliminating the feeling of the enmity itself!
But no, I think we don’t deserve such expectation because we are not doing much from our part of that expectation. Recently I had gone for giving a lecture at a very famous school's 10th std exam appearing students. The principal in advance has told me that be careful as her students are specialized in hooting out the guest lecturer not by shouting of hurryeing but just by neglecting whatever he/she says! All they were interested is their makeup, looks, gossips etc! Well how I survived isn't part of this sharing but I did enough to interest them in my lecture which was about their future responsibilities towards the people around them & to my surprise they not only listened but asked so many questions that made me speechless over a while!
While we all are busy in doing so called our duty of social responsibility, what role we are playing to make this yougistan to understand their role or what use we are making of their energy? Mostly they are part of some human chain which we perform on roads for a protest rally or they are busy in collecting signs on some forms against or for some social cause or we organize some film festival for them or an essay competition about my ideal city & similar stuff, that’s all? And this too covers how many how them? Hardly 2% of the entire youth segment is what my gut feeling is! We have subjects like Environment Science, Civics, History right from 5th std but what really goes in their mind, have we analyzed?
The need of the time is an year round well focused program which will make them interested as well give them exposure about what's expected & possible through them about so many issues threatening the so called our civilized society! And the program should be such that it will cut through all the segments of the society covering as much youngistan population we can! There lies the chance of solution we are repeatedly missing amongst ourselves.
There is a famous saying “If we build enough schools today then we will save on numbers of jail's tomorrow"! It's the hi time to build such schools outside the regular schools to make the saying n reality & its everybody’s job, mind it!
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
www.sanjeevanideve.com
Think Green, Think Life
DDLJ dilwale dulhania le jayenge
LSD love sex & dhoka
APGK ajab premki gajab kahani
KANK kabhi alvida na kahana
TJP tare jamipar
BDP ??? (Bio Diversity Park)
PMC Pune Municipality ?? ( Corporation)
DP ??? ( Development Plan)
RWH ??? ( Rain Water Harvesting)
ETP ??? ( Effluent Treatment plant )
ICBM ??? ( Inter Continetal Balastic Missiles)
IBM International business Machines
AK47 Gun ( Automatic Kalashnikov)
SLR Self Loading Role
SUV Sports utility Vehicle
Now what we see? Most of them were very perfect about the movies & then about gadgets ,vehicles, computers etc. But what I feared most & got myself correct was the awareness about the surrounding, I mean real surrounding. Still I didn’t asked about PMT, BRT, MSEDL i.e. formerly MSEB & things like that!
All the time we ourselves so called literate, aware citizens of this city are screaming these short forms from News papers, various forums, Yahoo groups, chats but is it filtering enough? Every day people like NGO's heads, Volunteers, Editors of leading news papers are screaming about the rotating condition of the infrastructure in the city, the effects of deteriorating environment, use of excess conventional energy sources. We furiously discuss about the steps to be taken by the administration of civic body, politicicn’s thick skin attitude about their responsibilities & each segment of the society blaming other segments for worsening the situation! But I kept wondering still why every thing remains same, rather getting worst!
I think some where the answer lays in this mail of mine too! Are we really giving enough attention to a very large segment of the society to make them aware & exposure them to the situation about their responsibility towards it? Somewhere we are neglecting it, taking the losing battle against all to us only, which we are either worn out of fighting with wrong strategy. Otherwise why when each of us is aware about the simplest thing like proper driving/traffic rules, still we are unable to have a smooth flow of traffic & numbers of accidents happening all along the city roads!
If you refer the recent paper news you must have been used to the child crimes events. The most shocking is murder by school goers in filmy style of another boy just for the suspect of he is from enemy camp! Wow! Are we leading to "Al Capone" era of new age? These schools goers can think of murdering their own friend & coolly cut his head & destroy it so as the police won’t have clue! But they are not ready to take on so many social problems around & use their brain/daring/energy/ anger whatever you call it, for solving the same! At least identify the issue & go for it, isn’t it bare minimum expectation, if they can plan crime as dangerously planned as above! Pity is they are angry about the enemy & eager to finish him at any cost but won’t do anything about eliminating the feeling of the enmity itself!
But no, I think we don’t deserve such expectation because we are not doing much from our part of that expectation. Recently I had gone for giving a lecture at a very famous school's 10th std exam appearing students. The principal in advance has told me that be careful as her students are specialized in hooting out the guest lecturer not by shouting of hurryeing but just by neglecting whatever he/she says! All they were interested is their makeup, looks, gossips etc! Well how I survived isn't part of this sharing but I did enough to interest them in my lecture which was about their future responsibilities towards the people around them & to my surprise they not only listened but asked so many questions that made me speechless over a while!
While we all are busy in doing so called our duty of social responsibility, what role we are playing to make this yougistan to understand their role or what use we are making of their energy? Mostly they are part of some human chain which we perform on roads for a protest rally or they are busy in collecting signs on some forms against or for some social cause or we organize some film festival for them or an essay competition about my ideal city & similar stuff, that’s all? And this too covers how many how them? Hardly 2% of the entire youth segment is what my gut feeling is! We have subjects like Environment Science, Civics, History right from 5th std but what really goes in their mind, have we analyzed?
