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Public Health / Sanitation

Mayor calls for more eco-friendly civic hospitals

Tuesday, 22 December 2009 11:48 administrator
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Indian Express 22.12.2009

Mayor calls for more eco-friendly civic hospitals

All civic hospital in the city should be made eco-friendly by adopting the green building concept, said Mayor Shraddha Jadhav on Sunday. She was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of Kohinoor Hospital in Kurla — the super-specialty hospital has been certified with the Platinum rating under the LEED India (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green building rating system.

“The cost of this eco-friendly, 175-bed hospital project is about Rs 100 crore. The BMC can certainly afford this kind of amount to ensure that its future hospital projects adhere to the green building standards,” said Jadhav at the function also attended by Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray.

Spread over two lakh sq ft, the hospital is part of Kohinoor City promoted by Unmesh Joshi, son of former Lok Sabha speaker and Sena leader Manohar Joshi.

The hospital claims to have been designed accordingly to use resources like energy, water, material and land more efficiently than usual buildings. Its features include provision for natural lighting and better air quality with special carbon dioxide sensors that emit fresh air every time the CO2 levels exceed a specific level. It boasts of being the second in the world, after Dell Children’s Medical Centre in Texas, USA, to be awarded LEED platinum certification.

‘City should tap seawater, says CM
Speaking at the function, CM Ashok Chavan said Maharashtra will soon tap its 720-km coastline to generate drinking water. Mayor Shraddha Jadhav and Uddhav Thackeray also endorsed the idea.

“For the first time, water scarcity has struck Mumbai. The scanty rainfall this year has forced the BMC to impose a 15-20 per cent water cut. Like in Gulf countries, we should also start looking at desalination so that sea water can be converted into drinking water,” Chavan said. He said that the BMC has been asked to work on this and through privatization set up such plants wherever possible.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 December 2009 11:50
 

Villagers to again block dumping of garbage

Tuesday, 22 December 2009 10:58 administrator
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The Times of India 22.12.2009

Villagers to again block dumping of garbage

Umesh Isalkar, TNN 22 December 2009, 12:28am IST

PUNE: The villagers of Phursungi-Urali are on the warpath again. For the third time this year, they have decided to stop municipal corporation vehicles from disposing of the city’s garbage in the open dumping site in their villages.
“We have written to the authorities concerned about our decision to bar dumping from December 25,” said Ranjit Raskar, member of the Phursungi gram panchayat.

The continued shoddy management of garbage by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the seepage of toxic waste at the dumping site are the main reasons for the agitation. “We are utterly disappointed and frustrated at the PMC’s poor management of garbage and toxic waste generated in the form of leachate,” said Raskar.

When contacted, PMC’s municipal solid waste management head Suresh Jagtap said, “I have heard of the agitation. The PMC is committed to the effective management of garbage. Two recycling units are coming up at the garbage depot. This will resolve the issues over garbage disposal forever.”

Following an agitation from April 10 to 14, the villagers carried out an eight-day agitation which ended on May 14. They were then given an assurance by the PMC that it would stop dumping garbage at the two landfill sites after seven months.

The assurance to the villagers had come as a huge relief for Puneites as hundreds of tonnes of garbage had piled up in the city during the agitation, sparking fears of an outbreak of disease. The city generates 900-1,200 tonnes of garbage daily.

 

Garbage that pays in city

Monday, 21 December 2009 10:07 administrator
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The New Indian Express 21.12.2009

Garbage that pays in city

Johnlee Abraham

BANGALORE: Did you ever think the garbage you quietly dump on the vacant space next to your neighbour’s land or in the drain of your locality could generate income? I f everything goes as planned, it could soon be true in Bangalore, as an integrated waste management plan on the lines of an innovative model developed by C Srinivasan of Vellore, has met with warm response in the garden city. The plan aims to generate revenue and employment.

Last week, BBMP commissioner Bharat Lal Meena met C Srinivasan, popularly known as Vellore Srinivasan, who has set up an integrated waste management plant in Vellore, Tamil Nadu and other states. Srinivasan expressed keen interest in setting up similar plants in the city (near Malleswaram) to tackle waste management.

In Bangalore, Malleswaram would be the first to adopt the model as its residents have shown eagerness in the initiative.

“Talks are under way for the acquisition of a site to set up the sorting station,” said Srinivasan.

“The Vellore model-plan has been shown to BBMP officials on December 9 and they are keen to replicate it in Bangalore.

They have also instructed each of their zonal commissioners to identify spots for setting up sorting stations,” said Dr Meenakshi Bharath, secretary, Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative.

“The commissioner has given a lead time of three months to set up this system and we hope to drive this initiative with them,” Meenakshi added.

Srinivasan, the developer and initiator of the Vellore zero waste management project, said that in an urban city, a family throws away garbage worth Rs 3 per day.

If it is properly segregated and recycled, it can easily generate Rs 90,000 in an area with a population of 30,000, he added.

As per the model practised in Vellore, the waste is segregated at the source itself as dry and wet waste. The segregated waste is collected twice a day by self-help groups at the doorstep.

The organic waste is converted into manure in a twostage process. The dry waste is then segregated into paperplastic, metals, rubber and glass.

“They are again sorted at the secondary and tertiary sorting stations and then brought to the recyclers. The whole process runs on manual labour, sunlight (required for drying of certain plastics) and garbage itself,” Srinivasan said.

With this promising model, an efficient waste management system and a healthy civic scene in Bangalore could come true.

Last Updated on Monday, 21 December 2009 10:12
 
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