’This is my city, and I own it’

A chemical engineer and an MBA from IIM Kolkata, Satish Khot (62), has worked in many companies and is now a management consultant. But he admits that he may seen been to places, but at heart he is a typical Puneite.

'This is my city, and I own it'

Truly, he has Pune in his blood. A chemical engineer and an MBA from IIM Kolkata, Satish Khot (62), has worked in many companies and is now a management consultant. But he admits that he may seen been to places, but at heart he is a typical Puneite.

"I came to Pune after completing my MBA in 1975. My work took me to many cities in India and abroad, but I came back to Pune. And this is my base," he said, sitting in his Kalyani Nagar residence.

His passion today is the National Society for Clean Cities (NSCC). As the president he takes up issues, "that concern Puneites to make the city a better place to live in."

How did it all start? He recalled, "It started around the year 2000, in a Puneri adda when all we did
was crib."

But, soon realisation dawned. He elaborated, "We thought instead of cribbing, why not act? We decided to call a meeting of all citizens staying around. We made a notice and put it up in all the neighbouring societies. To our surprise around 50 people turned up!" This was very encouraging.

This is how the journey began for Satish Khot. Soon, he started taking up the cudgels for different cases and moved successfully from strength to strength.

Novel idea
His rendezvousu00a0 with NSCC began in 2002. And in no timeu00a0 he was totally involved.

"In fact, our credo is: Pune a clean city, clean in every which way," he told MiD DAY. From a clean environment to au00a0 clean administration to clean governance, Khot wants the city to be an epitome of cleanliness.

"We have a lot on our plate. We are trying to empower citizens to arrive at solutions," he pointed out. He feels that citizens should fight for their rights and only then problems will be solved.

They should show ownership. "Only if you own something, will you ask questions regarding the cleanliness of the city," he added.

The NSCC is currently involved in 'participatory budget making' with the PMC so that citizens can make suggestions to improve their locality. Failing to hide the enthusiasm in his voice, Khot said, "We are now emphasising on theu00a0 need for hawkers' zones and the PMC is working on it. And at the NSCC we are working towards starting a Green Pune Movement. for which we have collected 75,000 signatures already."

"Pune is my city, I own the city and I want every citizen to feel like this,' he concluded passionately.

Huge support
A point that was seconded heartily by Gita Vir, one of the founder members of the NSCC. "Khot is truly one of the best presidents who has spearheaded this group," she said.

"He has an art of getting people to move, getting them to participate and even fight for a cause," she added.