The need of the time is an year round well focused program which will make them interested as well give them exposure about what's expected & possible through them about so many issues threatening the so called our civilized society! And the program should be such that it will cut through all the segments of the society covering as much youngistan population we can! There lies the chance of solution we are repeatedly missing amongst ourselves.
There is a famous saying “If we build enough schools today then we will save on numbers of jail's tomorrow"! It's the hi time to build such schools outside the regular schools to make the saying n reality & its everybody’s job, mind it!
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
www.sanjeevanideve.com
Think Green, Think Life
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A fairy named PMPML !
It’s really pity for the city more than the citizens when ever we have a look at the news paper & the front page always screaming about some issue which even a most common man could also understand but not the authorities or our all so called city God Fathers ! For instance see this latest in thing i.e. PMPML allies Pune Mahanagar Pariwahan Mahamandal Limited or something :)
Each day every NGO is shouting about reducing the number of vehicles on roads about the tons of gasses/fumes getting generated by the burning of fuel, the road traffic jams, the heat islands getting crated because of exhausts of so many vehicles & getting increased with each passing day! We all know the solution is simple & that is to improve the public transport!
Here I remember one story from Akbar Birbal... One day Akbar asked in the Darbar, that how many blind men are there in Delhi? Every one got surprised & tried guessing with different numbers but not Birbal. He said Badshah, I will tell u tomorrow evening, exact figure. Next day morning Birbal sat in midway of busiest road of Chnadani Chowk & started repairing a Khat ( cot with ropes) with note pad along.Soon the news filtered till the Darbar & even the Akbar got curious & went to see what’s up! When he saw Birbal repairing the Khat in mid road, he asked " Birbal what are u doing"? Immediately Birbal entered his name in list in the note book. Akbar asked '" What’s that u entered my name in?" The sheepishly Birbal replied, respected sir, u have asked me to tell u the numbers of blind men, here is the figure till now & sorry to say even your name is in the list, as just one man asked since morning that " Birbal, why are u repairing the Khat in mid way?" rest al asked Birbal what are u doing? So u know...... Akbar realized what Birbal wanted to say, that even with having eyes how many people really see what they see?
The greatness of such stories is they prevailed in today’s times too!
Now look at the scenario about the Public Transport System in our city which at least right now present in only form of the Bus service! Agreed lots of dreams have been shown ,are being shown about Metro,Monorail,Ring Road, Elevated road etc but what about strengthening of what we have at hand! This is where I feel the Akbar -Birbal story prevails now also. Look at the way the city has grown & the way bus service too has grown but towards the new depths on account of giving service! When we call a city as a developing &competing to the future demands, ten it’s not just water, power, drainage, gardens but most important is how the city communicates within the city.
We are Detroit of East but at the same time we beat any city of our size in private owned vehicles per head of the population. This may on one side makes the vehicle manufacturers happy & may indicate our financial per capita strength but it’s surely an unhealthy thing for the environment within & around the city. Also like all the cities which has a long history, the old part of the city unless taken some drastic steps of of rebuilding the entire old city, the roads are not going to improve is a fact. As now most of the city roads are 40'-50' wide & they are just unable to take up so many vehicles load, leave apart the issue of parking in city. Each day it’s a punishment for the commuters to cross these roads which they can’t avoid!
We have all the talks of one HCMTR i.e. High Capacity Mass Transport Route, which was planned in late 80' & part of DP but till today not a single patch has been ever build up. And this HCMTR was supposed to divert all the traffic which has to take city route to go from one end to other. Now the situation is even the HCMTR itself has come in the city & we are busy in Planning another Ring road! We haven’t finalized the DP of extended boundaries of PMC, so we can’t acquire the roads in that fringe area & so again except main routes like Baner Road, Sinhagad Road, Nagar Road, Karve Road the Municipal Transportation cant have the net work interconnecting these suburbs. Making the commuters to travel few kilometers just to reach to bus stop. Agreed we can’t have everything at platter but what we are doing with what we have on platter!
Now look at the scene of existing bus service in our Metropolitan cities of Pune & Pimpari Chinchwad... First, nobody knows who really run the show! As first we have to define a single point responsibility taking figure & then we can expect results. Right now its a baby who is in worst condition than an orphan as the orphan at least knew it has to survive on its own, here there are more than one parent making it easy to play pass the buck game :)
Earlier it was PMT & PCMT & then with the good thinking that as many routes as well commuters are common it will be beneficial to have a combined body for public transport & so the present PMPML has been formed with joint governing. But the affect reverted like boom rang as neither PMC nor PCMC seems interested in upbringing of the same, rather the news inn the recent papers is making the common man think whether both the municipal bodies really want to run any public transport system for the city or not! Because right from the BRT to purchase of the new busses everything which was supposed to amicably solved is being fought like opposition. The BRT may be a success for few commuters but the chao it’s making for other traffic is unbearable as when nearly 60% part of the existing road is taken by BRT, then just 40% is remaining for all other vehicles, that too traveling in both the directions! No doubt about the BRT purpose but it’s the execution & planning which needs to be improved.
