The New Year has brought in good news for those residents who have launched initiatives in the service of the community, be it harnessing of solar power or building of compost pits.
United RWAs Joint Action (URJA), an umbrella body of over 3,000 residents’ associations in the Capital, has invited applications from RWAs for their initiatives in various sectors, such as environment, pollution, energy and water conservation, waste management, parking and other social projects. The awards will be conferred under different categories, including ‘Best Practice’, ‘Good Governance’ and ‘Transparency’.
Amit Aggarwal, URJA convenor from Vasant Kunj, said: “We are gearing up for the awards. We have built a compost pit in our colony park, where we recycle organic waste, such as kitchen leftovers, flowers from temples, etc, into manure. We had tied up with an NGO to learn the process. We are now planning to have a pit in every house in the locality to manage green waste.”
Further stating that the aim of the awards was to encourage people to take responsibility for their surroundings, Aggarwal said: “The award ceremony will ensure that a large number of people join the network and convey the message.”
As part of its green initiatives, Vasant Kunj’s Pocket-C RWA has installed solar panels on the rooftop of its office. “It has been more than a year since we put up solar panels as an experiment. Today, we are saving 25 per cent on our electricity bills by producing 1 KW of energy,” an RWA member said.
P Wangnoo of the Munirka Vihar RWA said: “We had started gathering people in small groups under our project ‘Know Thy Neighbour’. We then managed to get people involved in many activities, from maintaining parks to managing parking. The award motivates people to keep attending to issues in their neighbourhood.”
Munirka Vihar had received the ‘Best Governed’ colony award last year.
Source: dnaindia.com