Space Saving Water Recycling

As part of the Green City Mission, we are planning to recycle and re-use waste water. Sewage water, the black water that originates from domestic toilets and other liquid waste sources is typically treated in small septic tanks / soak-pits in rural/ semi-urban areas and is treated in sewage treatment plants in cities like New Town/ Salt Lake etc. The conventional STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) technology however has two disadvantages (a) it takes up a large amount of area and (2) its level of purification (30 BOD) is just fit for release into the environment (ie canals and rivers) but unfit for any use.

We were looking for modular space saving recyclable technology for the yet-unbuilt STP for Action Area 3 of New Town. Yesterday, even during the Viswakarma day, we had a detailed discussion with PHE and Hidco Engineers. We decided to opt for a smart solution. We decided to go for SBR (Sequential Batch Reactor) technology that will consume less land area (up to 50% less) and produce clean water (5 BOD). We will use the water to supply to Eco Park, children's gardens (there are eight in New Town), avenue plantations and road cleaning. The land area saved will be used to set up a modern solid waste processing plant.
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Clippings:

HT dt 18 Sep 2016

HT dt 18 Sep 2016

Khabar 365 dt 18 Sep 2016

Khabar 365 dt 18 Sep 2016

Ekdin dt 18 Sep 2016

Asian Age dt 18 Sep 2016

Staff Workout for Cafe Ekante at Eco Island

Me with Saurav Sarkar at the beginning of the session

Yesterday morning, the staff of Cafe Ekante, along with volunteers of Karmyog, were given a workout by Karmayogi Saurav Sarkar. It was held at Utsari Glass Hall in Eco Park's Island. At 6.30 in the morning, the two hour session started with combined singing and light aerobics in rhythm. The feedback was good and I could see that the staff were liking it. Saurav Sarkar explained to me that just as people like us go to yoga classes and aerobics, people working at grassroots level also had need for mental and physical rejuvenation but such workouts necessarily had to be organised close to where they worked. So here it was, right adjacent to their place of work, the staff of Cafe Ekante. Here is a link to a story on Karmayog Foundation's work on Bagjola canalfront http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160108/jsp/saltlake/story_62635.jsp#.V9zeBph942w that appeared earlier this year.
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Clippings:

HT dt 17 Sep 2016

Anandabazar dt 17 Sep 2016

Times of India dt 17 September 2016

Singur Divas

Although District Review was postponed, Chief Secretary and all secretaries including me went to Singur in Volvo Bus arranged for us, as in District Review meetings. It rained in between and we all got drenched in the open stage. But the electrifying speech of Hon'ble CM mesmerized the crowd and it was great to be a witness of a historical day.
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Clippings:

Asian Age dt 14 September 2016

Millennium Post dt 14 September 2016

Times of India dt 14 September 2016

Design of Light Sculpture

Ms Gita Balakrishnan of IIA (Indian Institute of Architects) along with her team met me day before yesterday and handed over the complete design of a Light Sculpture in Eco Park. This is the first complete output of the two-day Design Hackhathon that was held in Rabindra Tirtha some time ago (March 2016). This was an example of involving students of architecture and engineering in proposing improvements in the public space. Now the engineering wing of Hidco will take the project forward.

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Clippings:

Times of India dt 13 September 2016

Millennium Post dt 13 September 2016

Kite Competition at Eco Park

Now Superman is in kites too.

On 17th Sep Biswakarma Puja Day, we will have a kite flying competition. There will be traditional 'battles' in the sky and the last three to survive would be given prizes. There will be exhibition kites on the lake water too, using the flat boat.
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Clippings:

Asian Age dt 12 Sep 2016

Millennium Post dt 12 Sep 2016

HT dt 12 September 2016

Ei Samay dt 12 Sep 2016

Ei Samay dt 12 Sep 2016

Brainstorming on Clean Green New Town

Yesterday we had a detailed brainstorming discussion on ways to keep New Town clean. Officers of NKDA and Hidco as well as Consultants Feedback Infra - who were present on another assignment - were present. We identified the following strategy steps:

1. Appeal to citizens to use bins and not throw solid waste except when the compactor / auto-tipper comes
2. Increase the number of public bins drastically from 150 (now) to 450 (proposed).
3. Divide the area within New Town to two agencies so as to foster competition
4. Increase the number of street sweeping groups and supervisors and monitor mechanical sweeping machines through GPS.
5. Divide the town into 165 number of  500m x500m grids and make one responsible officer of NKDA / HIDCO to look after cleanliness of the grids assigned to him/her.
6. Special attention to food stalls, markets, hotels etc
7. Use the SWM teams to reach out to households for awareness drive through leaflets and posters.
8. Create a robust market framework for buying municipal waste by NKDA to trigger citizens and informal transportation network in bringing value for cleanliness activities in a sustainable manner.
9. Encourage rooftop organic farming to utilise organic household waste to be composted into fertilisers.
10. Educate people on the new notification no. 3626-UD dated 9.9.2016 of Urban Dvelopment Department that defines littering and imposes a fine of Rs 100 and no. 3627-UD t 9.9.2016 that defines how construction material has to be stored within own site (not on road) and prescribes Rs 5,000  fine and penalty for every day of delay in removing materials from road etc
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Clippings:

HT dt 11 September 2016

Khabar 365 dt 11 Sep 2016

Convergence with KMC, BMC and NKDA

I had a meeting with CEO NKDA, Commissioner Bidhannagar Corporation and Health Doctor of KMC to understand the legal provisions and field reality for tackling the issues of stray dogs, stray cattle, pigs, "khatal" and rats. It seems that there is a Supreme Court Case on stray dog matter, that law is ambivalent for cattle, that khatals cannot be done in public land without prior permission and experts from Punjab are required for rats. We also understood the manner in which dog pounds and cattle pounds operate.

