Pune’s new Collectorate goes green with solar panels running lighting systems
The newly-inaugurated state-of-the-art building of the Pune District Collectorate will occupy a place of pride in the city as it is one of the best state government buildings with the status of a 4 star green building.
The newly-inaugurated state-of-the-art building of the Pune District Collectorate will occupy a place of pride in the city as it is one of the best state government buildings with the status of a 4 star green building.
The new building was inaugurated by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday.
Speaking on the occasion, the building’s architect Sunil Patil said, “The building is designed in such a way that there will be minimum use of electricity and maximum utilisation of natural light. Solar panels have been installed on the roof to help to run all the lighting systems on solar power. Only the air-conditioner system and lifts will run on electricity.”
The 100 MLD (million litres per day) capacity sewage treatment plant on the campus will treat sewage and water would be recycled for gardening purposes.
Eco-friendly materials have been used for construction like AAC blocs for masonry and fly ash in concrete. Most of the furniture is made in metal to save wood and plywood. Low-flow fixtures had been used for toilets to save water.
The campus is dotted with 197 trees and the new master plan was designed to save maximum number of these trees. Out of the 197 trees, only 27 were chopped for construction and the rest were not touched.
The heritage value of the old collectorate office campus has been retained in two ways - the porch of the old building has been retained and the national emblem has been installed on it which is now treated as a monument.
Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil said that as per the state government’s new policy, all new government buildings will be eco-friendly.
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Ajit Pawar, the man behind the new building
The district administration as well as many BJP members accepted off the record that the credit for erecting the new Collectorate complex goes to the former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar who took keen interest in its planning. He was, however, not present at the event on Saturday due to political reasons.
BJP members accepted that their party or government did not have any role in this building. Contractors said that Pawar took many meetings in spite of his busy schedule to take stock of the building’s progress and also made many surprise visits. Even on the day prior to the inauguration on Friday, he visited the building unannounced and took review of the preparations.
Although the chief minister did not give credit to Pawar in his speech, he instructed the administration to retain the plaque about the ground-breaking ceremony done by Pawar.