Site Accident & Our Attitude towards Safety!

 

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“Safety, I came to realize, will not happen by accident. It must be a daily practice, especially for those of us who are more susceptible to the work adversities” … Jenna Wortham

Jenna Wortham is an American journalist. They work as a culture writer for The New York Times Magazine and co-host The New York Times podcast. As a journalist Jenna must have seen many accidents in her career as well those accidents also that’s why her views about accidents & safety are so precise & precious too! After a long I am writing about accident (that too site accident) is in a way a good sign yet accident happens when you are most sure about them that it won’t happen, so is the scene! Recently in Pune (where else) a tragic accident happened where a school going boy was a victim as a piece of steel bar (being used as plumb-bob) fell on his head when the boy happened to be walking along with his mother on the footpath adjoing to a project! Before I go in to the details, let me be very frank & honest, this sharing is not to blame some entity or a conclusion of who is guilty (as that’s job of investigation agencies, which are capable enough) but its  sheer analysis as an engineer as well as a common man (and a builder too) , which is very much important for not just real estate developers but every segment associated with it because accident doesn’t happens with an intimation though warning signs are always there & this particular incidence can be taken as one such!

And then I got to work on the committee formed by local authority which was supposed to find the facts about this accident & earlier also I was part of such committee & accidents which has given me a fair exposure about all aspects of an accident, which I thought can be or say must be shared as awareness is one of the main keys to prevent accidents! And I have had my own encounters with this accident named guy during thirty years of site working & till now (thanks to god) all these encounters have helped me to form a work policy to keep accidents at bay!

Let me tell you at the start, accidents can happen at any site or at any project whatsoever care you have taken as that’s why they are called an accident; the problem is about being careless or not taking any efforts or having any system to avoid the accident! This is my point of the sharing & this is what any investigation agency is interested in when they investigate an accident. Take example of accident while driving, in case you are driving at a normal speed on a road & suddenly someone comes in front of your car & dies then it’s an accident yet a life is lost so the police (investigation agency) will file an FIR & check whether you were over-speeding or drunk while driving or has jumped red signal or driving in wrong lane or was busy in checking reels on Instagram while driving, as if you happened to do so then its not just a plain accident but outcome of negligence which has costed some innocent his life!  From this angle every concerned investigation or regulatory authority will look into the accident which claims somebody’s life at your (our) site & this aspect is called as safety. Whether you have taken enough safety precautions at site to avoid an accident is very much important & for that you have to have a system in practice which matters most at the time of investigation of any accident & sadly real estate is very poor in having a system in place is a fact! Here I will suggest a three-way system for developers as well every person associated with a site accident (such as architect, rcc consultant etc) which were either missing or was present & has helped to rescue the developer or innocent persons involved in the accident.

First & foremost have a very clear & detailed documentation of the responsibilities of every job & safety aspect involved in that job. For e.g., if you are giving work of glazing of façade of a building then right from fabrication necessary for fixing that glazing to erecting scaffolding for fabrication of the façade to designing of the fabrication, mention every step & action involved in the process & safety measures necessary as well who will be doing what. For example, if safety net around the building is needed to remove to erect scaffolding for the glazing (temporary formwork/platform on which labours can work) then what alternate arrangement is being done for safety & who will be doing it, should be clearly mentioned in the work order of glazing agency’s work order you as a developer will be issuing to the agency. And this is applicable for every single job or service you will be coming across in the building of your site at every stage. Even the consultants like architects or structural designers must be covering probable accident’s details & safety measures needed to be taken on those. And this we are not doing to catch someone as scapegoat but to make everybody responsible about their duty towards safety at site! This aspect of fixing responsibility of safety measures, most developers neglect or ignore & later become victim to the investigation agencies axe because as principal employer if nobody’s responsibility is specified in the case of an accident then its your responsibility, mind it!

