‘Why people throw so much ‘kachra’ these days?’
That’s precisely what has been worrying Alu Dewa, the oldest female conservancy worker of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, who was felicitated at the Show. At 86, it was a moment of pride and honour for her to be presented with a shawl and a gift cheque by Clean India Journal, amid a crowd of national and international delegates. Frail and old, Alu Dewa never felt cleaning or sweeping the roads was a menial job. “It’s just like cleaning our homes. But, at that time, there was not much littering on the roads either. I wonder how people throw so much garbage on the roads today. We, of course, did manual cleaning then but we have the machines to clean today making things much easier.” Taking up the cleaning job in 1946 was a necessity for Alu Dewa. She began with Rs65 per month and ended her career in 1981 with a salary of Rs300.
They kept the venue Clean
While CIP was on, there were two companies working behind the scene to keep the premises clean and hygienic as per international standards. Best Practice Washrooms Pvt Ltd maintained the restrooms and All Services Under 1 Roof (India) P Ltd managed the housekeeping of the show area. Clean India Journal appreciates the special contribution made by both the companies.
Two-day Seminar on FM/Housekeeping
The seminar hall was fully packed with more than 200 delegates who came looking for specific solutions and guidance to enhance their business performance. FM heads, housekeeping service providers, corporate houses, 
pharma companies and others joined the interactive sessions conducted by prominent speakers, including Keith Monteiro, VP-Central Administration, Reliance Industries Ltd; Siddharth Kanakia, Partner, Hariani & Co. Advocates & Solicitors; Ramaswamy Gopalakrishnan, VP Local Commercial Bank, CITI Bank; Smita Mahale, Manager Housekeeping, Knight Frank India Pvt Ltd; Hydros Jassem, Business Manager, Middle East, Africa & South Asia, Technical Concepts; Jolly Kochery, Country Manager, ISS Integrated Facility Services Pvt Ltd; Dr Sreenivasan, CEO, HR Strategist; Ashwin Bhosale, Deputy GM, Housekeeping & Facility Services, Sodexo Food, Facilities and Project Management Services; Gilles Troff, Category Manager, Alfred Karcher GmbH & Co. KG; Samit Sanyal, Head-Marketing (I&L) JohnsonDiversey India; and Amrut Bhadale, National Head Manufacturing, Eureka Forbes Ltd.
CIJ partnered with Roots, Tenant, Lions Service and Aquair to host the seminar.
Ajey D Naik, the administration in charge or Bursar of the Hansraj Morarji Public School and Junior College, found the seminar very useful and outstanding, as he maintains 18 buildings, 4000 children’s requirements, hostel buildings and dining hall.
“It provided a platform for the participants to evaluate themselves or their organization with the benchmarks of the industry,” said Keith Monteiro.
Marilyn Bhutani, Deputy Chief Manager, Administration, Times of India, was excited with the “absolutely amazing” and “fantastic” seminar. She particularly found solutions for maintaining the corporate office. “The feminine hygiene session has been useful and we are installing the system at our office,” she said.
The session on HR presented by Dr Sreenivasan, was very interactive, as it gave new ideas and points on how to deal with staff. “Besides, it kept us attentive all through,” said Sandeep Bamonia, Senior Executive, Housekeeping, Unising Projects Pvt Ltd (Unitech Ltd), on a lighter note.
There was so much to learn and share that B Sudhakar, Facility Manager, Lancor Maintenance & Services Ltd, conducted a training back home in Chennai and passed on the information gathered at CIP to his colleagues.
While all the speakers supported and much appreciated the seminar sessions, Naushad Panjwani in a nutshell said, “well-organised, good response, good crowd, good job”.
