WW Flood

14-June-2010 witnessed heavy monsoon showers and within a few hours most major streets in Pune were left with no distinction from the Mula and Mutha rivers. How can Pashan-Baner link road lag behind.



The newly laid storm water drainage system just outside Whispering Wind too could not save the internal roads.

Water from as far as Kumar Sahwas was rushing down towards W.Wind like being drawn by a water magnet.

Not a square inch of area was available to walk.

Is this a road or a river ?

Work atlast starts on pblr

After the publishing of tender for the PB link road on 23-July-2009 and its opening on 9-Aug-2009, work finally began in February 2010.
I happened to pass the Sus road at the time of this function presided by the mayor of Pune, but was hardly aware of what was going on - perhaps a private function i thought.

Earlier, one fine day in Oct 2009, I was at PMC head office and chatting with addl. city road engineer mr. Tayade about the pb link road tender. He informed then there were several land acquisition issues along the stretch but the work would anyways commence in early Jan 2010 and be completed by March and that the road would be done in patches whereever pmc has been able to acquire land.

This is evident in the picture below taken just outside WWind :

Builder had long ago handed over land to both MSEB and PMC for the proposed DP road. Then again the road is dug-up opposite k.sahwas probably for grouting work and also where this road touches the Sus road. Thats it ! The work seem to be abandoned for over 2 weeks now - in a style so typical of PMC contractors !

My thoughts on the upcoming PBLR are at this post dated 25-July-2009:
Open the link below in a new window and do continue scrolling down for some interesting recent stuff !!
http://whisperingwindonline.blogspot.com/2009/07/floating-of-tender-for-36m-dp-road.html

WW Valencia BhaiBhai

Fun never ends on pashan-baner link road. No one knows if it is a mere conincidence or that the two signboards for Valenncia and WW phase 2 have been ordered from the same vendor under a limited time 'ek-pe-ek-free' offer.Everywhere along the P-B link road, the duo are found standing side-by-side on one and two legs respectively. Just watch this.
First at the start of the P-B link road outside the RMZ icon (symantec) building, they are found standing gaily and happy.

Then again the couple is seen standing round the steep corner which is a natural right turn. Very funny. The building under construction in the background is crystal garden.

Finally, the duo points to the last lap opposite the Rolling Hills gate. Buildings in the background are Blossom 'n' Springs and Echelon.

Builder has taken great pains to guide to W.Wind from far-off areas like Sus road too. There are unusually large number of sign-boards erected from as far as Sus road at the start of the PB link road:
Closer still at the turn near Athashree, the jodi pack is seen again:

Farther towards W.Wind the duo again appear at the ugly turn near K.Sahwas under the neem tree:

In all seven signboards stand erect to guide people to W.Wind only to be greeted by pits dug-up all over the premises. First this large one for the E-bldg and abandoned for over two months now with no signs of any building coming up.

Outside the temple, right inside the children play area:

The worst part of these pits outside the temple is they are made between two existing flowering plants which I have been nursing and watering painstkingly for over 2 years now after the gardner absconded for payment defaulted by builder in Mar 2008. Since the pits are dug very close to the existing plants, their roots are exposed and no new plants are in place for 2 months now.
Then there are dozens of these meant for plantation, near the main gate and besides A-bldg:

The zenith of builder's antagonism and the nadir of residents' apathy are these pits dug up near the entrance gates. Neighbouring Crystal Garden completed beautiful entrance gates in the same time as a couple of pillars came up for W.Wind.
Nails used for making the scaffolding which I found scattered all over the internal road between main gate and the club-house alone are seen in picture below:

WWind Pots

Back in 1996, NRDC - National Research Development Corp (http://www.nrdcindia.com/pub.htm) published two very popular and highly regarded magazines - 'Invention Intelligence' in English and 'Awishkar' in Hindi.

Also in 1996, environment and carbon footprint, etc. were not burning issues, but water scarcity was, especially at the place I lived where we had water supply on alternate days for just 2 hrs. So water conservation was on everyone's mind.
My article on 'Water conserving automatic irrigation system' was published in the Mar'96 issue and appreciation letters poured in from every corner of the country.

Youth was a phase full of ideas and at 35 I cannot wait till retirement to implement them. Today I purchased two earthen pots and got the holes drilled from the vendor himself who threw at me a multiple-choice question (a) Mandir ke liye hai ? (is this meant for a temple) (b) Chidiya ke liye ? (is it for the birds). I opted for none of the above. Its (c) For my plants, was my answer.

Here's the script from the images:

"It is usual to water plants in the garden by making small circular shallow pit like structure in the ground around the stem of the plant. When water is poured into it, a part of it seeps into the ground in all directions i.e. towards and also away from the roots and only a little amount actually reaches the roots. Moreover, as the soild around the roots become saturated with water, it prevents further seepage of water into the soil. As a result, a large part of water supplied accumulates in the pit around the stem and is evaporated due to heat, especially in summer, when there is shortage of water and evaporation rate is higher.
To overcome all these losses and for efficient use of water, a new method can be used effectively. Instead of digging a pit around the plant stem, dig one or two small pits close to the stem. If the plants are in a row and close enough then a singlepit between the two can be made.
Take a small earthen pot of size approximately 15 cm diameter and make a small hole at the bottom (1 cm dia) of each pot. Place these pots into the pits such that the neck is at ground level. Fill the pots completely with water and cover with lids.
Advantage of using this method are: As the hole at the bottom of the pots is close to the roots, water reaches directly to the roots. (b) Water from the pot is supplied automatically as and when the water content of soil goes below saturation. (c) Large amount of water is saved as evaporation is avoided.
Practical results have shown that as much as 50-60% of precious water in summer can be saved by this method."