Next comes workmanship procedures & inclusion of the safety measures in all the work processes at site. Right from checking the physical health condition of every person while you allow him or her to work on site (checking for drunk or chronic illness of laborers) to continuous vigilance on the ongoing works, every small thing matters. Agreed, small or single building sites can’t afford a safety officer but you can train your supervisor staff for safety measures & as an owner you also must be visiting the site from this angle often! A labour working at height without safety belt, a small child of working labour playing around work area or unguarded cut-outs in the slab at higher floors, your eyes & senses must be trained to look for such flaws & until they get trained make a checklist & have a habit to tick it every day at site! As well try to infiltrate the safety which is an attitude till the last level of personnel at site as actually the labourers who are exposed to the accident directly & unless they themselves start thinking for their own safety the accidents won’t be reduced! At the same time this particular incident where our committee is involved the victim was not even part of the site staff but a passer by common citizen & while working in urban centres this aspect also must be kept in mind. Keeping safety within the site premise along-with that of adjoining properties & people around both things are equally important!

Third aspect is of documentation as well keeping records of the site work & premise, written & visual, one more weak link (kamjor kadi) of real estate; because in this particular incident there has been a tin-sheet barricade between footpath & the building but due to footpath flooring work the authorities have asked to remove the tin-sheets to the developer, is what the developer’s says & the authorities are saying that they didn’t gave any such instruction! At such times written communication comes into the picture, not to blame or frame some entity but to fix & make the concerned realize the responsibility of some action!  Developers must understand that their neck is at stake in case of any accident at site, that’s why every communication with every agency must be there in writing & kept as record & in proper time, as you never know when it will be required as evidence of your safety approach! Especially communication with govt agencies as well neighboring buildings or establishments, regarding safety issues as in one of my own projects where I noticed that the compound wall of one of the adjoining societies to my plot has been tilted! I immediately clicked snaps & wrote a letter to that society & sent a copy of that letter to local police & public bodies, warning them about the condition of their wall & mentioning we won’t be responsible for any damage if it happens if that wall collapses in the future! Nobody of them ever has acknowledged but I have kept the record with me, this is documentation!

And then we must have modern technology at our service & things like having twenty-four hours surveillance of CCTV on all four sides of your building is a must to capture every thing happening at site making us know who has faltered in his or her respective duty regarding safety! As well save the CCTV recordings till the work gets complete, do spend on such systems as it's like spending for insurance & not waste of money. Keep all essential emergency contact names & numbers available on site & make a whats-ap group of all such people so in one message everybody will be alerted in case of an accident. Conduct a mock-drill of your own once in six months for accident situations so you will know who has understood his or her responsibility about safety & if the site is big enough then get a safety audit done per month! As well, keeping proper maintenance of all the machinery such as site lifts or concrete mixers & pumps also is very important & can help in avoiding accidents!

Here, the role of the public body is also equally important as real estate is an unorganized sector & most works are carried out by hand & those men are non-technical. Barring a few big organizations most tradesmen are in the trade just by practice & have no proper training of safety which is a must! PMC along with Fire Dept & CREDAI can start a short-term course making site labourers aware about basic safety norms & procedures at site & it should be made mandatory for every person working at site!

Below are the ten pointers about safety at sites which I have learnt…

1.Understand the term safety.

2.Train every person from a safety angle at site.

3.Take care of children & kids on site.

4.Keep all machinery in proper working condition.

5.Use of technology such as CCTV surveillance at site.

6.Proper documentation of the safety measures being taken.

7.Fixing responsibilities of every concerned person regarding safety aspects at site.

8.Constant awareness efforts about safety i.e., posters display, WhatsApp messages, videos etc.

9.Proper & in time communication with the authorities regarding safety issues related to the site.

10.As a developer, unless you don’t practice safety, no one else will!

Friends, nobody wants accidents as they not only cause loss of lives but financially also gives a big setback to all associated with the accident, defeating the very purpose of doing business & best way to face an accident is to avoid it from happening, which depends on us only, mind it; adios with this note!

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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/2023/01/defining-good-home-real-estate-in-2023.html

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

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

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

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

www.punecorporation.org

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

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

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

Right Planning of a Home!

