Hyderabad : Addressing the delegates at the closing day of 17th Green Building Congress 2019, Minister for Roads & Buildings, Legislative Affairs & Housing Vemula Prashanth Reddy today said the State government was making a determined effort in transforming Telangana into a holistically sustainable State. The minister invited Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to partner with the Government in its green and sustainable initiatives.
He said the State government has taken up construction of 2.8 lakh houses in the State under Double Bedroom Housing Scheme. “We will consider adopting green measures”, he said. Somesh Kumar, IAS, Special Chief Secretary, Revenue and Chairperson of TSRERA said green buildings are need of the hour. He also said that based on his personal experience, green buildings being costlier is a myth. He called for creating more awareness on green building concepts.
Somesh Kumar also said the Haritha Haram initiative launched under the visionary leadership of the Chief Minister, has now been made institutionalized, and the government has mandated the municipalities and gram panchayats to allocate 10% of their Budget for promoting Haritha Haram campaign.
V Suresh, Chairman, IGBC said the IGBC was looking forward to work more closely with the State government in further accelerating the green building movement in the State. The day was marked by the launch of IGBC’s green homes rating version 3.0. This rating was designed to facilitate the projects to incorporate green design concepts right at the design stage.
During the session, three schools – Chikatya Primary School, Dang district, Gujarat; Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Mukteswarapuram Zilla Parishad High School in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh were recognized for their initiatives in greening their respective schools. The three schools were awarded cash prize of Rs 4 lakh each for implementing green building ideas. The ‘Green Your School’ program was supported by Carrier and implemented by IGBC.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between CII-IGBC and Department of Technical Education. The MoU aims to spread awareness on the need and importance of green buildings and green built environment among students and the teaching community in the State. The MoU was signed by Navin Mittal, IAS, Commissioner, Department of Technical Education and V Suresh, Chairman, IGBC.
The MoU would focus on exploring courses on green building concepts and technologies in architectural, planning and engineering education. The MoU would also facilitate in launching IGBC Student Chapters across Telangana in technical institutes of planning, architecture and engineering. The MoU aims to prepare and equip the next generation for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030. (NSS)