About the existing busses & routes, no one knows who decided the routes & how? No central information is available, so a new comer can't be dependent on the public transport. The condition of busses is not up the mark & similar is the bus stops. Imagine in such summer people waiting at bus stops without any proper sun shed or in monsoons! You can’t expect any sane person will make public transport as his / her’s first choice with such infrastructure.
Three years back I was in Singapore for a seminar on Environment & the officer over there was sharing his experiences about Singapore Bus service, which is rated one of the best in world. He said we are also facing problem in attracting commuters, as they wear Rolex watches, have latest cell phones, designer clothes, so they don’t like to wait at bus stops even for few minutes! So now we are thinking of building waiting lounges for major bus stops where snacks & drinks will be served & it will be air conditioned place to wait.
Look at the level people can go to serve the public & how we are placed? We don’t have even the basic infrastructure like proper waiting area, demarcated bus standing place, time table & route the bus on the particular bus stop is going to cover & the list goes on. I think why we can’t take one route to model such things & furnish it with all such necessities which commuter will aspect & then see the difference in revenue & the display it as a role model.
At one of our projects which was a township & we expected lots of commuters traveling to the end destination, we had made a tie up with the PMT assuring a minimum revenue for year & have deposited the sum with the body & made a contract that if the revenue generated is more than our deposit then we will get it back & it did. Now there are at least 10 busses running on the dsk Vishva route at Sinhgad road! Such public participation schemes can be worked out. A thought can be given to adopt a bus /bus stop sort of contract with various garages/near by commercial developments at the bus stop.
All in all what we need is to wipe out the blame on this city that we may be best on many fronts but surely not on the Public Transport front!
-- Sanjay Deshpande
Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
www.sanjeevanideve.com
Think Green, Think Life
Each day every NGO is shouting about reducing the number of vehicles on roads about the tons of gasses/fumes getting generated by the burning of fuel, the road traffic jams, the heat islands getting crated because of exhausts of so many vehicles & getting increased with each passing day! We all know the solution is simple & that is to improve the public transport!
Here I remember one story from Akbar Birbal... One day Akbar asked in the Darbar, that how many blind men are there in Delhi? Every one got surprised & tried guessing with different numbers but not Birbal. He said Badshah, I will tell u tomorrow evening, exact figure. Next day morning Birbal sat in midway of busiest road of Chnadani Chowk & started repairing a Khat ( cot with ropes) with note pad along.Soon the news filtered till the Darbar & even the Akbar got curious & went to see what’s up! When he saw Birbal repairing the Khat in mid road, he asked " Birbal what are u doing"? Immediately Birbal entered his name in list in the note book. Akbar asked '" What’s that u entered my name in?" The sheepishly Birbal replied, respected sir, u have asked me to tell u the numbers of blind men, here is the figure till now & sorry to say even your name is in the list, as just one man asked since morning that " Birbal, why are u repairing the Khat in mid way?" rest al asked Birbal what are u doing? So u know...... Akbar realized what Birbal wanted to say, that even with having eyes how many people really see what they see?
The greatness of such stories is they prevailed in today’s times too!
Now look at the scenario about the Public Transport System in our city which at least right now present in only form of the Bus service! Agreed lots of dreams have been shown ,are being shown about Metro,Monorail,Ring Road, Elevated road etc but what about strengthening of what we have at hand! This is where I feel the Akbar -Birbal story prevails now also. Look at the way the city has grown & the way bus service too has grown but towards the new depths on account of giving service! When we call a city as a developing &competing to the future demands, ten it’s not just water, power, drainage, gardens but most important is how the city communicates within the city.
We are Detroit of East but at the same time we beat any city of our size in private owned vehicles per head of the population. This may on one side makes the vehicle manufacturers happy & may indicate our financial per capita strength but it’s surely an unhealthy thing for the environment within & around the city. Also like all the cities which has a long history, the old part of the city unless taken some drastic steps of of rebuilding the entire old city, the roads are not going to improve is a fact. As now most of the city roads are 40'-50' wide & they are just unable to take up so many vehicles load, leave apart the issue of parking in city. Each day it’s a punishment for the commuters to cross these roads which they can’t avoid!
We have all the talks of one HCMTR i.e. High Capacity Mass Transport Route, which was planned in late 80' & part of DP but till today not a single patch has been ever build up. And this HCMTR was supposed to divert all the traffic which has to take city route to go from one end to other. Now the situation is even the HCMTR itself has come in the city & we are busy in Planning another Ring road! We haven’t finalized the DP of extended boundaries of PMC, so we can’t acquire the roads in that fringe area & so again except main routes like Baner Road, Sinhagad Road, Nagar Road, Karve Road the Municipal Transportation cant have the net work interconnecting these suburbs. Making the commuters to travel few kilometers just to reach to bus stop. Agreed we can’t have everything at platter but what we are doing with what we have on platter!
