MY HEROES: DOERS

WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE

Almitra H Patel
Member, Supreme Court Committee
for Solid Waste Management in
Class 1 Cities in India

almitrapatel@rediffmail.com
www.almitrapatel.com
HEROES ARE ALL AROUND US,
LIKE MY FATHER: PHEROZE SIDHWA
Born 1893, 7th of 8 children, dirt poor
Eldest brother helped him thru BA, LLB.
Jamshed N Mehta a Gandhian inspired him
in 1922 to make India self-reliant. Started 9
industries: Bharat Tiles, Grindwell, Lightcrete
insulation, TIPCO, Fysax (now Hind Ferodo),
Bharat Metal Printers (now Metal Box), rock
wool, first granite sawing, floor cleaners etc. 2
 MY MOTHER : TEHMI (nee VACHA)
Born 1909, the 4th of 5 kids of Parsi parents.
Father taught 8 Indian languages at Berlin U.
Was interned in WW 1, so family starved,
mother was stunted. Educated well, sent to
India in 1934 for arranged marriage.
Took over a failing school to help 40 kids pass
finals. Grew it single-handed to now 3950
poor kids: Jr KG to SSC in English + Marathi
medium, 2 shifts, on 5 acres in Devlali, Mah. 3
EMPOWERED ME : 1ST Indian girl at MIT ?
BS in Gen Engg, MS in Industrial Ceramics.
6 yrs R&D for Grindwell, then 24 yrs making
import-substitution foundry refractories.
1972 moved to 4 villages away from Blore.
From 1991, after retirement, addressed the
problem of Bangalore garbage dumped on
roadsides: stray dogs killing rural livestock,
chasing 2-wheelers, kids and farm workers.
Fields made infertile by plastic and leachate.
Helped city find land for waste management.
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KAKA KANTISEN SHROFF, MY ECO-GURU

Saw plants-cattle-humans use each others wastes

and the need to revive sustainable Vedic recycling
of urban food waste nutrients back to the soil.
Chairman of Excel Industries, he developed bio-
cultures to compost city waste in wind-rows.

This became the heart of Indias waste-mgt

policy: keep wet and dry wastes unmixed till
collected separately for composting and recycling
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CAPT J S VELU, A BIPOLAR VISIONARY
Came to Blr to implement Exnoras door-to-door
garbage collection to keep wastes off the streets.
1994 Surat plague: India sitting on a time-bomb.
Conceived Clean India Campaign in 2 weeks :
30 cities in 30 days in my Maruti hi-roof van.
Clean Up & Flourish or Pile Up and Perish.
We found Highways are the Garbage Map of India
Hugely positive Municipal response inspired our
2nd Clean India Campaign in 1995: Marketing Hope
to 70 more cities from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
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S R RAO, THE SAVIOUR OF SURAT
One fearless IAS officer transformed Surat
from Indias dirtiest city to 2nd cleanest in 18
months through additional cleaning charges
Made an example of those using money,
muscle or influence to flout the law.
Led by example, with 6am surprise rounds.
Identified and removed black spots 1 by 1.
Instant and effective grievance redressals
inspired voluntary road-widening cooperation.
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MY P.I.L IN THE SUPREME COURT
Two heroines (Nargis Irani and Katy Rustom)
whose 10 year battle made Dahanu Indias first
Eco-sensitive Zone, inspired me at an INTACH
meet to file a PIL in the Supreme Court in Dec
1996, for every State and U.T. to provide
waste-processing land for 300 largest cities.

S.C. appointed 8 experts to frame a Solid Waste Mgt

Policy, finalised after inputs from 300 Mpl Commrs .

This became the basis of our waste mgt Rules 2000.

