पर्लेकारांसाठी चांगली बातमी

HINDUSTAN TIMES

Kitchen Waste management- letter to Lokmanya Seva Sangh

DR VANI BADRISH KULHALLI

                                             MD (Psychiatry)

MMC Reg. No. 1469/ 2000/ 2

Address- 204, Shyamkamal C, Agrawal Market, Vile Parle East, Mumbai- 400057,India.

 Email- vanibk@rediffmail.com Ph. No.- 9819269628

To,

President,

Lokmanya Seva Sangh,

Vile Parle East,

Mumbai- 57

12-08-2015

Subject- Waste management at your premises

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I attended the program titled ‘Ghan-kacharyapasun shunya kacharya paryant’ conducted by your organization last month. I am impressed that your organization is taking a leadership role in a serious matter such as waste management.

As your neighbor, I have noted that your premises generates large amount of kitchen waste on a daily basis due to the catering activities. Frankly, this is a nuisance to us. The garbage is left for hours on the street behind your premises till the garbage truck picks it up. Therefore, you need to have some in- house system to manage this waste. I have come across a biogas system that can be easily installed at your premises to use the waste. The gas generated will result in revenue saving as it can be used in your kitchens and the manure produced can be sold commercially. I have enclosed a related newspaper article.

Since you have already taken a lead in creating awareness about solid waste management, establishing some system for it would be a logical next step. I am looking forward to your organization to take this step. As a member of your organization, it will make me proud to belong.

Copy to

1.       Mrs Belvalkar, Nagrik Dakshata committee

2.       Parle paryavaran-www.parlepurva@blogspot.com

Sincerely,

Dr Vani Kulhalli

Enclosure- article about biogas system. It costed only Rs6000/- 3 years ago!

पार्लेकरांनी संकल्प केला

लकमान्य सेवा संघात शनिवारी  झालेला कार्यक्रम 'घनकाचार्याकडून शून्य कचऱ्याकडे' खूप चांगला झाला.

पार्ल्याकी स्वच्छता सांभाळणारे आणि त्याबद्दल विचार करणारे सर्व उपस्थित होते.  तज्ञांनी पहिल्या भाषणासाठी जास्त वेळ घेतल्या मुले इतर महत्त्वाच्या काही भाषांना वेळ उरला नाही हे मात्र खरे. तरीही कार्यक्रम यशस्वीच म्हणावा, कारण स्वच्छतेचा बीज रुज्ल्याची लक्षणे दिसली. विशेतः भावी पर्लेकारणाचा सहभाग आणि उत्साह बघून खूप आनंद वाटला. आपल्या छोट्या दोस्तांनी सुंदर नातुकालीतून कचर्याच्या व्यवस्थापनाबद्दल खूप चांगली माहिती सांगितली.

एक मोठे रहिवाशी संघ म्हणून विजयनगर सोसाईटी आणि एकाच इमारतीचे देवांगिनी सोसाईटी बद्दल ऐकला मिळाले. या दोन्ही भाषणातून 'शून्य कचरा' प्रकल्प पार्ल्यात करण्यासारखे आहे आणि त्यातून अनेक फायदे आहेत असे समजले.

 वेळेच्या अभावामुळे उपस्थित जनप्रतिनिधी आणि महापालिकेच्या अधिकाऱ्यांशी संवाद साधता आला नाही. (असा फक्त पार्ल्यातच घडू शकता ना?). निदान पिंपळे साहेबांच काय म्हणणे आहे ते ऐकायची इच्छा होती. असो- असे कार्यक्रम वारंवार होवू देत, म्हणजे हे सध्या होईल.

शेवटी श्री कोलवणकर यांच्या मार्ग्दर्षानाखले उपस्थित पार्लेकरांनी संकल्प केला-..." जोपर्यंत हि भूमाता सुजलाम सुफलाम आहे, जोपर्यंत ती प्रदूषणमुक्त आहे, तोपर्यंत आपण आणि आपल्या पुढील पिढ्या आरोग्यमय जीवन जगतील. घरचे आरोग्य हे बाहेरील सार्वजनिक स्वच्छतेवर अवलंबून असल्यामुळे कचरामुक्ती हे कर्तव्य समजून या 'कचरामुक्त पार्ले' अभियानाला तनमनधनाने हातभार लावण्यास मी बांधील आहे."

