MoU was signed between NMRCL & DRDO on 24th July 2016
Nagpur: The Nagpur Metro under stewardship of M.D. Brijesh Dixit continues to add more feathers to its cap. Just in the last 5 days they have signed two MOUs – first with DRDO and second with a 150 years old French Company called Bureau Veritas.
For those familiar with Defense scenario know DRDO is Research, Design and manufacture of defense equipment. It is a Govt. of India enterprise. So what role can it play in a city metro? More important – how can it make the Metro greener? Somehow, defense and green are not two notions that go hand in hand!
But that is what DRDO is precisely going to do. It is going to help Nagpur Metro recycle its waste water from all its establishments – offices, stations, homes built by it and the metro itself – so not a drop is wasted.
In its buildings it will have ‘double plumbing’ like you see in five star hotels where even the tap water in bathrooms can be used for drinking. Water will be sourced from two sources and through two pipe lines – one for flushing in W.C tanks and in showers and the other in the basin taps bathrooms and kitchens.
The role DRDO will play in recycling of water is sharing its technology of water purification with anaerobic bacteria. (Bacteria that works in the presence of air/ oxygen).The reason DRDO came to develop this technology is very interesting. As we know, the Indian army has jawans and officers positioned permanently in Siachen glaciers and other icy, mountainous places in the Himalayas. Disposal and treatment of human waste at such temperatures is very problematic. This is why the method of using anaerobic bacteria,which work with biodigester technology at such temperatures also, was developed.
Application to Nagpur Metro – In Nagpur, NMRCL (Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.) will not only run local trains from designated stations but the station buildings will be multi storeyed and will house shopping complex’ , offices etc. too. Specially the Sitabaldi station and the Zero mile station which will be adjacent to Sadar, which is the main business area of Nagpur.
Similarly, the metro depots at MIHAN and Hinga will use the air space above them for construction of residential properties. Each depot will accomodate at least 10,000 units or apartments. Each apartment will be from 800 to 1000 sq feet i.e. affordable middle class housing.
Both the depots will not be more than 300 meters away from the metro station. So people residing in the Depot housing can take the metro and go for work in the offices built at the metro stations in the city. Thus metro will provide end-to-end or home to work and back transit without a person having to use his own vehicle or any other means of transport. This is what makes Nagpur metro different and more unique than any of the other metros.
“Diversifying into real estate – both commercial and residential – will help us pay off our loans and still keep our tickets cheap” says Brijesh Dixit.
Water used at all these places will be recycled with the help of the DRDO technology. Each drop will be conserved and re used.
We will have roof top gardens and use space around our stations, whereve available for landscaped gardening too. These will all be watered from recycled sewage and waste water through capillary – drop water irrigation – system.” Explained Dixit.
The second MOu with Bureau Veritas will give Nagpur a world class material testing lab.
The Nagpur metro which has all very sophisticated technologies using high tech material, testing of the material at every step is very essential. Bureau Veritas offers just these services world wide. It has been testing infrastructure -building and construction material – for 150 years. They have a lab in Bengluru in India. Earlier it was envisaged that test batches of material would be carted there from Nagpur for testing periodically.
Later, to rationalize this process and in the bargain give Nagpur an establishment of permanent value NMRCL and Bureau Veritas decided to jointly set up a lab in Nagpur itself. This will offer the city a high quality testing lab available to all, not just Nagpur metro, and also offer employment to Nagpur youth.
The two MOUs were signed on 24th July and 27th July respectively.