Now look at the scene of existing bus service in our Metropolitan cities of Pune & Pimpari Chinchwad... First, nobody knows who really run the show! As first we have to define a single point responsibility taking figure & then we can expect results. Right now its a baby who is in worst condition than an orphan as the orphan at least knew it has to survive on its own, here there are more than one parent making it easy to play pass the buck game :)
Earlier it was PMT & PCMT & then with the good thinking that as many routes as well commuters are common it will be beneficial to have a combined body for public transport & so the present PMPML has been formed with joint governing. But the affect reverted like boom rang as neither PMC nor PCMC seems interested in upbringing of the same, rather the news inn the recent papers is making the common man think whether both the municipal bodies really want to run any public transport system for the city or not! Because right from the BRT to purchase of the new busses everything which was supposed to amicably solved is being fought like opposition. The BRT may be a success for few commuters but the chao it’s making for other traffic is unbearable as when nearly 60% part of the existing road is taken by BRT, then just 40% is remaining for all other vehicles, that too traveling in both the directions! No doubt about the BRT purpose but it’s the execution & planning which needs to be improved.
About the existing busses & routes, no one knows who decided the routes & how? No central information is available, so a new comer can't be dependent on the public transport. The condition of busses is not up the mark & similar is the bus stops. Imagine in such summer people waiting at bus stops without any proper sun shed or in monsoons! You can’t expect any sane person will make public transport as his / her’s first choice with such infrastructure.
Three years back I was in Singapore for a seminar on Environment & the officer over there was sharing his experiences about Singapore Bus service, which is rated one of the best in world. He said we are also facing problem in attracting commuters, as they wear Rolex watches, have latest cell phones, designer clothes, so they don’t like to wait at bus stops even for few minutes! So now we are thinking of building waiting lounges for major bus stops where snacks & drinks will be served & it will be air conditioned place to wait.
Look at the level people can go to serve the public & how we are placed? We don’t have even the basic infrastructure like proper waiting area, demarcated bus standing place, time table & route the bus on the particular bus stop is going to cover & the list goes on. I think why we can’t take one route to model such things & furnish it with all such necessities which commuter will aspect & then see the difference in revenue & the display it as a role model.
At one of our projects which was a township & we expected lots of commuters traveling to the end destination, we had made a tie up with the PMT assuring a minimum revenue for year & have deposited the sum with the body & made a contract that if the revenue generated is more than our deposit then we will get it back & it did. Now there are at least 10 busses running on the dsk Vishva route at Sinhgad road! Such public participation schemes can be worked out. A thought can be given to adopt a bus /bus stop sort of contract with various garages/near by commercial developments at the bus stop.
All in all what we need is to wipe out the blame on this city that we may be best on many fronts but surely not on the Public Transport front!
-- Sanjay Deshpande
Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
www.sanjeevanideve.com
Think Green, Think Life
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The Budget & Common Man's Cheaper Home Dream!
28 2 10
The Budget & Common Man’s Cheaper Home Dream!
With each budget we eagerly read for any news about the homes as millions in this country home is an ultimate buy, its not just dream or passion, its need! And unfortunately no budget head line has ever said The Budget Makes Homes Cheaper! Is it that deliberately it’s not being done so the political, autocrats & builder’s famous nexus keep all the cake & eats it too always! Most of the common men will think it in that way but have we ever thought of reality? I am not any authority on the budget or the provisions, but last 20 years I am in the construction rather builder line & am an engineer too, so what I feel is we have never gone to the root of the cause!
First of all see these funniest things...We need to analyze the home prices & for that we need to identify the factors supporting the same. A home is made up of Land, Material, Manpower, Machinery & Buying power of the customer. One major hidden factor is buying power of the developer too. We have to go through each factor, scenrio in the field & how budget can make the difference about the same.
The most important ingredient in housing is land, this we all know. It accounts nearly 4/5th to 2/4th factors in Metros like Mumbai/Pune & 1/3rd in town or district places. Here land means we are talking developed land with the entire infrastructure. Especially when we can’t produce the land in any factory? Now there is Income tax dept which keeps tap on dealing of the lands, some 7/8 year back there was a law 37 I, which makes any real estate deal mandatory to take noc of the IT department. This was being done to avoid the showing of low property valuation of the deal. This act gave power to the IT dept is the deal is shown lower than what market price is then IT dept can acquire the property at the rate mentioned in the deal. So there was a control on lowest rates. Ok? Now we have IGR (registration office) which decides the minimum transaction value of any real estate & we have to pay stamp duty on the same.
Have we ever thought of having cap on the upper rate of land rate? Have we ever thought of doing that? A land lord is free to sale his land at his will, he can hold the land till he wont get the price he want or else he can hold the development of that much land! Have we got any law for that? The ULC was meant for it but we blamed the same law for making land prices higher & squashed it.
The budget should have had the strategies to make more & more land, developed land available for the housing. Leave apart new land but the lands under various regional plans/ developments plans also if gets under the development then the more supply will help in reducing the land prices. The union govt can make the state govt to comply the implementation of DPs/RPs at stipulated time. Things such as basic infra activities like road networks, water supply schemes, drainage line, power grids must be given utmost importance. The local govt should get their part of budget provisions only after showing improvement on providing the infra development.
Then there is sanctioning process for the existing developed lands & the documentation part of it. The more the time span involved the more is the interest burden on investment & naturally the reflection is in home prices. In city like Mumbai it took over year to get the plans sanctioned & in Pune it’s nearly 6-7 months! Many won’t like & I don’t blame them, but it’s the system we are talking about & not the persons. Simple things like abolishing the system of obtaining NA permission for the developments in residential zones can reduce the time span by months to start the project! And the budget should comment on such practices or urging local govts to adopt such.