एक प्रस्ताव- पर्लेकारांसाठी

एक पार्लेकर पर्यावरण मित्र, अंड माझे स्नेही अनिकेत करंदीकर यांनी दादरच्या स्त्री मुक्ती संघटने शी संपर्क करून पार्ल्यातील कचर्याची समस्या कशी सोडवावी यावर प्रस्ताव मागवला. स्त्री मुक्ती संघटना हि मुंबईत अनेक ठिकाणी कार्यरत असून, कचरा 'प्रोसेस' करण्यात त्यांनी खास यश मिळवले आहे. हि संस्था सेवाभावी संस्था आहे.

तर त्यांनी दिलेला प्रस्ताव- बायोगासचा आहे. ओळ कचरा या यंत्राने घातल्यावर रोज १०० किलो खात आणि बायो-गस मिळू शकतो. याचा खर्च ३५ लाख पर्यंत येयील आणि यंत्रणा बसवण्यासाठी जागा द्यावी लागेल. भाभा अणुशक्ती केंद्राचे श्री काळे यांच्या संशोधनावर अवलंबून हे प्रकल मांडलेले आहे. सुरु करून २ वर्षात पैसे फेडून येतात, नंतर खात आणि गस मधून मिळणारे पैसे हा फायदाच ठरेल. 

पण मला काही प्रश्न पडलेले आहेत:
1. पार्लेकर आपली सवय बदलू शकतील का? ओला आणि सुक्का कचरा वेगळा करून टाकतील का?
२. हा प्रकल्प पार्ल्यात कुठे उभा करायचा? फ्लायओव्हर खाली? सावरकर बागेत? महंत रोडवरच्या प्लॉटवर?
३. ह्याचे पैसे कोण देणार?
४. हा प्रकल कोण सांभाळणार?

या प्रश्नाची उत्तरे पाहिजेत, आधी कुणी केले आहेत त्यांच्याकडून कल्पना घेवून करता येयील
बघू या काय होतंय आज....... 

नमस्कार, पार्लेकर!

पार्ल्यातली मंडळी आता पर्यावरणाच्या सामसयाबद्दल जागरूक होत आहेत. निदान पालिका आणि पुढारी तरी. यासाठी उद्या, दिनांक १८ जुलै संध्याकाळी ६ ते ८ च्या मध्ये पार्ल्यातील लोकमान्य सेवा संघाच्या, गोखले सभागृहात परिसंवाद आयोजित केलेला आहे. पार्ल्यातील कचर्याची विले-वाट या विषयवार चर्चा होईल.

सर्वांनी जरूर या!
सोमवारी  तिथे काय घडले, हे या ब्लॉगवर वाचा

पुन्हा भेटू 

Environment pollution; Gandhi and the environment

I ordered these two TERI  Publications and finished reading them both in about a weeks' time. But this was probably among the longer weeks of my life- the books did not make a good reading.

My intention in buying the books was to get some new information- after all these books are published by TERI.

'Environment pollution' is a high school level book. It is the kind of book that lazy students read for their exams. It is written is typical , unimaginative text book style and has barely enough information.

'Gandhi and the environment' is a totally unnecessary as a book, for the amount of stuff that is presented in it now. All the information could have been condensed into a 600 word essay and displayed on the the TERI website. The last few chapters completely lack any substance- it appears that the authors were given to fill a certain number of pages and they blindly followed the brief. My feeling is that this is a good idea and title- someone with energy, enthusiasm and respect for readers needs to be engaged to extensively rework the book. I am sure there is enough material. Gandhi's thoughts are important- they can inform, inspire and make us feel proud.

TERI needs to really get its books reviewed and try to sell good quality material.

I have some more books to read- will post the reviews when done

DO YOUR OWN TREE SURVEY

Recently we have been reading about the tree census being conducted by the MCGM. So let us find out more.

What is a tree census or survey?

Tree census means simply counting trees. In a survey, we would also like to find out other interesting data- like where are the trees, what are the types of trees, what are problems faced by trees, etc.

Why should we do it?

It is important to know about the quantity and quality of tree cover. Serial surveys tell us if trees are increasing or decreasing. We can know the distribution of species. Data about health of trees helps to detect epidemics and other challenges. So tree survey is the basis for planning tree- plantation, tree maintainence systems

How is it done?

