3 housing societies bag prizes under 'swachch mission'

Pune: Celebrating festivals causing minimum damage to the environment, having their own compost pits, bringing school children on a tour to the society and guiding them on eco-friendly initiatives were among the many steps taken by three housing societies in the city that were honoured by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Sunday under its 'swachh mission'. The award was instituted

by the PMC to identify best cleanliness practices followed by the people of Pune. The Kumar Sublime housing society in Kondhwa has set up its own sewage treatment plant, have set up composting pits, a water harvesting project and have initiated a lot of other eco-friendly practices. The society was given the first prize not only for practicing eco-friendly initiatives in the society, but also for arranging a tour of school children in their society at their own expense and explaining to them the good initiatives.

Alis Pore, a senior officer from the solid waste management department of PMC, who was incharge of the competition, said, "The unique thing about this society was that they spread awareness about environment and ways to keep it clean. They did it at their own expense. The three award winning societies had one thing in common: all members of the society participated in the initiative." The awards were given in five categories namely house (family), school/ college, NGO, public and private office.

The Rahul Park Co-op Housing Society in Warje celebrates festivals in an eco-friendly manner. "In Diwali, they do not burst crackers while in Holi, instead of playing with colours, the members organise a drawing competition for children. During Ganesh festival, they do not buy idols made from plaster of paris. These are good initiatives adopted by every single member of the society," said Pore. The society was given second prize. The third prize was given to the Baner-located society -- Orchid tower Cooperative Housing Society.

Sarang Awad, commandant of the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) Group-II, who received the first prize in public sector, said that it was a tough task to maintain cleanliness on the 245 acres of land of SRPF. "A total of 38 officials and 1,258 personnel and their family members worked hard and successfully achieved it. We had formed committees comprising officers, personnel and the women in their families. Every Thursday these members used to carry out the drive for cleaning 880 houses, stores, mess, grounds, children park, gardens and toilets on the premises," Awad said.

Awad said that to encourage the members, they started giving rewards for best maintained area on the premises. These efforts gave us the first prize, he added.