Next factor is material. Presently average building construction cost & I mean a good durable building of height 7 storied costs approx 1200- 1300 per sft & its pure construction cost. Many may think differently but this is my person experience, I can prove it & again the costing is before this budget :)
Now here too there isn’t any regulation on the price hike, especially cement. We have literally monopoly in this segment & hardly 4-5 companies controlling the rates. Basically housing isn’t their main clientele as out of total production the housing part may not be even 10% consuming the cement. As major part are dams, roads, public segment developments & things like that. Yet in housing the cement is key factor accounting 100 /- per sft of the cost. And any change here directly affects the cost in the same percentage. Even without the budgets the cost of cement keeps on varying as the demand supply factor makes the controlling companies to keep a close tap on prices, making housing industry suffer. Except the rcc/ concrete all other uses like masonry, plaster can use lower grade cement but there also no R & D is being done &the major type of cements used i.e. M50 & M40 has not much difference in costing. And many a times non availability of cement of 40 grades makes the developer to go for 50 grade cement which is not at all required for those jobs. Last month only the sand prices & metal prices have shoot up. The whole segment is controlled by local leaders at most places, especially the river sand & quarries. There aren’t any criteria about their pricing & the local govt neither interferes in the same nor about the stock holding by individual.
All these can surely reduce the pricing by nearly 100/- per sft & it’s a substantial save I must say!
The budget can make lower tariffs on transportation of cement/steel type things. Also the fly ash which if blended can make the prices down, isn’t available in all states & again the transportation costs makes it impossible for use. Here to polices are required for making use of such material possible all over the country. Similarly a home is made of so many ingredients from lifts to generator to electric switches. This industry has very poor R & D establishment, where cheaper products can be worked out for mass scale use, the budget should encourage that.
Same is applicable for eco friendly products like Solar & Light fittings like LEED lamps. These things need to be subsidized & promoted. Even the construction tariffs of electric supply have to be reduced. The basic ingredients like sand, metal (khadi) & bricks are age old now & we haven’t tried to make any option for the same. The fly ash bricks are costly & so as low weight blocks like siporex. They are costly by at least 3/4 times so developers are not using them & developers are not using them and that’s why production is less. The budget needs to take cognizance of such bottlenecks & make the provisions accordingly for alternative use of material.
Water is another important factor in construction. Not many will believe but in metros the water takes nearly 6- 7 /- per sft of the construction cost. Why can’t municipal bodies erect water recycling plants & sale this water to the developers to reduce the use of clear water & save on costing.
On Eco housing about the provision & policies for the same the budget is exceptionally silent. Simple things like reducing the tariffs for water recycling plants & reducing taxes on such plants isn’t even thought of & we talk about promoting eco housing!
Then comes the labor issue. Rather this is the most unorganized segment & wages may be lower than any of other industry, same is the output. Skilled workmen are getting scarce day by day & their costs are increasing. And on other hand so many of them are ready to deliver at cheaper wages but the out put at end makes the product more costly by maintenance as well time involved. Their are institutes like ITI's but they mainly trains industry trades, the need is a mass scale network of training institutes who can generate masons, plumber, carpenters, fitters, tilers & workmen like them. And this has to be done at practical level & at cheaper expense, as more & more are turning to the civil industry because it requires least skill! This all adds to costing of a home. The budget should take this aspect in consideration & makes provision country wide for the same. Presently the labor/material % in costing is 40/60 and one can imagine if we increase the work output then how much saving can be done!
About mechanization, it can save the great time & indirectly costing. But here to no thought has ever given to encourage the construction industry especially the housing, to upgrade use of modern equipments. Making the time span for average projects ranging from 24 months to 30 months. Imagine if we can save it by even 6 months, what can be the savings!
The issue of buying power of the customer plays imp role in any industry & fortunately its better scene over here. Though the loan procedure & giving lowest rates for smaller homes should be simplified. Same should be done about eco housing to promote it & fast.
.
When we come to financial infrastructure to the developer, joke is there are number of Banks, HFI’s to finance the end user but no body is interested in financing the developer except for those who are big fish. Agreed there may be some restrictions or hurdles but that’s what a budget is for, not just making provisions but making people to utilize those provisions. The middle or smaller segment of developer has to buy the land from his own pocket or with the assistance of private financers i.e. loan sharks! This makes the land factor immensely costly because their interest rates are 18-30%! Again naturally this burden gets transferred to the common man, seeking for home.
Some may feel I am asking all about builders benefit but lets remember no developer is in for charity, so naturally like any business all that’s coming on the head of business is bound to pass on to the end customer & its true with any business. A home should be considered now essential commodity & ten only we can plan the policies for making it affordable to those who really need it. As till we don’t control all above factors we won’t be able to control the end products price i.e. a home!
Now can’t we do any thing for this? Frankly I don’t know the procedures about budget making, but its surely not one night dream by the FM, so why cant right from media to the consumers forums to various developers organization at least shake the FM up right from the beginning of the financial year! At least put the representations on the record & show the efforts, which I feel is not being done. As they say in Marathi " Bail gela an zopa kela" i.e. what’s use after the bull has gone by destroying your field! So what’s use in commenting after the budget got declaired, its every man's job & not just one FM's. As they say we get what we deserve by our own selves only :)
Sanjay Deshpande
smd156812@gmail.com
Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
www.sanjeevanideve.com
The Budget & Common Man’s Cheaper Home Dream!
