The New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) will soon issue the final notification for all high-rise buildings in the township to have mandatory provision for rooftop gardening and rainwater harvesting, along with a few other rules.
The authorities are in the process of making the necessary modifications in the building rules. NKDA has already developed rooftop gardening in some of its market complexes.
NKDA had issued an advisory in March, urging residents to take up rooftop gardening and develop rainwater harvesting systems in their housing complexes, along with a few other measures, like planting trees in all plots, setting up electric vehicle charging points at car parking spaces inside housing complexes and developing waste water recycling systems.
NKDA officials said the aim of mandatory provisions for rainwater harvesting and rooftop gardening is to have a green and clean New Town and develop a sustainable environment for the township to keep up with its ‘green city’ tag. New Town has been awarded the ‘platinum-rated Green City certificate’ by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) for its initiatives on creating a sustainable environment.
According to the advisory, a waste water recycling system should be developed in all buildings, including group housings, that have a minimum discharge of 25,000L and above per day for flushing of toilets, gardening, car wash-ing and other uses. The roof area of each building should also have reflecting paint and solar panels to minimize heat absorption.
NKDA has also proposed a maximum permissible limit of potable water supply of 120 litres per capita per day for the residential population and 40 litres per capita per day for the floating population. To increase the green cover, NKDA has set a target of planting 10,000 trees this season.