First one should define 'tree', 'shrub' etc. A tree is usually a plant more than 6 feet in height. Then the tree is located, counted and described in forms- when done manually. Some form of coding is required to make it easy to enter and analyse data. This time MCGM is using GIS- I dont know exactly how they do it.

Then data is tabulated and analysed

MY OWN TREE SURVEY- HOW? WHY?

Yes, you can choose your Society/ street or garden to do your own tree survey.

If possible take a youngster along- it is a great way to spend quality time with them. You will need to set aside 1-2 hours of the forenoon. Be equipped with a writing pad, survey sheet and a field guide such as 'Trees of Bombay" (BNHS). Just fill up the survey form. After checking for completeness, take the data home and upload results to your blog.

Other than the benefit of teaching our offspring about trees and bonding with them- doing your own tree survey helps you to keep a watch on the trees in your locality by establishing a baseline. And you can also detect any fraud or error by MCGM- look what happened with the DP!

Best wishes for your tree survey! It will be a great way to spend a morning!

TREE SURVEY FORM

Date- Area surveyed-
No	Species code	Status code- use as many codes as needed	Remarks
1
2
3
4
Total	A B C F G J M L P T

CODES- suggested

Species/ name	Code
Mango	M
Jamun	J
Peepal	P
Banyan	B
Audumbar	A
Palash- Flame of forest	F
Coconut	C
Nilmohur	N
Gulmohur	G
Sonmohur	S
Bahava- Golden Laburnum	L
Tamarind	T

Status	Code
Dead/ Unhealthy	1
Nailed	2
Cemented	3
Garbage	4
Hacked	5
Healthy	6
Protected	7

KHANDYA ALA........ANOTHER BIRD IN PARLE

White- breasted Kingfisher or Khandya

Like all Parlekar mothers, I was up at 5am cooking for my son's lunch-box.....and I could not believe my ears- a Khandya was calling. Although I could hear the call loud and clear- I dismissed it as being very unlikely and got on with my task.

Next day I heard the call again. This time I decided to investigate and there it was- a beautiful specimen sitting on the wire opposite Pethe building on Chittaranjan road. Calling loudly. I showed it to my husband and the sighting was confirmed. Actually I had spotted this bird at same site many years ago.....since forgotten. 

So Parlekars- we can one more species to our family.

But now I am curious as well as worried. Where does this individual live? Is it alone? How can we ensure its safety? Folks, this is surely PARLE's endangered individual- and I dont know what we should do next.

CRUELTY TO TREES

Dr Bose of Kolkata did a famous experiment proving plants to be sensitive to how they are treated. So a plant treated well grows better and remains healthier. We have lot of movements preventing cruelty against animals and humans; what about plants?

Trees and plants are utterly defenceless against cruelty because they cannot make a noise or move from their place. So plants continue to be easy targets and Parlekars need to become conscious of the harm these lovely mute citizens of Parle have been facing. Parlekars have raised their voice against disturbing roots of trees by excessive digging, tarring and cementing around them- so municipality has starting taking steps to prevent these problems. But subtle forms of injury are continuing.

To prevent tree- fall and branch- fall, in the coming months, trees will have to endure massive pruning. I hope this will be done scientifically so that it serves the purpose but does not kill the tree. Besides this, the practice of chopping trees to make hoardings and shop windows more visible must be stopped immediately. An example is the jewellery shop opposite Babasaheb Gawde Hospital on M G Road- they have chopped the tree and it will surely die shortly.

Many advertisements and hoardings are nailed or stapled to trees. This causes injury to the tree. Imagine, if someone nails or staples a person’s body- how will he feel? Trees feel the same way. And this is not only about feelings. Trees absorb nutrients and water through their roots and these are conducted throughout the tree by structures called xylem (water) and phloem (nutrients). These are vertically linear spongy structures- almost like the jelly- filled cables of the telephone department. And they are situated closer to the circumference of the tree. When a nail is driven in, these structures get damaged, form scars and the water-nutrient supply gets disrupted. Secondly every plant/ tree has a cover or bark which is meant to protect it from infection and dehydration. The nail- track provides a route for germs to enter the tree structure and destroy it. Thus a ‘small’ nail can damage a large tree. I was appalled to see that BMC has nailed a notice on one of the trees on MG Road. (An excellent description of this process can be found it the BNHS quarterly Hornbill of Dec 2014.)