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 PENDING ISSUES:
POLLUTION PREVENTION IN WASTE
Bio-sanitising and bio-mining
Plastic roads (see PROBES/101/2005-06
and PROBES/122/2008-09 of CPCB)
Lead-free paints and labelling
Low-mercury tube-lights and labelling
Low-free-phosphate detergents to help
control water-hyacinth in lakes & rivers
No use-and-throw PVC
Sell only Compostable garbage bin liners
Mandatory Certification of fly ash used in
ready-mix concrete
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Dr KEKI H GHARDA, GHARDA CHEMICALS
My 16-year SWM crusade had the constant support
of my gem of a husband, Hoshang Patel, a cheerful,
fair & much-loved CEO.
His friend Dr Gharda is a globally famous 82 yr old
chemist whose brilliant innovations have produced
better and far cheaper dyes, agrochemicals,
high-performance plastics, pigments and now a
path-breaking process to recover iron, Al and Ti
from Red Mud, a global pollutant in trillions of tons.
Hes given all to a Trust to run non-profit Gharda
Institute of Technology in Ratnagiri Dist & fund
applied research which will fund more charities. 10
DHANANJAY T DESAI = BHARATBHAI
He tried to run away from college at 17 to
serve lepers at Dr Patwardhans Amravati
ashram. Advised to serve parents first, he
renounced a brilliant C.A. career at age 47 to
serve tribals, run RNC Free Eye Hospital and
a fine blood bank in Valsad, run hospitals and
schools and give free accounting advice to
NGOs. An amazing 66 yr old doer !
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JOSE JOSEPH, KOCHI: CLEANCITY.IN
Many citizens take waste-mgt initiatives
in their apartment, street or ward.
Jose has merged technology and social
engg to divert 30 tons a day of Kochi
waste from open dumping through
decentralised composting in terrace
biobins for 30,000 families with CREDAI
help. Mfg fibreglass biobins and biogas
units for home to bulk use.
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P PARTHASARATHY: E-PARISARAA
A chemical engineer and electrochemical
expert who has pioneered simple eco-friendly
responsible E-waste recycling in India.
Can supply eqpt for safe recycling of high-
mercury tube-lights, no-burn stripping of
PVC from copper cables etc.

PERSES BILIMORIA : EARTHSOUL

Promoting fully-compostable plastic since 11
years. Is far ahead of the time for India.
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TUSHAR SHAH : DAMANGANGA GROUP
Dedicated one of his four paper mills at Vapi,
Gujarat to the recycling of used Tetrapaks :
Its paper for wood-pulp, waste plastic+Al foil
For wonderful corrugated roofing sheets,
3o C cooler than AC sheets.
Now producing similar unbreakable roofing
from unwanted post-consumer plastic waste

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C R ALIMCHANDANI :STUP CONSULTANTS
Studied in Paris under Freysinnet and
brought Pre-Stressed Concrete knowhow
to India in 1960s.
All structural designs driven by the desire
to save the nations scarce resources
through large savings in concrete and steel.
World class : tallest cooling towers, longest
spans, nuclear domes copied world over,
slimmest flyover piers to save road space
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SREERAM : CONSTRUCTION ENGINEER
Built scores of schools and hospitals in
Africa for Aid Agencies without fired brick.

Rushed to India to construct durable homes

for Tsunami-affected in 2004
Saved church tower of 150yr St Andrews, Blr

Built Indias largest rammed-earth structure:

19,000 sft G+2 15-room wing for us at
Tanisandra Govt High School in Bangalore.
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RAMESH KACHOLIA + NIMESH
SUMATI: CARING FRIENDS
Two businessmen who travel widely to evaluate
NGO work in the field and bring outstanding
performers to the notice of donors in search of
genuine groups through monthly presentations by
one of 30 NGOs, in Mumbai. Totally informal work.
E.g. NASEEMA DIDIs HELPERS OF THE
HANDICAPPED AT KOLHAPUR & KUDAL
A paraplegic running two hostels, school, workshop
and cashew factory for the severely disabled.
See www.hohk.org 17
R S HIREMATH : FLEXITRON, BLR
Hugely innovative entrepreneur with deep
concern for disabled and poor :
Solar rechargers for hearing aid batteries
Disability aids and systems
Electric wheelchairs and bicycle retrofit kits
Bicycle-operated mobile charging bank
E-Charkha for hand-spinners to get LED light,
mobile charging and small radio.
Wide range of LEDs for AC or solar power
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DR RANGA : THRIVE ENERGY TECH.
Farmers son, discouraged from higher studies
Did MBA, Ph D, Harvard 2 yrs, worked in World
Bank etc, taught 8 yrs at ASCI, started NGO to
distribute solar LED lights to remote poor.
Started own solar LED lighting company to ensure
quality and field maintenance training
Upto 50% own subsidy for NGOs, SHGs, poorest
Encourages assembly of most affordable lighting for
local employment generation
Dream: Rs 1000 cr Co, 1 million lights, no dark village.
See www.onechildonelight.org
www.thriveenergy.co.in
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 YOU !
Each of you can be the next big dreamer
and doer.

I await the day when Rashmi Bansal, who

wrote Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish about
IIMA achievers, writes a collection on
Sadhanas achievers too.
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