By Surendra Hiranandani
While India sees several conversations on conservation and sustainability, there are brands that have put money where their mouth is with regards to ecology stabilization of areas they’re present in. We approach World Conservation Day on July 28, and Surendra Hiranandani from the House of Hiranandani, would be happy to shed light on:
- Afforestation measures in Powai hill stand tall with 30,000 trees and 10,000 more planted every year.
- Adoption of the concept of Miyawaki forest to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual.
- Introducing the concept of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) back in 1989 were not prominent, by setting up our first central plant.
- In Powai HOH properties, almost 80% of the sewage water in the area is treated here which is then used for gardening, flushing and construction.
- In our Chennai project located in the OMR area, we are able to treat around 990 kld/day out of the inflow of 1100 kld/day untreated water.
- Segregation and treatment of solid waste generated in properties at Thane and Powai.
- Regularly conduct seminars on the Organic Waste Converter (OWC) system- we collected around 50 kg/day of waste and now we receive 1000 kg/day of waste. The Powai plant can manage 5 million tonnes of waste.
- Rainwater harvesting (RWH) techniques in properties across locations- eg wells constructed near the Powai lake help us capture 2 lakh liters of water every day even during the month of May.
- Roof water harvesting- eg . In our OMR based Chennai property, we are able to meet the requirement of 2-3 lakh liters of water through this technique.
- Use of the latest technology to implement modern irrigation methods have helped reduce the water consumption for garden maintenance by 30%.
- Installed solar panels on the terraces for conservation of energy- eg The Chennai project has solar panels with 6KW per building.
- Around 48 species of bird diversity is found in the Hiranandani Estates out of which 58% are a common sighting, 36% occasional and 6% rare. (Locations- Thane Botanical garden with Hill area (TBgha), Nirvana Garden Powai (NGp), Forest Garden Powai (FGp), Hill Forest Powai (Hfp).
- Restoration and conservation of a 13,800 sq. meter fresh water lake named Kavesar Lake in Thane HOH property.