With each budget we eagerly read for any news about the homes as millions in this country home is an ultimate buy, its not just dream or passion, its need! And unfortunately no budget head line has ever said The Budget Makes Homes Cheaper! Is it that deliberately it’s not being done so the political, autocrats & builder’s famous nexus keep all the cake & eats it too always! Most of the common men will think it in that way but have we ever thought of reality? I am not any authority on the budget or the provisions, but last 20 years I am in the construction rather builder line & am an engineer too, so what I feel is we have never gone to the root of the cause!
First of all see these funniest things...We need to analyze the home prices & for that we need to identify the factors supporting the same. A home is made up of Land, Material, Manpower, Machinery & Buying power of the customer. One major hidden factor is buying power of the developer too. We have to go through each factor, scenrio in the field & how budget can make the difference about the same.
The most important ingredient in housing is land, this we all know. It accounts nearly 4/5th to 2/4th factors in Metros like Mumbai/Pune & 1/3rd in town or district places. Here land means we are talking developed land with the entire infrastructure. Especially when we can’t produce the land in any factory? Now there is Income tax dept which keeps tap on dealing of the lands, some 7/8 year back there was a law 37 I, which makes any real estate deal mandatory to take noc of the IT department. This was being done to avoid the showing of low property valuation of the deal. This act gave power to the IT dept is the deal is shown lower than what market price is then IT dept can acquire the property at the rate mentioned in the deal. So there was a control on lowest rates. Ok? Now we have IGR (registration office) which decides the minimum transaction value of any real estate & we have to pay stamp duty on the same.
Have we ever thought of having cap on the upper rate of land rate? Have we ever thought of doing that? A land lord is free to sale his land at his will, he can hold the land till he wont get the price he want or else he can hold the development of that much land! Have we got any law for that? The ULC was meant for it but we blamed the same law for making land prices higher & squashed it.
The budget should have had the strategies to make more & more land, developed land available for the housing. Leave apart new land but the lands under various regional plans/ developments plans also if gets under the development then the more supply will help in reducing the land prices. The union govt can make the state govt to comply the implementation of DPs/RPs at stipulated time. Things such as basic infra activities like road networks, water supply schemes, drainage line, power grids must be given utmost importance. The local govt should get their part of budget provisions only after showing improvement on providing the infra development.
Then there is sanctioning process for the existing developed lands & the documentation part of it. The more the time span involved the more is the interest burden on investment & naturally the reflection is in home prices. In city like Mumbai it took over year to get the plans sanctioned & in Pune it’s nearly 6-7 months! Many won’t like & I don’t blame them, but it’s the system we are talking about & not the persons. Simple things like abolishing the system of obtaining NA permission for the developments in residential zones can reduce the time span by months to start the project! And the budget should comment on such practices or urging local govts to adopt such.
Next factor is material. Presently average building construction cost & I mean a good durable building of height 7 storied costs approx 1200- 1300 per sft & its pure construction cost. Many may think differently but this is my person experience, I can prove it & again the costing is before this budget :)
Now here too there isn’t any regulation on the price hike, especially cement. We have literally monopoly in this segment & hardly 4-5 companies controlling the rates. Basically housing isn’t their main clientele as out of total production the housing part may not be even 10% consuming the cement. As major part are dams, roads, public segment developments & things like that. Yet in housing the cement is key factor accounting 100 /- per sft of the cost. And any change here directly affects the cost in the same percentage. Even without the budgets the cost of cement keeps on varying as the demand supply factor makes the controlling companies to keep a close tap on prices, making housing industry suffer. Except the rcc/ concrete all other uses like masonry, plaster can use lower grade cement but there also no R & D is being done &the major type of cements used i.e. M50 & M40 has not much difference in costing. And many a times non availability of cement of 40 grades makes the developer to go for 50 grade cement which is not at all required for those jobs. Last month only the sand prices & metal prices have shoot up. The whole segment is controlled by local leaders at most places, especially the river sand & quarries. There aren’t any criteria about their pricing & the local govt neither interferes in the same nor about the stock holding by individual.
All these can surely reduce the pricing by nearly 100/- per sft & it’s a substantial save I must say!
The budget can make lower tariffs on transportation of cement/steel type things. Also the fly ash which if blended can make the prices down, isn’t available in all states & again the transportation costs makes it impossible for use. Here to polices are required for making use of such material possible all over the country. Similarly a home is made of so many ingredients from lifts to generator to electric switches. This industry has very poor R & D establishment, where cheaper products can be worked out for mass scale use, the budget should encourage that.
Same is applicable for eco friendly products like Solar & Light fittings like LEED lamps. These things need to be subsidized & promoted. Even the construction tariffs of electric supply have to be reduced. The basic ingredients like sand, metal (khadi) & bricks are age old now & we haven’t tried to make any option for the same. The fly ash bricks are costly & so as low weight blocks like siporex. They are costly by at least 3/4 times so developers are not using them & developers are not using them and that’s why production is less. The budget needs to take cognizance of such bottlenecks & make the provisions accordingly for alternative use of material.
