Emphasising that development of green buildings was the only answer to the trend of rising power consumption, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday asked the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to bring out manuals suggesting ways to make houses environment-friendly.
The construction of houses as per “Green Building” concept requires no additional expenditure. The Government buildings, including hospitals and educational institutions have been concentrating on water-harvesting. It has also been made mandatory in respect of plot size of more than 100 sq m. The Chief Minister was speaking at a function to mark the 159th CPWD day. She said that while techniques like water-harvesting, waste-to-energy and recycling were needed, the least expensive and perhaps least resisted measure towards sustainability was green buildings.
“As population grows, as people have more money in their hands to spend, naturally they will be spending on items which are costly not only for them, but costly to the sustainability of our environment,” Dikshit said. “I would be grateful if CPWD could bring out manuals to make our houses and buildings ‘green’,” she added.
The Chief Minister further said that simple measures like painting roofs of buildings could help in saving energy. Dikshit said that CPWD had started building from recycled material and added that while there was resistance to this idea, it must be given greater impetus. She lauded CPWD’s work during the 2010 Commonwealth Games and stated that the department has played an integral role in the growth process of the country.
The Chief Minister presented certificates for excellence to the CPWD engineers A short film on the journey of CPWD was screened during the celebrations. Secretary (UD), Government Dr Sudhir Krishnan, Vice-Chairman (DDA) Diptivilasa and DG (CPWD) VK Gupta were present on the occasion.