 

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“I agree and admit that thinking and planning are free. Maybe that’s why these two things are never valued by most men!” ...  Israelmore Ayivor.

One of the most wonderful quotes emphasizing thinking & planning & that’s why Israelmore is a Youth Leadership Coach, Leadership Entrepreneur, Author, and Speaker with the passion of inspiring, training, and guiding young leaders and entrepreneurs to become Unique self-leaders, Universal co-operate leaders and Ultimate impact makers! And no wonder in an industry like real estate where most things move by Act of God (sarcasm, read as luck) both these terminologies were rarely respected from both sides of the table i.e., builders & the buyers & its sheer nature’s law what you don’t respect you don’t follow, take example of Pune’s traffic chaos (lol, again sarcasm)! Keeping away my acquired Pueneripana when its hitting under the belt, & with due respect to my industry, me as a person as well builder gives maximum importance (Read as respect) to planning & without thinking you can’t plan, so “to think” also is equally important, rather that’s the soul of real estate’s final product i.e., a home is what I always think (again thinking) & feel too!

By this time, we have covered majority of the rights related to real estate & I agree final call has to be taken by your pocket as well all other right parameters about you home such as right location, right time & such but the right which is usually neglected or ignored by both i.e., builder & the buyer is, right planning of the home! Planning aspect is neglected by the builder because either the builder himself (or herself) isn’t aware of the right planning aspect or he doesn't bother as he knows that most clients are ignorant about the planning aspect! To give you one simple example, even today when the world has access to so much information about every product yet just one out of ten clients ask me (or my team) questions related to planning of the flat or the project when they are inquiring about their home! Maximum questions are about amenities, specifications (that too superficial), appreciation & rate negations, that’s all! They are not interested in how me & my team has planned this project, why the rooms are planned the way they are, what about cross ventilation, interconnectivity of the rooms, sizes of toilets or arrangements of windows, thought given to natural light in the flat & many such. If this is for the flat inside then the planning for outside of the flat & thinking put in the aspects of orientation of the buildings as well floor lay out, privacy of your flat & view from it as well open spaces around the building & common spaces such as top terrace, side margins or lobbies, every single & small thing matters when you are going to live in a building for decades & where your generations are supposed to grow.

Equally important is, thinking out into the planning of all the services which are seen & unseen but are very much important for your comforts in day-to-day life. As a home on the surface may be just walls, paint, tiles, sanitary wares & furniture but there are so many hidden things, right from concealed wiring to plumbing lines to pipe gas inside your home & electrical mains, generator backup, drainage, rain water as well water supply lines & all these things are hidden from you eyesight yet they are equally important to make your stay comfortable in that home! And then there are modern age services such as Wi-Fi, Lifts, Firefighting, Air Conditioning, Solar water as well electric & many such & all these services need planning. AT the same time a home is planned to stand at least fifty years & services evolution it should accommodate in these fifty years, that is also an aspect of right planning! For example, thirty years back nobody thought about our need for parking & only three BHK flats used to have provision for parking & today even a 1 bhk flat needs a car park. As well, just ten years back nobody ever imagined planning for charging electric vehicles & today nearly thirty percent of vehicles or EV & need charging points along with parking places which we are unable to provide because we failed to plan for the future, in the past!