Water is another important factor in construction. Not many will believe but in metros the water takes nearly 6- 7 /- per sft of the construction cost. Why can’t municipal bodies erect water recycling plants & sale this water to the developers to reduce the use of clear water & save on costing.
On Eco housing about the provision & policies for the same the budget is exceptionally silent. Simple things like reducing the tariffs for water recycling plants & reducing taxes on such plants isn’t even thought of & we talk about promoting eco housing!
Then comes the labor issue. Rather this is the most unorganized segment & wages may be lower than any of other industry, same is the output. Skilled workmen are getting scarce day by day & their costs are increasing. And on other hand so many of them are ready to deliver at cheaper wages but the out put at end makes the product more costly by maintenance as well time involved. Their are institutes like ITI's but they mainly trains industry trades, the need is a mass scale network of training institutes who can generate masons, plumber, carpenters, fitters, tilers & workmen like them. And this has to be done at practical level & at cheaper expense, as more & more are turning to the civil industry because it requires least skill! This all adds to costing of a home. The budget should take this aspect in consideration & makes provision country wide for the same. Presently the labor/material % in costing is 40/60 and one can imagine if we increase the work output then how much saving can be done!
About mechanization, it can save the great time & indirectly costing. But here to no thought has ever given to encourage the construction industry especially the housing, to upgrade use of modern equipments. Making the time span for average projects ranging from 24 months to 30 months. Imagine if we can save it by even 6 months, what can be the savings!
The issue of buying power of the customer plays imp role in any industry & fortunately its better scene over here. Though the loan procedure & giving lowest rates for smaller homes should be simplified. Same should be done about eco housing to promote it & fast.
.
When we come to financial infrastructure to the developer, joke is there are number of Banks, HFI’s to finance the end user but no body is interested in financing the developer except for those who are big fish. Agreed there may be some restrictions or hurdles but that’s what a budget is for, not just making provisions but making people to utilize those provisions. The middle or smaller segment of developer has to buy the land from his own pocket or with the assistance of private financers i.e. loan sharks! This makes the land factor immensely costly because their interest rates are 18-30%! Again naturally this burden gets transferred to the common man, seeking for home.
Some may feel I am asking all about builders benefit but lets remember no developer is in for charity, so naturally like any business all that’s coming on the head of business is bound to pass on to the end customer & its true with any business. A home should be considered now essential commodity & ten only we can plan the policies for making it affordable to those who really need it. As till we don’t control all above factors we won’t be able to control the end products price i.e. a home!
Now can’t we do any thing for this? Frankly I don’t know the procedures about budget making, but its surely not one night dream by the FM, so why cant right from media to the consumers forums to various developers organization at least shake the FM up right from the beginning of the financial year! At least put the representations on the record & show the efforts, which I feel is not being done. As they say in Marathi " Bail gela an zopa kela" i.e. what’s use after the bull has gone by destroying your field! So what’s use in commenting after the budget got declaired, its every man's job & not just one FM's. As they say we get what we deserve by our own selves only :)
Sanjay Deshpande
smd156812@gmail.com
Please do visit my blog to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani !
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
www.sanjeevanideve.com
Friday, February 19, 2010
Eco Housing & CM's Seminar !
frds, I have atended the seminar arranged by hon CM & UD ministry on 16th Feb at Neharu Center,mumbai. Frankly it wasnt a seminar its a meet of almost 1000 & above crowd which consists of Zp's ,Municipal Coprporation leaders, CEO's, Collectors, Commissioners, Eng Staff of local bodies to make them awear about the concept of eco housings.
What I did was, got following points in hard format & circulated to all right from CM to secretaries of varios depts to most participants. Now each of us can have this & follw at ourrespective ends.
One particular point ie additional fsi to eco housing was prima facia accepted by CM & he did mentioned in his speech. I dont know about the success of the seminar but a good awearness campgain.
16 2 10 Hon Chief Minister Sir, all your collogues & all respected concern officers , First of all please accept our heartiest congratulations for arranging such seminar which is the need of the time & inviting us as PBAP ie Prompters & Builders Asso, Pune now CREDI for the same. Ours was the first developers association to start the Environment- Power Cell at association level to assist the members as well coordinate with various local bodies as well the NGO's too on Environment front of the city & surrounding. About the today’s seminar, agreed its vast based, let me share some thing, environment/global warming is very local thing when u think of doing something about it. One cant copy or have the similar logic even as each case differs depending up on social habbits ,surrounding region wise.Especially Indian subcontinent with its "teen rutus' ie 3 seasons winter, summer & rains has uniqueness & what u have got even on net are the case studies mostly of western countries which we cant use at our place. In India also region wise habits & lifestyle varries a lot making it utmost imporant to study & analyze individual case & then work out the solutions. There are some issues if covered will assist this program....
1. While promoting use of Solar water heaters ,which is main cause of power consumption in residential housing. There should be consideration given for such project while calculating the load factor, especially we have given gas power backup for rainy seasons. Or else the developer has to incur dual costing as well the transformer capacities are unutilized adding losses. Also we can subcidize the tarriff for MSEDL for residents of such premise or higher rates for non solar complexes. This will help in promoting solar even in completed complexes.
