Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) launches its Mangaluru Chapter
Mangaluru: Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) on Wednesday launched its 26th Chapter in Coastal city of Mangaluru in a formal event at Hotel Taj Gateway in the city in the presence of Council’s National Chairman V Suresh and State Chairman Syed Mohammed Beary and other dignitaries.
The council which offers a wide array of services which include developing new green building rating programmes, certification services and green building training programmes was formed in 2001 and is a part of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The event began with the opening remarks of Syed Mohammed Beary who stressed upon the need to switch to sustainable development to save the environment and planet earth. Adding that the 21st century belongs to India he said “Sustainability is in India's ethos, we need not learn about it from others. Taj Mahal is the best example of sustainability. This is time to rise to the occasion and do it as a duty”.
Syed Mohammed Beary also added that the IGBC has advised the government to convert the smart city projects into green city.
“Green is fashion and it should become passion. And for sustainable development both architect and developer has an important role to play” he said while advising architect students present in the event to work towards sustainable development.
He also urged the MLAs to help the initiative through government.
Council’s national chairman V Suresh while addressing the event, stressed upon how population rise in India has made sustainability difficult in urban areas.
“Our population has increased more than four folds since Independence and this has made sustainability difficult in urban areas. We are on the urge of running out of drinking water in major cities of the world. Green Building and the role on IGBC in such a scenario is very important” he said.
“We started in 2001 with a road map, and now in 2019 we stand at 6.92 billion sq ft of green print. We are now moving with an aim of having this number at 10 billion by Independence day on 2022” he said while briefing about several of the key achievements of the council.
D B Mehta, Chairman of the IGBC Mangaluru Chapter in his address said that the aim and goal of all the stakeholders of the Mangaluru chapter will be the same as to how we can bring sustainable development in Mangaluru.
“The important challenge in Mangaluru will not be building green buildings but to maintain it and see through how the users take it forward”
“Waste management is also important aspect we need to work on, it’s a poison thats gone into earth and will take centuries to get eliminated” he further noted.
Mangaluru North MLA Dr. Bharath Shetty also addressed the event and said “We are at a stage where we are destroying and exploiting nature to an extent of no return. We are seeing money in everything. We see trees, we see money in it. We see sand, we see money in it. I am really happy that IGBC Mangaluru chapter has been launched”.
Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyadas Kamath also wished luck to the Mangaluru Chapter and promised full cooperation and support from the Government.
Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Mohammed Nazeer, Mangaluru University Registrar Airani Mohammed Khan also spoke about the need of such initiatives.
Student Chapters at various colleges and institutions were also formally launched at the event.
M Anand, Principal Counselor of IGBC compered the event.
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AI, IndiGo, SpiceJet seek ATF price relief; say airline industry on verge of 'stopping operations'
Mumbai (PTI): Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet have told the government that the country's airline industry is under extreme stress and on the verge of "stopping operations", as they sought revision in ATF pricing and financial support.
The West Asia turmoil has pushed up oil prices, and airspace restrictions have increased airlines' operating costs, especially on long-haul routes. Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) accounts for around 40 per cent of a carrier's operational expenses.
Against this backdrop, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has written to the civil aviation ministry, seeking steps to extend the same fuel pricing mechanism uniformly across both domestic and international operations as was done in the past with the establishment of the crack band.
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With an unprecedented rise in jet fuel prices and exorbitant crack/differential between crude and ATF, the federation said the operation of airlines is being challenged in totality.
"... any ad hoc pricing (domestic vs international) and/or irrational increase in the price of ATF will result in unsurmountable losses for airlines and will lead to grounding of aircraft, resulting in cancellation of flights," the federation, which represents Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet, said.
"In order to survive, sustain and continue operation, we request your urgent intervention for immediate and meaningful financial support to tide over the current situation," it said in a letter on April 26.
Also, the airlines have sought temporary deferment of excise duty on ATF, which is at 11 per cent.
"With the abnormal increase in ATF prices from the pre-crisis period, adding rupee depreciation to the increased prices, the 11 per cent excise duty also increases manifold for the airlines and adds to the ATF price as a big impact on airlines," they said.
Last month, the government limited the hike in ATF price to Rs 15 per litre for domestic operations, but for international operations, the price rose by Rs 73 per litre.
The airlines said the situation has practically made international operations, along with domestic operations, completely unviable and resulted in significant losses for the aviation sector in April.
Seeking urgent intervention on the current ATF ad hoc pricing, FIA said the current situation is creating a severe imbalance in domestic and international operations and rendering airline networks unviable and unsustainable.
"The airline industry in India is under extreme stress and is on the verge of closing down or of stopping its operations."
The federation has pitched for a transparent pricing framework under the crack band mechanism (USD 12–22/BBL) that was implemented in October 2022, saying there was a fair and reasonable margin for Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
According to FIA, the country's largest aviation hub Delhi has the second-highest value-added tax (VAT) of 25 per cent on jet fuel, while the highest rate is 29 per cent levied in Tamil Nadu.
"The other major aviation cities, viz. Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata range between 16 per cent and 20 per cent. These 6 cities cover more than 50 per cent of airlines' operations within India," the federation said.