Many a times I have been confronted with this question that is the home as per “Vaastu Planning” & let me tell you straight, I don’t believe in Vaastu but I do believe in planning as whatever little I know about Vaastu shastra then its accommodating nature in your planning which is ok but rest all versions are myth & totally up to someone’s belief or faith which I don’t want to challenge! Just by keeping some statue in Agneya corner (South East) or having Jal (Water) in Vayuya corner (North East) of building doesn’t cause any harm to anybody unless you believe that does! Frankly, even having entry of the home south facing has also nothing to do with the ill effect it can cause on the residents of the house nor the North entrance of house guaranties prosperity for them, this has nothing to do with right planning of a home or a building unless you believe in luck rather I will say dependant on luck & if so then there is nothing like right or wrong in the world as let your luck decides your fate , is what my opinion, which you can discard & I don’t mind as this is for your home, not mine! But if you really care for the nature which directly is related to your lifestyle in every way & if you don’t consider it in your planning then I won’t ever call it as a right planning & nature means trees, as well other species too such as sparrows, parakites, butterflies & yes sunlight also. I know many of you will laugh & call me crazy as who thinks about such aspects while buying a home but do mind a right planning which accommodates nature can make you at mental peace & which can keep you insured against many physical illnesses too! Because, on the one hand we take proteins & vitamins for our well-being which we can avoid by allowing some sunlight in our rooms which is possible only via right planning!

And for me as a developer (engineer too) most important aspect of right planning is, giving value for money to my flat holders (read as home buyers) because looking at the rates of the homes in & around Pune, every sq. ft is costing you minimum four-digit figure in rupees, so we must use that sq. ft in right way as its somebody’s hard earned money is at stake & we should not waste it by wrong planning, is my view!

Friends, have you ever purchased a cell phone without knowing its technical details or say features as well services (read as ease) it offers to you or have you bought any car just because it fits in your budget or the way that car looks, ignoring its engine performance norms or safety features, I am sure answer is NO! Or, do you check your horoscope whether it matches with your I-Phone model number or car make (car number I can still allow) or in which pocket you keep your cell phone or which direction you park your car in your garage, does these things makes any difference to your life, I am sure these answers are also No; then while buying a thing like Home how can you not ask questions about planning aspect of it which is soul of any building, is the question I want to ask you when it's right planning of the home! Agreed, the developer’s concepts about right planning & yours may not match but for that you will have to first understand what is your definition of right planning, right? Adios, with this note & wishing you all the best for your right home!

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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/2023/01/defining-good-home-real-estate-in-2023.html

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

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

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

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

www.punecorporation.org

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

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

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

No More Dead Bajrang!

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"When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die."… Master Funakoshi

"It is far better to live like a tiger for a day than to live like a jackal for a hundred years."…- Benito Mussolini.

Very surprisingly neither Master Funakoshi who happens to be from Japan & Mussolini is from Italy, as their respective countries doesn’t have tigers, so I doubt whether they have ever seen one in actual forest yet their quotes are perfect description of the striped specie which is apex of wildlife in our country as well that of wildlife tourism also & so is on social media! Of late my regular readers (well there are a few such) must be thinking I am obsessed by the tigers that too Tadoba tigers then though I am not obsessed but when it’s about wildlife then you can miss these two i.e., tigers & tadoba & I use this combo the way Doctors use a particular case for case study which is helpful for many critical cases ahead. Tadoba on one side is one of the most successful case studies for conservation of tigers then on the other side it shows us the hurdles ahead also in the conservation process which is not complete yet! Frankly all such sharing’s, they just happened to be on the backdrop of tadoba & the experiences could have been from anywhere just because I am closely associated with tadoba & like Paparazzi's chase celebrities only (not you & me) & tadoba is like Bollywood of wildlife & tigers here are celebrities so the sharing’s happens to be about tadoba tigers more is simple analogy I can put forward!

So, recently in tadoba two male tigers called Bajrang & Chota Matka fought & one got killed eventually in this fight at the same time one tigress named Maya which has been star attraction of tadoba as she used to be roamed around on road freely making tourists happy by her sighting, went on missing for nearly three months & declared by forest dept as dead eventually (supposedly)! With due respect to the forest dept’s system of numbering the tigers & not calling them by names which mostly are given by the locals, I still prefer to use names as that makes me more attached to the species! The first incident happened near a village in the buffer of tadoba & many villagers witnessed this fight of male tigers where the Bajran got killed by Chota Matka, who also got injured in the fight but thankfully survived! As well, search for missing tigress Maya is going on more than a month & forest dept has found remnants of tiger body which has been sent for DNA testing to confirm its of Maya only. On the social media both these news has been trolled, shared, debated (as usual) & you will say what’s big deal, tigers fight, so does street dogs & one tigress went missing & died, that’s nature & I don’t disagree with this stand of the most & there are far more numbers who doesn’t even took cognizance of these two news, so be it!

