GERA Developments to replenish ground water with 200 Recharge Borewells at Kharadi
Pune, June 4, 2019: Gera Developments Pvt. Ltd. with its legacy of 48+ years in the real estate business and the award-winning creators of premium residential and commercial projects in Pune, Goa and Bengaluru; today announced the undertaking of a massive social initiative of drilling of 200 recharge borewells in the chambers of the PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) storm water line at Kharadi, Pune, prior to the monsoon season.
The 200 recharge borewells will be completed within 45 days of commencement. This is the first time a private developer has come forward to take up an initiative of this scale jointly with The Pune Municipal Corporation to help raise the ground water levels in other low water areas of the city. Gera Developments will continue to be committed to this cause.
The Mayor of Pune, Mrs. Mukta Tilak and the Additional Commissioner of the PMC, Dr. Vipin Sharma were present at the groundbreaking ceremony and have lauded Gera Developments’ efforts.
Announcing the initiative, Mr. Rohit Gera, Managing Director, Gera Developments said,“We are blessed with adequate rainfall, however, urbanization has led to a steep reduction in the surfaces where water can seep into the ground and recharge the natural water table. As a result, we have seen the ground water levels go down year on year. This is unsustainable. With the water storage level dangerously low at 6.62 TMC (thousand million cubic feet), Pune is facing a crisis. While one hopes the matter gets the attention it deserves soonest and at the highest level, it is also our duty as corporate citizens to do our best to help the city as well as the authorities to resolve the situation at hand. As a developer, we have the capability and knowledge as well as resources to come forward and contribute towards this cause and make a long lasting impact for the occupants of the city. This initiative stems from our philosophy of ‘Let’s Outdo’ for not only our customers but also for the society at large. While we build housing and commercial complexes, we believe in nurturing the community we are a part of. As a brand, Gera has built communities and positively impacted them over the last five decades and this platform enables us to touch and impact not just today but also the future. We are delighted with the positivity that the Municipal Corporation authorities have embraced this initiative and have provided their whole hearted support and co-operation.”
Speaking at the occasion of the commencement of the drilling of the first recharge borewell, the Mayor, Mrs. Mukta Tilak said, “This is an extremely important initiative for the city to be launched at the occasion of World Environment Day. We are happy that the PMC and Gera Developments have worked together to make this first project a reality. This project can serve as a pilot project and we hope to get more such initiatives implemented across the city in the near future.”
The recharge borewells will be installed in the Chambers of the storm water drain, which is where the rainwater flows underground. The rainwater that lands on the concrete surfaces makes its way to the storm water drains of the city and from there finds its way into the river and washes away from the city. The idea behind the concept is to try and capture as much of the rainfall that lands on the hard surfaces and goes into the storm water drain. This gets into the recharge bore wells and replenishes the groundwater. These recharge pits will run across a 3 km stretch from Main Nagar Road (Greensville Avenue Road) to Kharadi Gaon Chowk and Park View Road to Dhole Patil College Road.
While the company initially planned to drill the standard, 60ft below ground level, recharge shaft borewell the GSDA (Groundwater Survey & Development Agency) visited the site & after having studied the geological survey reports, suggested drilling to the depth of 100 ft to reach the fractured rock. Mr. Rohit Gera further added that, “While this comes with a cost that was more than what we had envisaged, we have decided to forge ahead with the initiative. The total project cost now stands at approximately Rs. 50 lakhs. With these recharge borewells, we will positively impact not just residents of our projects but also residential and commercial complexes in the vicinity.”
The last couple of months have been dry and arid in most parts of Maharashtra and the city’s dams drying up is putting the city of Pune under stress of water shortages. As per the 30th May 2019, daily water storage report of the Water Resources Department, Government of Maharashtra, the percentage of live water storage w.r.t designed live storage for Pune stood at 11.53% as opposed to 23.68% last year. The Centre had issued a “drought advisory” to Maharashtra on 18th May 2019, asking the state to use water judiciously. (A drought advisory is issued to states when the water level in reservoirs is 20 per cent less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years.) Water falls under the state list and the advisory recommends states to use it for drinking purpose only till the dams are replenished.
