Udyog Sanchetana (E) - July 2024

Udyog Sanchetana page on LinkedIn offers periodic blogs in English that are counterpart of monthly, FREE, eNewsletter since April 2014.

?Reach out to 120th issue Udyog Sanchetana (H) at - https://lnkd.in/gwtgF3r5

?? Why New Townships?

?? Should we not change planning and development process in urban areas?

?? Should we Say “NO to Smart Cities and move to the Smart Village instead”

Why New Townships?

GDA is planning “Naya Ghaziabad” that extends spread of Ghaziabad city to accommodate another 5,000 residences. To be developed along the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor, it will provide better connectivity to towns in the NCR, including Delhi.

The authority has defined an influence zone of 1.5km radius from each of the eight RRTS stations for transit oriented development (TOD) where mixed land use will be made available.

Two special development areas (SDAs) of 510.56 hectares in Guldhar and 549.5 hectares in Duhai. Township will provide plots, group housing land, commercial and recreational facilities. Altogether a new township, it will be called “Naya Ghaziabad”.

Land will be purchased directly from farmers and not through state land acquisition process. Half the land cost will be borne by the state government and the rest by GDA, according to Atul Vats, IAS and VC, GDA.

Could we not, facilitate development of the VILLAGES along the corridor to be developed on the lines of - Odanthurai – The Smart Village ?

?Odanthurai – The Smart Village

Located 40 kilometres north of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Odanthurai village had only KACHCHA houses in 2002, there was no potable water and electricity. As usual people migrated to nearby cities.

It was here, the enterprising spirit of a Gram Pradhan Shanmugam came forward to build green homes with panchayat funds. Pumping station was set up for water

That added to electricity bills, but Shanmugam learnt about bio-gasifier, visited Vadodara to learn and take training. Gasifier power saved on electricity bills and in the meantime Solar Powered street lights were also installed.

Gram Panchayat didn’t stop here and passed resolution to have a wind power farm. It was learnt that the state government was helping private companies to acquire land for wind power projects at subsidized prices. Entrepreneur in Shanmugam thought, “Why not set up a wind power project under panchayat ownership?"

The panchayat had only about ?Rs 35-40 lakh, but project required about Rs 1.5 crore. Odanthurai panchayat went ahead for Bank Loan of Rs 1.15 crore. This one-of-its-kind proposal took the district administration by surprise. It was the entrepreneurial step of panchayat like a private company!

The self-help venture, 350-kW wind power generator became functional in 2006. It was the first ever power project undertaken by a local body in India. The Tamil Nadu state government sanctioned the project under the Remunerative Enterprises Scheme.

Odanthurai wind-farm generates 7.5 lakh units of electricity in a year. The panchayat needs 4.5 lakh units and remaining power is sold to the Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board, fetching an annual income of Rs 19 lakh.

After repaying the bank loan in over 7 years, project now gives net income to the village body. Earlier panchayat had made inroads in other renewable sources of energy. It has 9kW biomass gasifier power generation system that substituted the grid electricity for pumping drinking water. The biomass gasifier saved about 70% of pumping cost as compared to grid electricity (see table).

The panchayat purchased waste wood dust from a saw-mill in the village at a price of Rs 0.3/kg as fuel for the gasifier. Low demand for this waste for cooking might have contributed to low price.

The biogas system is connected to each house for cooking that helps reduce firewood usage. Through these efforts, the village has shown a way, how to take advantage of multiple energy resources in improving efficiency and cost effectiveness.

The development has not only reduced MIGRATION from village, but it seems many prefer to return and setup business in Home Village. The population of the village has increased in 20 years from 1600 to over 10,000. It's the right way to reduce problems of Urban conglomerates, where we wish to develop these as Smart Cities !

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Note: Part of information drawn from Ms Priyadharshini B (https://www.ecoideaz.com/innovative-green-ideas/), as also from few other media resources and figures may differ, but it’s a model that every Gram Panchayat and civic authority in cities could imbibe for contributing to the cause of Viksit Bharat.