New Town gets recognised as Bengal's first Green City

Kolkata: Indian Gold Building Council (IGBC) has recognised New Town as a Green City.

IGBC is part of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). It is one of the organisations whose green building certification is accepted by the state government for awarding additional Floor Area Ratio (FAR). New Town becomes the state's first township to get the Green City tag.

To award the certification, IGBC considers several factors that include eco-vision of the city, land use planning, health and well being, sustainable mobility, water, energy and infrastructure management, information technology and innovation.

Three water ATMs that have been installed at Eco Park have received accolades from IGBC. The bamboo railings for the road medians and tall tree nursery are joint ventures of Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) and Forest Development Corporation.

The GPS-based vehicles launched for effective solid waste management and automatic control for street lights, e-governance for collection of property tax, issuing of certificates and building plans of the township have been lauded by IGBC.

The introduction of electric air-conditioned buses has

been appreciated under the sustainable mobility issue. The three buses introduced in New Town have become immensely popular and they cover an area not covered by the normal buses.

The bodies of the 32 seater buses have been built by

Eicher, while the electrical systems have been installed by Pune-based KPIT. The fare of the buses is Rs 10. Battery charging centres have been set up.

More than 20,000 people have travelled in the buses in the past one and a half months. The cycle-hiring scheme, the only of its kind in the country, has also received national recognition.

The Eco Park has come up as the most well maintained urban park in Eastern India. The park stands on 480 acres of land and is surrounded by 112 acres of waterbody. The park's miniature replicas of the seven wonders of the world have attracted both domestic and foreign tourists.