My sharing is for those who love wildlife & not just photographing it & for those who are ignorant about wildlife or their responsibility regarding the same! As somewhere Bajrang’s death in fight with Chota Mataka is related to our ignorance about wildlife at large as well Maya’s death if it’s not natural, to make us aware is my sharing! At the start, let me confess, my views or sharing about such incidents in the wild are the outcome of my exposure to wildlife, observation, information from people related to wildlife & my engineering logic, I may be wrong & people may differ from my opinion but object is awareness & not to blame some entity!  Here I will share wordings about Maya & Bajrang’s case on FB without disclosing names just to give you an idea about the opinions on posts about them…

xxxx ji problem is not with glorification of single tigress. Problem is poor monitoring of tiger. She went missing since long time but search operations were carried out only after tourists started shouting that Maya is not to be seen anywhere. Why department needs tourists to tell this?

yyyy ji, there are over 100 tigers in TATR Landscape. Conservation does not mean that each one of the tigers is monitored on a daily basis.

For conservation to be effective, the total number of tigers in the landscape must remain a healthy constant or even increase.

Why aren't the tourists concerned about say some T53? Because that particular tiger may not be boldly walking on the road or may not be providing good photo opportunities.

Conservation is a science that needs to be understood by all of us and the role of tigers in an ecosystem should then be communicated to the other friends who have never been exposed and fascinated by our wilderness. Or else the wilderness is at stake and will soon be lost to development along with all its occupants - and not just a photogenic single tigress or tiger.

And this is just a zalak, a lot more has been going on!

About Bajrang’s death, though many will say it’s natural that two male tigers fight over territory & one is going to die or maim (Master Funakoshi); yet I will say that there is a third way too which is one of the tiger retreats & finds another area of forest as his territory. Those who don’t understand territory for them, every tiger has his own area demarcated just we have our farm lands & it doesn’t allow other tiger to enter in that area, just the way we also don’t allow another person or families to enter in our farmland to plough or harvest it! And in case some tiger’s ventures in to other tiger’s territory if its accidently then a warning is given by growling or mock attack but if the tiger wants to take over or invade another tiger’s territory then there is a fight to death. This is because in the society of humans there is a judicial system as well as an enforcement system which isn’t the case with the tigers so they have to make justice by their own self! Now, if this is nature & which is in place for hundreds or thousands of year that is ok but in last hundred years human named specie has intruded in the nature under the name of needs, growth, development & whatever we call it & this may not have directly related to the fight of two male tigers but we have reduced the space (read as forest) which is necessary for balancing the tiger population & now it’s not there so the fights have increased! Because on one side we are making Project Tiger where tigers are secured from humans but what about the increased population of these tigers, where is the space for them & this is why the present project tigers are now in reality are like open Zoos (with due respect to the authorities)! Unfortunately, only difference between Project Tiger & a Zoo is, in a Zoo if a tigress gives birth to cubs those cubs also remain caged in the Zoo but here, the new born tigers when grow either must fight for space with existing tiger or retreat & move out in the human’s jungle i.e., urban settlements around the project tiger forests’ & try to survive, in both cases outcome for such tiger is death, this is point of my sharing!

As take a look at the details about the fight between Bajrang & Chota Mataka, both are the tigers of such age which has no reason to die by natural death such as age or inability to hunt so going in some other tiger’s territory, so this is not natural death! Bajrang as per the locals as well forest dept’s guides & tourists’ inputs was of age some eight years & has been trying to settle in his own area but from every area he has been driven away by some dominant tiger & before the final fight he was trying to make kill that too of cattle in the area where Chota Matka was ruling! Both tigers were hunting cattle because both has been driven away from main forest by younger tigers & find easy to survive by killing cattle but when there also some other partner is introduced, well tigers are not social animals this also is nature & the result was fight to live & over cattle which is owned by humans, do we still call this as nature!!

