Fruits of success: NKDA's rooftop garden yields organic veggies

The rooftop garden concept that has been generated by New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has produced satisfactory

results and many people in New Town have shown keen interest to use their own rooftops for the same.

The state Urban Development department minister Firhad Hakim and state Agriculture minister Purnendu Basu visited the garden house atop the NKDA market IC near Novotel and appreciated the quality of the vegetables. Hakim also congratulated NKDA for taking such a unique venture.

It may be recalled that NKDA is the only development agency in the state that has come up with such a useful venture. He said that other civic bodies and people should replicate the model so that more and more organic vegetables are produced.

It may be recalled that organic vegetables from Nadia district had recently been exported to Europe. The first batch of consignment was sent in last year's December.

There is a craze for organic vegetables which are healthy and free from chemical fertilisers. Many NRIs who either stay in New Town or come to the area during vacations prefer to have these organic vegetables.

Growing vegetables on small rooftops are not uncommon but having a garden covering an area of nearly 6,000 square feet is a rarity. The roof is being used in a four-fold manner.

Firstly, organic farming and secondly for rainwater harvesting. This is followed by solar panel and for recycling market waste to create compost. The organic vegetables have been sold through Sattiwk, a retail outlet and price of the vegetables are kept 20 per cent less than the market price. The retail outlet is being run by an NGO that uses the space allotted by NKDA.

There is a water tank on the ground floor of the market with 20,000 litre storage capacity. This water is lifted to the rooftop garden with the help of a pump run by solar power.

The garbage cleaning cost has gone down along with the cost of vegetable storage. When asked whether many more such gardens would come up in New Town, NKDA chairman Debashis Sen said it was a pilot project and NKDA wanted people to come forward and replicate it and use the rooftop effectively.