Focus on harvesting rainwater in cityTNN Feb 2, 2002, 12.42am ISTahmedabad: the bad news is that ahmedabad stands on an 'empty tank' as far as groundwater is concerned. latest estimates suggest that the overdraft of ground water in the city is 123 per cent, that is more water is drawn out then what goes in. however, the good news is that if the citizens decide, there is a potential to harvest 25 crore litres of rainwater through 10,000 underground tanks in the walled city alone! these and many other issues pertaining to rainwater harvesting through various means in urban areas were discussed by experts and organisations on wednesday. they were participating in a 'round table conference on urban rainwater harvesting' organised by viksat to share their experiences. latest studies suggest that only eight per cent of water is used for domestic consumption, 20 per cent by industries and the remaining 72 per cent by agriculture. suggestions were made for carrying out water audits. viksat director srinivas mudrakartha asked the public institutions and builders to install rainwater harvesting structures. the case of gujarat high court was illustrated. an idea of entrepreneurship activities around rainwater was also mooted. access and equity issues in water across different stakeholders was identified as a key issue in the deliberations. representatives included from the central ground water board (cgwb), gsfc science foundation, center for symbiosis of technology, environment and management (stem). collector k srinivas highlighted the gravity of drinking water crisis in urban and rural areas about and insisted on finding alternatives to resolve the crisis. the conference deliberated on various initiatives taken up by different institutions in traditional and modern urban rainwater harvesting. ushir shah, president, ahmedabad sub-group of the sabarmati stakeholders forum recommended water pricing for the judicious use of water. a presentation was made by the ahmedabad urban development authority (auda) on the case of vastrapur and prahladnagar lake development with focus on storm water management and recharge initiatives.
AHMEDABAD: Don't be surprised if your child comes home from school one day and gives you a lecture on the richness of heritage spots in the city, whether it is the Sidi Saiyed mosque in Ahmedabad or the sun temple of Modhera. The Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT) is coming out with special booklets that will teach students of class I to VIII everything about local culture and heritage. There will be separate booklets for each district, detailing the famous heritage spots, traditional industries of the region and local culture on which the students will be evaluated and graded. "Children and sometimes even elders are not aware of the local heritage and culture of their own districts. That is why we've decided to separately inform them about all this in detail," GCERT director M N Bhad told TOI. At present, schoolchildren learn about history of the world, country and state in social studies books. This particular curriculum will be completely localized as per each district. If children in Ahmedabad learn more about Hutheesing Jain temples, those in Sabarkantha will be well-versed with the ancient temples nestled in the picturesque Polo forests. The idea behind this move is also to make children aware of the need for preserving the heritage monuments and culture, officials said. District Institutes of Educational Training has been assigned the task of designing the curriculum for these booklets. Booklets for schools in four districts - Amreli, Ahmedabad, Panchmahals and Surat - are already prepared and those for remaining districts will be readied by next year. The curriculum will be flexible to include new heritage spots and culture as and when required. "These booklets are in addition to the conventional social studies syllabus that includes history, geography and civics. We will encourage children to visit the heritage spots in their districts and take a closer look at the local culture," said co-ordinator of curriculum development Harish Chaudhary. Schools will also be encouraged to take children to the heritage spots and conduct projects on them. Ahmedabad one step closer to World Heritage City statusMay 11, 2011, 05.50am ISTTags:AHMEDABAD: Amdavadis have a reason to rejoice. The city has been officially included in Unesco`s World Heritage City tentative list. Ahmedabad is the only city from India vying for the coveted status. There are over 250 World Heritage Cities across the globe, but none in India. Ahmedabad`s proposal was sent by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to Unesco in March this year. This is the first step towards realizing the dream of getting the status. Unesco will now start analysing the various documents to find out if the city meets the different criteria. TOI has been campaigning for the World Heritage City status for Ahmedabad for the last three years. The process started in January last year when the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation ( AMC) set up a special team for preparing the dossier to be given to Unesco. 'Ahmedabad needs heritage strategy to survive another 600 years' Prof Syed Zainol Abidin Idid, , Apr 20, 2011, There are many World Heritage Monuments and sites in India, but that does not mean India has enough experience in propagating an urban heritage site like Ahmedabad as a Unesco World Heritage City. This is even more crucial as Ahmedabad is a 'living heritage city'. This is entirely a planning-based exercise to ensure that the 600-year-old city survives another 600 years. A living heritage city can-not avoid change and redevelopment. The test is to ensure that the heritage is not lost while allowing the city to continue 'living' for the next generation. This means that it is necessary to have the right planning ap-proaches to protect the heritage of Ahmedabad. Complex strategies have to be worked out to protect as well as allow considerable changes within the limitation of the urban conservation approaches. Unlike a dead monument, the conservation of a living heritage city needs the formulation of a strong management plan to handle the impending development pressures. | Raheel PatelHeritage Conservationist ArchivesCategories |
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