2.Apply very les or free power supply for the pumps of water recycling plants of drainage recycling. Or else the recycled water cost comes to approx 25 paisa per kiloliter where as even the tanker water is available at 9 paisa per kiloliter. This makes the residents impossible to use the recycle water.
3. Metered water supply is a must & billing as per the consumption of the water & not supply. This will make promote alternate water source use like rain water harvesting. Right now in Pune water is part of our property tax ,so hardly any one bothers about the use or other source utilization.
4. Subcidize low power equipments like LED lighting.
5 Set up local wing of R & D for basic construction materials which are eco friendly as well sustainable i.e. they can be used commercially in present urban buildings.
6. Provision for budges to make the existing complexes eco frinedly as many a occupents cant have that much investing capacity. Also we can think of additional FSI for eco housing projects. This will ensure no curtailment in local bodies revenues as well to promote more & more developers to go for Eco Housing. Also the existing socities too can avail this facility to convert them selves in eco housing.
7. Aquisition of the reserved lands right from roads too gardens in regional plans too. As a planned growth is must for proper environment as without aquisition of the reservations one cant even styart the basic things like road side plantations, leave apart the services. The Regional Plan for areas like Pune now has to be taken as seriously as DP of Pune PMC as the two boundries are merging physically.
8. An awearness campgain ongoing with citizens & one window system which efficiently work to solve quarries of the interested parties on environment front at each local body.
Thanks once again, myself & my association will be more than happy to assist in any way we can as above points are a triffle, a lot more can be done,is to be done.--
Sanjay Deshpande Chairman, Envo-Power committee,CREDI (PBAP)
smd156812@ gmail.com
9822037109
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
Think Green, Think Life
What I did was, got following points in hard format & circulated to all right from CM to secretaries of varios depts to most participants. Now each of us can have this & follw at ourrespective ends.
One particular point ie additional fsi to eco housing was prima facia accepted by CM & he did mentioned in his speech. I dont know about the success of the seminar but a good awearness campgain.
16 2 10 Hon Chief Minister Sir, all your collogues & all respected concern officers , First of all please accept our heartiest congratulations for arranging such seminar which is the need of the time & inviting us as PBAP ie Prompters & Builders Asso, Pune now CREDI for the same. Ours was the first developers association to start the Environment- Power Cell at association level to assist the members as well coordinate with various local bodies as well the NGO's too on Environment front of the city & surrounding. About the today’s seminar, agreed its vast based, let me share some thing, environment/global warming is very local thing when u think of doing something about it. One cant copy or have the similar logic even as each case differs depending up on social habbits ,surrounding region wise.Especially Indian subcontinent with its "teen rutus' ie 3 seasons winter, summer & rains has uniqueness & what u have got even on net are the case studies mostly of western countries which we cant use at our place. In India also region wise habits & lifestyle varries a lot making it utmost imporant to study & analyze individual case & then work out the solutions. There are some issues if covered will assist this program....
1. While promoting use of Solar water heaters ,which is main cause of power consumption in residential housing. There should be consideration given for such project while calculating the load factor, especially we have given gas power backup for rainy seasons. Or else the developer has to incur dual costing as well the transformer capacities are unutilized adding losses. Also we can subcidize the tarriff for MSEDL for residents of such premise or higher rates for non solar complexes. This will help in promoting solar even in completed complexes.
2.Apply very les or free power supply for the pumps of water recycling plants of drainage recycling. Or else the recycled water cost comes to approx 25 paisa per kiloliter where as even the tanker water is available at 9 paisa per kiloliter. This makes the residents impossible to use the recycle water.
3. Metered water supply is a must & billing as per the consumption of the water & not supply. This will make promote alternate water source use like rain water harvesting. Right now in Pune water is part of our property tax ,so hardly any one bothers about the use or other source utilization.
4. Subcidize low power equipments like LED lighting.
5 Set up local wing of R & D for basic construction materials which are eco friendly as well sustainable i.e. they can be used commercially in present urban buildings.
6. Provision for budges to make the existing complexes eco frinedly as many a occupents cant have that much investing capacity. Also we can think of additional FSI for eco housing projects. This will ensure no curtailment in local bodies revenues as well to promote more & more developers to go for Eco Housing. Also the existing socities too can avail this facility to convert them selves in eco housing.
7. Aquisition of the reserved lands right from roads too gardens in regional plans too. As a planned growth is must for proper environment as without aquisition of the reservations one cant even styart the basic things like road side plantations, leave apart the services. The Regional Plan for areas like Pune now has to be taken as seriously as DP of Pune PMC as the two boundries are merging physically.
8. An awearness campgain ongoing with citizens & one window system which efficiently work to solve quarries of the interested parties on environment front at each local body.
Thanks once again, myself & my association will be more than happy to assist in any way we can as above points are a triffle, a lot more can be done,is to be done.--
Sanjay Deshpande Chairman, Envo-Power committee,CREDI (PBAP)
smd156812@ gmail.com
9822037109
http://visonoflife.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16939159@N05/sets/72157623108407263/
Think Green, Think Life
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