About Maya’s death (if it's true) then she too was young to die naturally & her problem was there were nearly four male tigers roaming around means if she gets pregnant & has cubs then she will have to protect them from four tigers as another nature of a male tiger is it usually kills cubs from other male tiger, this is sheer nature1 So, last two litters of Maya has been killed by some or other male tigers in her area & she must have moved away at a secure place for pregnancy & got killed in the process from tigress in that area or again in process of protecting cubs from male tiger she must has lost life, if it's not a natural death! These are 'ifs & buts’ but as Maya used to live in a core area which is protected forest we can only guess why she has been moved from her own territory which she has retained for so many years will remain a misery & that’s not nature for sure! And then why four male tigers needed to be crowded within territory of one tigress is also we have to think over instead blaming nature, right?

This means if we are successful in making tigers grow in Tadoba forest is the good news then we are failing to provide the tigers the space they need to survive is my point of sharing & for that we can’t hold forest dept alone responsible. Forest dept is doing their all possible & one major thing they have done at tadoba is making humans there used to live along with the tigers & this is why Bajrang & Mataka could fought with each other’s even when their prey was owned by humans & at least one of them survived or else had it been fight with the humans then both would have been dead! Just by calling the death of a few tigers as nature won’t make us able to avoid our responsibility towards wildlife as every day, we are reducing space owned by tigers in every possible way is a bitter truth! Guys try to understand, if some human’s family resides in a  2 bhk flat & has one kid, & when another new member is born in the family then if we are unable to buy a 3 bhk flat to accommodate the new member then we make both siblings share one room & teach them to live that way but that’s what makes us humans & that is our nature but a tiger family can’t live with our ways of nature & outcome we are witnessing in the form of increased fights among tigers! High time to make tigers our family members & work on making them able to live by their nature rather than expecting them to learn our culture or way of living & for that lets take a pledge together, “No More Dead Bajrang;” adios with this note!

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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/2023/01/defining-good-home-real-estate-in-2023.html

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

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below) 

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

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

www.punecorporation.org

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

https://secure.mygov.in/

Think Green, Think Life

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

Air Pollution, Government & Real Estate's Neck!

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“People crushed by laws have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous” … Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke was an Anglo-Irish statesman, economist, and philosopher. Born in Dublin, Burke served as a member of Parliament between 1766 and 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party. Well, a philosopher & a statesman (politician), “baat kuchh hajam nahi huai” (read as, illogical) but maybe that’s why the Great Britain (then great) could become great as when the rulers are philosophers too then only, they can make rules which makes sense & in the benefit of people at large. Here rule means laws as well policies or just say the way you rule the people! You may have guessed where this is heading as one more (after a long time though) about policies & that too about the real estate & anarchy (law-lessness) in this industry courtesy everybody associated with it but mainly to the govt i.e., the rulers!

Since the last few days, the media has been repeatedly printing news of air quality deterioration in cities across the country, it started from Delhi & reached to our Pune city & Pimpri-Chinchwad, we will call it as Pune region for reference. Media always needs something which people like to read & instead going for the reason behind it may be Pandemic or Pollution. And as usual govt which is most insensitive to plea (read as suggestions) from the people which really matters, & only reacts immediately to the head-lines of media & as anticipated outcome is, “hang that person whose neck fits in the rope’s noose,” this is how policies related to real estate are framed because real estate’s neck gets fitted in every govt’s noose! Those who don't know this phrase, please do read Panchatantra stories (folk stories about society & life), in one of the stories the Raja hangs a person which has nothing to do with crime but only because his neck matches with the size of the noose of the rope with which the real criminal was supposed to be hanged! Here as usual for the crime named pollution, common man (I won’t dare to write innocent as that itself a crime to call builders innocent) or say industry is real estate & if some local body (read as PMC/PCMC. MMC) has come up with guidelines at ongoing construction sites, then some another local body has asked to stop the construction for a weeks’ time. As usual, many will say what’s big deal, construction sites do cause air & noise pollution, look at the dust they generate all the time & the sound of digging as well their machinery is intolerable, so it’s good. And then it's these builders only who cut the trees for their profits (read as buildings), yes, they need to be stopped forever (sarcasm)!

