Sustainable neighborhood !!

     

            Image above can we relate with it ? I think yes green trees, small waterbodies, birds, sports in urban landscape. We can relate with it as a wish but not something which is readily available to all. 

So as part of series related to corporators responsibilities want to cover important topic of sustainable neighborhood. 

Before going into solutioning part of it lets understand and observe the problems that may occur or we would have already faced in some or the other way. 

1. Water scarcity during summers 
2. Increasing cost of electricity and that too with frequent power cuts.
3. During vacation looking for place away from city which is green and has fresh air for rejuvenation.
4. Smoggy atmosphere which may feel suffocating
5. Debris of all kind of waste generated, which looks and smells bad  
6. Health of people in neighbor hood getting worse day by day. ( most of them have high blood pressure, diabetes, thyroid, obesity etc. which are mainly because of stress and urban lifestyle)

       Corporator as was mentioned in my earlier blogs that they are closer to people than any other govt authority. They have opportunity to bring people in their locality and address these issue at atomic level. 

       Water scarcity: Their are no. of ways in which he can try to address this issue within his limit. 

E.g. educating people to reduce water wastage. Creating addition sources of water in terms of rain water harvesting. Treating waste water and re-utilizing it wherever possible. Preserving water bodies near by allowing only treated water to be let in those bodies.

       Electricity:  Promoting use of natural source of electricity like solar energy, wind mills etc. Issue with this has been higher initial cost. So here corporator can help by getting it in subsidized rates. Also if bought in bulk for multiple societies then can get heavy discount. There are various govt schemes where excessive energy generated can be passed on to grid and get credit in terms of those many units. This can be exchanged for regular electricity bills. 

       Green City with fresh Air: Promoting plantation of more trees, open spaces meant for recreational areas to be converted to lungs and heart of locality are  few to begin . When I say lungs it means more green to supply fresh oxygen and by heart I mean area where people can do some physical activity to improve their strength and keep their heart safe and healthy. One of the challenges specially urban area's have been dealing with is to keep such open places protected from evil eye of real estate developers and land mafia's. Corporator being a authoritative figure can be quite helpful. Area around local ponds and water bodies can also be utilized to achieve this objective. 

        Fund can be a challenge so to over come that he may loop in higher authorities or come up some sort of public private partnership where people can contribute expecting some meaningful returns during tenure. 

        Well this also takes care of smoggy atmosphere to some extent. Additional measures of promoting proper maintenance of vehicles in locality and use of eco fuels who work in long run. Recently have heard of machinery which sucks in carbon from air, such systems can be placed in heavy traffic areas. These carbon can then be used where best suited and are in high demand. 

    Waste Management: Its a huge topic in itself. Societies can be made self reliant by supporting them with proper waste management programs. Green waste can be easily decomposed and utilized in their own gardens. Other way of consumption can be to grow veggies in open area. Decomposed manure can support in sustaining it. Dry waste can be segregated and sold as scrap.  This in turn leads to reduced pressure on existing facilities meant for waste management, which never had enough capacity. Funds that was supposed to be used for waste management can be diverted to some other meaningful work. 

All these are step towards sustainable society. It reduces dependency on other sources quench their needs and can survive in time of crises. 

With this would end my today' topic. 

While writing I realized that most of these huge problems cannot be covered in mere few line. So would love to highlight  them in future posts after magnifying each of those area with some more possible remedies. 

Till then Good By from Kahayali Pulav !!

Stay healthy stay blessed !!