All about Access Roads

Whispering Wind over the past many years has remained land-locked with virtually no access to the Pashan-Baner link road from any side. As seen in the graphic below:

(1) Access to PBLR on the left side is restricted since the stretch of road in front of K.Sahawas was owned by k.builders and WWind residents were informed they were being allowed to commute on this road out-of-good-faith.

(2) Access along the same stretch but on the Valenncia side also remained perpetually restricted since the land was rumoured to be owned by local corporator who had even put up a fencing as seen clearly in the photo in the post http://whisperingwindonline.blogspot.com/2009/04/pune-mirror-troubleshooters.html

(3) Access to PBLR in the direction of Rolling Hills too is restricted by the Ram Wagle plot between WWind and Crystal Garden.

Meanwhile, Mahesh S Prabhu of Rolling Hills has provided indepth information about the various access roads between Pashan-Baner link road to Baner road. Read all about the various access roads that were originally planned/proposed and their status as on date on his blog. The url is http://rollinghillsbaner.blogspot.com/2009/06/access-roads-story-so-far.html

Do read the above informative post and drop a mail pledging your support for the cause.

One of Mahesh's recent activity has been to have streetlights on PBLR operational last month by tirelessly following up with pmc and also getting the issue highlighted in Pune Mirror.

Link Road Tender

The floating of tender for the 36M DP road outside Whispering Wind is both a good news and bad. If pmc has its way, its going to be a nightmare for residents of buildings directly on this road. pmc contractors are notorious for delaying road projects. News and photos of work on Baner rd, Karve rd, Paud rd, etc. appearing in various newspapers over the past one year sends a chill down the spine when one recalls the horrific condition of roads under construction and post-comlpetion.

Telephone cables are disrupted, exits and entrance to buildings becomes a problem due to changes in levels of internal and the road being constructed.
The alarm bell for Whispering Wind is its being on the downstream side of the road which invites rainwater, dust, dirt, etc, from the elevated road inside the building premises.

The proposed total duration for this project is 12 months and upon comlpetion this road would be wider than Baner road which is 30M. The road should appear a bit like the Sus road between balaji mandir chowk to sai chowk.

Part of the tender that appeared in 'Sakaal' dt. 23-July-2009 is below:

(click for larger view)

The tender describes the DP road as 36M DP road between 'Pashan Sus rd' and 'the boundary between Pashan and Baner' which is the road near Rolling Hills.

Part of Baner DP map downloaded from pmc website is shown below. This map shows the Pashan-Baner link road as the boundary between Pashan and Baner.

So the road for which tender is floated seems to be the one marked in green below.

The tender will be opened on 7-Aug-2009 and since this will be done using money take from our pockets, following are our tasks as alert citizens:

• Keep close eye on which company is assigned the contract.

• Check the past expertise and past experience of this company in the area of road development.

• Check the credentials and past performance of the company.

• Check if this company was black listed for non-performance, etc. PMC is known to have assigned projects to such companies in the recent past.

• Keep continuous touch with supervising pmc officials and seek updates on the progress of the project.

• Work with company and pmc officials to ensure that road work does not cause any inconvenience to residents for commuting in and out of Whispering Wind.

• Intervene and demand for proper foothpath, road-divider, speed breakers, plantation, cycle-track and storm water pipeline.

But, given the perpetual apathy and ignorance of WW residents this seems only a pipe-dream, with no pun intended ;-)

Whispering Wind Plaque

This concrete plaque stands outside Whispering Wind across the road and erected in 1972 is the oldest man-made object in the entire Pashan-Baner link road area.



A closer view reveals the wear-out paint that reads 'Sushant Saha Gruha Rachana Sanstha', ' Pashan Pune', 'Survey no 35'. Below that is perhaps the date 19 January and the year is not seen. But Mr. Sudhir Kolhatkar knows it is 1972 since he is one of the original members of this housing society which has a turbulent history since its inception 37 years back until Whispering Wind was built.

In year 2003, the concrete board is seen at the far end in photo below, ahead of the large Whispering Wind hoarding and just to the left of the auto-rickshaw with a white hood.

(click photo to view larger)

Panning to the right from here still standing on first floor of B-bldg, one has a romantic view of the hills with only MontVert Finesse Bldg-A complete and Bldg-C under construction.

The heap of bricks are not meant for construction at WW. Its one of the many brick kilns in the neighbourhood. No doubt atleast half a dozen corporators from the Pashan-Baner belt have a history of either owners of and some even workers at these brick kilns.

(click photo to view larger)

This is a partial view of the original play-area planned by builder and as shown in the brochure given to customers of Whispering Wind.

(click photo to view larger)

Here is the view of B-bldg under construction from where the photos were taken:

This is the view of A-bldg with the sample flat on 1st floor ready.

This is a photo of the central sitout area with the water-treatment plant just in place. Disregard by residents has left this facility unused till date.

This photo below is dated mid-august 2004 and the most striking feature herein is the absence of the joint between C- and B-bldgs which is shown in my previous post.

C-building is also complete now and the play-area has all vanished and work on the new club-house is seen underway. The pit with rainwater accumulated is perhaps the location of the swimming pool or may be just the trench for the wall foundation.

Finally, this is a distant view that shows consrtuction of D-bldg just started.