And then Hon Courts across the country also have come down heavily on the governing local bodies for taking effective steps on curbing or controlling air pollution, so they must make a show at least! I have full respect for the environment (and respect for Hon Courts too) but I won’t allow my emotions to rule the facts, that’s how you make policies or laws whatever you call it! Let me clear at the start, I care for the environment & nature not just around me but around the globe & yet taking emotional actions & by making erratic policies we won’t ever be saving the environment but will end up destroying it more! The construction sites do cause air pollution & sound pollution & so does hundred other activities, take example of firecracker burning as the Hon. Court has also asked police & local bodies to stop or control burning of firecrackers, tell me, how many cases has been filed for the same on a single person in last week which was Diwali week. And if Court accepts fire crackers should not be used then why local bodies allow its sale in the first place rather, they earn money by allotment of the Fataka Stalls & proudly announce the figures of income generated from these auctions! At the same time Court has told time limit for fire crackers burning & to my knowledge it was only for two hours i.e. 8 pm to 10 pm & the scene was, all the day & night Pune’s sky was full of fire crackers & smoke they generated, is our entire govt system blind & deaf not to see or hear any such firecracker burning, then why no actions has been taken & instead its only real estate’ construction sites are being targeted, answer is simple, our ( I have to remind myself, I am yet a builder too) neck fits in every noose & we don’t protest as we know nobody is going to listen to our protest! Pune region has nearly 80 lakh private vehicles out of which even 70% if are on road then imagine the pollution being caused due to emission of CO i.e. carbon monoxide & this is because time & again the govt has failed to provide a proper public transport as well road network, but why we are not banning sell of vehicles or stopping production of conventional fuel using vehicles; why we are not asking Mercedes, Tata, Mahindra & Bajaj to shut down their factories for Diwali week as well ban on sale of all vehicles for Diwali week, is the question I want to ask to authorities! Answer is simple: their neck is far too large for the noose of govt's rope & real estate’s neck is easy as well it's easy too to break, that’s why!

Then let’s take a look at other policies of govt which are directly perpendicular for their cry (read as efforts) to curb pollution, such as increasing density of homes on Metro corridor just to make Metro in profit but this is going to increase constructions all in & around city centre, doesn’t it mean more avenues to air pollution, what about such two-faced behaviour of the govt! At the same time to accommodate these buildings & infra it will need, we will have to cut the existing big tree’s cover in the city which again is the main reason of increased air pollution, who is going to pay (read as get hanged) for this? As well we have weird policies to plant trees as per age of the trees we will be cutting, wow, & we don’t have space to plant new trees as we have to accommodate car parks & two wheelers which again are needed as per govt’s policies,’ but we will hold only real estate responsible for all this pollution, guys to whom you are fooling! As I said, keeping full support for all the authority’s efforts regarding air pollution control, what we should do is take in confidence all concerned experienced (and wise people) & then make a long-lasting effective policy rather than just running around in all directions! As, one fine morning you open a newspaper or WhatsApp chat box & you come to know about new guidelines about your own industry regarding pollution control, this is not right way of governance, is my point! The solution is three-fold, first try to curb air pollution emission at source, second is efforts to clean up polluted air & third is making policies which will be long lasting (read as practical) on pollution front!

Guys, pollution is a complex subject & it’s like a multi-faced demon & its we only as a society which gives faces to that demon, so just by cutting one head of the demon is not going to solve the problem, lets unite by taking each other in confidence & then no enemy is invincible, till then real estate be ready to get the noose tightened around our neck for the crimes which others are making, adios with this note!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

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https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2023/01/defining-good-home-real-estate-in-2023.html

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

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