Some establishments- notably those on Hanuman Road and opposite 'Tea Villa' trees have been wrapped in fairy lights. I think the purpose is to decorate with fancy lighting to attract customers. But the tree gets affected due to the heat and electricity from wires. Plus there will be nails and wires used to tether the lights to trees.

Trees and plants should be treated as ‘Parlekars’ on par with humans and animals. And we need to protect them because they cannot protect themselves. First, no hoardings/ advertisements should be permitted on trees. Municipality should erect special poles on which these can be put up. And fines should be levied on anybody found sticking or poking trees.

Sample response to DP of MCGM

This was given to me by a like- minded friend- I have read through it and it appears ok.

To,                                                                                                                                    Date:

The Chief Engineer - Development Plan

5th Floor, Municipal Head Office, Annex Building

Mahapalika Marg, Fort, Mumbai-400 001

Subject: Suggestion /Objections and Request for Hearing for the Proposed Draft Development Plan for Mumbai 2014-34.

No. ChE/32596/DP/GEN/dtd 25.2.2015

Dear Sir,

We have taken studied the proposed Draft Development Plan and we list our Suggestions Objections as stated below.

FSI - We note with concern that FSI has been increased to a base of 2.5 with a maximum of 8.This huge leap will see further densification in already crowded areas. There is no proportionate increase in physical and social infrastructure. Most existing roads are not wide enough to carry the load of this increasedFSIand will lead to further traffic congestion

Suggestion - An increase in FSI by even 1 implies that the entire footprint of the city has been doubled. Hence there should be subsequent doubling of open spaces, health care, education, water supply and sanitation facilities etc. Higher FSI should be allowed only to the plot abutting the required road width provided all other amenities are provided for.

The increase in FSI will not necessarily mean affordable housing as majority of the city's population lives in slums or small tenements. The proposal to reduce the existing reservation of 20% of area for EWS housing to only 10% will bring no relief to this section. Further the demand for housing, apart from EWS, is for smaller apartments like 1BHK or 2BHK. This blind increase in FSI throughout the city will only lead to an increase in built up area in the higher income and luxury segment.

Suggestion - Maintain the reservation for EWS at 20%. . FSI should be based on the existing population density of each area. Further, steps should be taken to ensure that each planning sector has a percentage of housing for smaller , affordable apartments.

InfrastructureThe standard for educational and health facilities have been reduced. There was a need to increase this,not diminish the ratio. Schools which have come up in the past couple of decades do not have sufficient area for playgrounds. Whatever is available is concreted to double up as a parking space for school buses. Children spend a major part of 15 years in schools. Lack of open spaces in educational institutions affects theirhealth and growth.Affordable health facilities too are minimal. Most multi speciality hospitals are too expensive and smaller ones are crammed into apartments in housing complexes. There needs to be dedicated space for these two amenities.

 Health Amenity standards are reduced to 0.385sqm per person from 0.83 -1.28sqm per person.

Suggestion - Provision of adequate health care facilities is the duty of the local government and hence reservations specifically for municipal dispensaries/swasth chowky, municipal hospitals and municipal trauma centres should be demarcated in the proposed land use.

Education: Education Amenity standards are reduced to 1.37sqm per person from 3.58sqm per person.
Suggestion - Provision of adequate primary educational facilities is the duty of the local government and hence reservations specifically for schools should be demarcated in the proposed land use.
Ensure each school has a playground accessible to all children during the day and evenings. Covered play areas can be counted. The overall provision should be 2sqm/capita of population.

FSI for Open Spaces. There is no need to provide FSI of 3.5 for areas marked as open spaces. This will lead to possible misuse in the future. This should be reduced to an absolute minimum. Such spaces only require basic facilities like toilets or a basic office.