We decided to get more information, join the Supreme Court Case and float Expressions of Interest for seeking help of NGOs.
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Clippings:

Ekdin dt 10 September 2016

Anandabazar dt 10 Sep 2016

Chess at New Town

The National Under 17 Chess Tournament opened today at New Town's Amity University Campus and I opened it by playing against a lady player from Kerala. It will go on for 9  days.
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In the morning, I gave a presentation on Green Cities to AmCham at Bengal Club. This was a breakfast meeting that started at 8.30 am and ended sharp at 10 am.
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 In the evening, I was the Chief Guest on behalf of State Govt at the National Day Celebrations of Mexico at Oberoi Grand. Ambassador of Mexico Her Excellency Melba Pria was present.
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Notification amending NKDA Rules was published today declaring that persons littering would be fined Rs 100. During the Cleanliness Week, I had sometimes referred to this notification. Glad that as promised the notification was proclaimed within a week of the Porichhannata Saptaha.
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Clippings:

The Statesman dt 9 Sep 2016

Salt Lake Telegraph dt 9 Sep 2016

Khabar 365 dt 9 Sep 2016

The Telegrapgh dt 9 Sep 2016

Millennium Post dt 9 September2016

eHC inaugurated at AA2

In the utility building in AA2 near Akankshya More / Mangaldeep Sculpture, NH and Cisco operated e Health Centre was inaugurated yesterday. Dr Debi Shetty joined from Bangalore while Cardiologist  joined from NH Barasat. A patient was examined by Dr Shetty too. I invited Dr Shetty to come to New Town when he visits Kolkata next, within a month, he said.
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Clipping:

Nagarayan Clean

At UD Department, the weeklong cleanliness drive was culminated with a wrap-up meeting where floor wise presentation of Before / After scenario was given. A skit was also done by a group of staff members.

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Clippings:

Ei Samay dt 7 September 2016

Times of India dt 7 September 2016

End of Cleanliness Week

New Town's Cleanliness Week ended yesterday with a procession from Clock Tower Plaza to New Town Business Club. Teachers and students of UEM and New Town School participated and took oath to cleanliness, not to litter and not let others litter.
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Clippings:

Millennium Post dt 6 September 2016

Rooftop Solar Urban Farming

Market Roof of AA1C

We are in the final stages of a rooftop solar organic urban farming. The bamboo baskets don't use earth but organic compost and coconut fibre coir. The baskets have transparent plastic lining to prevent loss of water. Rainwater harvesting tanks are there at ground floor and that will be used for watering. Sheds are made of Solar Panels that produce power that is fed to the grid through a net metering process. Already planted trees included many vegetables and herbs. We are planning to open after Pujas.
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Clipping:

Khabar 365 dt 4 September 2016

See Link of ToI: http://toi.in/2Jq4zY/a18fg

e Health Centre at AA2 to open on Wednesday 7th September

Yesterday, officers from CISCO and NH (Narayana Health) met me at Hidco and invited me to be present at the inauguration of the first NH-CISCO demonstration eHC in New Toown. They also gave me an invitation letter as follows:
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"..It is with immense pleasure that we invite you to the inauguration of our eHealth centre at Rajarhat location. Our Chairman, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty and Mr Gopal Ratnam (CISCO SVP for Asia Pacific) would inaugurate the hub at Bangalore simultaneously. The event would be held on September 7th, at 10 am. This would be a multi-site conference and would link all peripheral sites including Rajarhat, Bellary (Karnataka) and Sirsi (Karnataka) to the hub in Bangalore.

Your support for the initiative in Rajarhat has been invaluable and we would be honoured if you could grace the event

Dr Anupama Shetty, Medical Administrator- CSR, Narayana Health..."
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This is a CSR project of NH. They have taken on rent a space at the Utility Building in AA-2 near Akankha Building where the Post Office Bank, NKDA Office, and Group D Board Office are located. From Hidco, we have helped them by making the site ready, helping them with electrical non-medical equipment, some furniture and broadband connectivty.

Incidentally, other three eHCs are also on trial in New Town. These three are based out of equipment provided by HP out of its CSR funds to NKDA and will be run by NKDA. We hope to commission these shortly.
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We continued with our programmes on Cleanliness Week yesterday even though it was a Bandh Day of some opposition parties. Few photos:

At MWM

At Eco Island

At Glass Hall

At Mela Ground

At Mela Ground

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Clippings:

Hindustan Times (page 1) dt 2 September 2016

Khabar 365 dt 3 September 2016

Millennium Post dt 3 September 2016