Open Spaces- The ratio of open spaces provided is dismal.  Traffic Islands, Intertidal areas of beaches, promenades, private layout RG (Cusrow baug) are included in public open spaces. Natural areas such as Mangroves, Mud Flats, National Parks, Creeks, Private Gymkhanas, Swimming Pools etc. are clubbed with the available Open Space to meet  standards. This is trickery with number. Large urban green inaccessible areas such as Raj Bhawan, Doongarwadi (Tower of silence), JJ Hospital, BARC, TISS, Aarey colony, Film city, KEM Hospital, Nehru Science Centre, AAI receiving station, IIT are proposed to be made accessible and counted under open spaces.The layout open space in residential development has been reduced to 10% as against DCR 23 of the DP 1991, which suggests RG of 15% to 25%.There is a further diminution of open space available to the public as the parking areas, electric substations, storage of harvested rain water, grey water harvesting plants, sewage treatment plant etc. are permitted below open spaces in residential development. (The DCR 1991 was amended to state that parking spaces and basements are not allowed under reservedOpen Space).

Suggestion - Health benefits of green spaces are clearly proven, particularly for the lower income groups. The DP should have a clear strategy to increase actual, usable open spaces.There must be at least one small park (between 500 and 1,000 sq. m.) within 500m of every residence, and at least one large park (exceeding 1,000 sq. m.) within 1 km of every residence in the city. Layout open spaces in residential development should be clearly marked and existing 15%-25% should be maintained.
Aarey Milk Colony-Aarey is shown to be a Residential Commercial zone with plans to make it a major growth hub.

Suggestion - The no development zone designation of Aarey should be made further stringent and be marked as a centralprotected green area or as open space.

NDZ areas. It is alarming that nearly 17000 acres of NDZ areas are set to lose this status. These are ecologically sensitive areas and important as a defense mechanism to natural calamities and greatly contribute in ecological services. Areas like Madh island, creeks, mangroves, mudflats etc are very important assets of Mumbai

Suggestion - All NDZ areas should be protected and if opened then only be proposed as openspaces

Heritage Structures - The Draft Development Plan (DRDP) 2014- 2034 is an attempt to delete protection of nearly 1000 buildings, sites and precincts i.e. 70% of the about 1488 total listed and published heritage buildings, sites and precincts in Greater Mumbai through an act of omission.

Out of 1995 notified list, one third of the heritage structures including Grade I, II, III sites and precincts are missing from the land use plan. 116 buildings, sites and precincts have been deleted and 35 buildings, sites and precincts altered from the 1995 Notified List of 633 buildings, sites and precincts .DRDP further deletes all of 7 Textile Mill Heritage buildings, sites and precincts from the 2002 Notified Addition, 24 Agiary Sites from the 2002 Notified Addition of Parsi Fire Temples in Greater Mumbai and 7 precincts including Marine Drive precinct deleted from April 1995 published addition. Almost all of the 894 Sites are missing from the Proposed Heritage list published in July 2012.

The SDCR regulation will be applicable to only those buildings as marked on the Land Use plan according to SDCR 6.1. This would mean that if there is an error in display of heritage site on the Development Plan sheets it would automatically mean deletion of reservation under heritage structure.                                   

Suggestion - Incorporate all the listed Heritage Buildings and precincts in the Development plan and show the mandatory 100 M regulation zone near all the Heritage Sites on the PLU. The proposed new Heritage List should also be incorporated.

Grade I and Grade III and Precincts have been completely removed out of the purview of the MHCC.
Heritage precincts and sites from Grade III have been allowed redevelopment up to 30m in the Development plan without the approval of the MHCC. This would virtually destroy all the heritage precincts in the City.                                                                                                                                                       

Suggestion - All Heritage structures, be it Grade I, II, III and the precincts, should be demarcated in the PLU and the redevelopment should be only done with the permission of the MHCC. The 30m height is arbitrary and will destroy the nature of the heritage precinct.The Heritage list should be incorporated in the SDCR document. All building modification/development permissions should be referred to the Heritage Committee and the Municipal Commissioner should take due note of the recommendations.

Safety -Marginal setback as mentioned in section 18.3.1 allows set back of only 3 m for building height 70 m and above. These high-rise buildings will not allow fire engine movement around the building during disaster.

Suggestion -  Minimum set back of 9m on ground should be given on all 4 sides to ensure fire safety for high-rise buildings. This should be provided irrespective of other mandatory fire fighting equipment to be provided in high rise buildings.

We will further supplement our issue with data at the hearing. We request you to consider our Suggestions/Objections and grant us a hearing at the earliest.

Yours sincerely,

Name-

Address

Phone

Email