Gul Bahao

Into the 21st century with new ideas from Gul Bahao

Gul Bahao CEO describes research work to speaker of the Sindh Assembly Mr. Nisar Khuro

Yesterday Nargis Latif met the speaker of the Sindh Assembly Mr. Nisar Khuro. She claimed that Gul Bahao’s 15 years of research work has brought up practical implementations of the government’s slogan of ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makaan’. In fact she said that it has gone one step ahead and the new slogan is ‘Karachi’s gift to the world’ that “we have come up with solutions which can help to change the world”. Now, she said that the ball is in the court of the government, wherein it can not only change the prevailing conditions of Pakistan but also make a name for itself in the comity of nations.

Speaker Nisar Khuro accepted the invitation to be chief guest at the inauguration of the Gul Bahao complex, Located on Main Rashid Minhas Rd. on Saturday the 29th of June.

Nargis Latif said that in the short run the complex will be doing the following:

  1. Providing cheap housing
  2. Providing cheap raw material for industry
  3. Teaching all and sundry about recycling and different ways income generation.

In the long run Gul Bahao plans to attract businessmen both from the formal and informal sectors and demonstrate how

  1. We can export pre fabricated houses
  2. Prepare cheap fodder for animals
  3. Cheap fuel can be provided for running power plants

Nargis Latif said that today we refer to the Chinese as an example but we forget that China has been built on the edifice of the Chinese revolution which in turn was built on sheer human hand work and no fancy technology was involved. In the meantime Nargis Latif is personally meeting different stake holders to come to the inauguration of Gul Bahao complex which will consist of

  1. Research centre for waste management
  2. Chandi Ghar- plant for pre fabricated construction
  3. Safai/Kamai bank- a collection point for assorted municipal waste

Gul Bahao’s innovations presented to President of The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry

Yesterday, Nargis Latif of Gul Bahao met the president of the FPCCI Mr. Tanvir Sheikh and other office bearers including Mr. Shakil Dhingra at the head office of this premier institution. Nargis Latif said Gul Bahaos 14 years of research and extension has the potential of changing the entire economy of the city. Prominent among its innovations which are directly going to impact the economy she said was the Safai /Kamai bank, the Chandi Ghar or prefab housing, and fuel pack which is fuel for running power plants. Nargis Latif said the factors which have supported these innovations are:

  1. A high level of urbanization and population
  2. Immigrants who are highly innovative
  3. Clear skies for the greater part of the year

Nargis said that Gul Bahao from the time of its inception has been spreading the word that most of municipal waste is raw material for industry which will bring down the cost of production. Its staff of seventy to eighty young men for years has conducted campaigns allover the city motivating junk dealers (with cash as well as gold) to trade in assorted garbage. This methodology ensured that the garbage was clean and fit to be raw material for industry including cottage industry as well as large scale manufacturing industry. Nargis claimed its collection points or Safai/Kamai banks at weekly bazaars motivated women to separate their garbage into dry and wet or so that they would be in prime condition for industry.

As part of the presentation the Managing Trustee of Gul Bahao showed photographs and CDs of the Chandi Ghar, (Prefab Systems), a totally new technology innovated by Gul Bahao which took years to develop. Nargis said these Prefab Systems can become part of large scale manufacture, they may be exported, they may be used in the following situations:

  1. During Haj, a huge market is available for the Pakistani exporters would have a monopoly on this technology.
  2. For relief work in earthquakes tsunami and other natural disasters and wars etc.
  3. For military purposes.
  4. For oil rigging.
  5. Medical camps.
  6. Tourist industries.
  7. For camps in big cities on prime land to be used as election camps, mobile schools, advertising purposes etc.

Nargis Latif regretted that the pioneering work done by Gul Bahao has not received the support it should have from the business community. It has had to borrow from Money Lenders at exorbitant interest rates of 80-120%. The office bearers of the FPCCI gave a patient hearing to Nargis’s presentation . Mr. Tanveer sheikh presented a cheque of Rs. 300,000/- (three lacs) in his personal capacity and promised more help in the future.

Chandi Ghar exhibition on independence day

Gul Bahao in its press release has invited the public to see the latest model of its pre fabricated house on main Rashid Minhas Road. This updated version of the Chandi Ghar comes at a time when the nation is celebrating its 60th birthday. The innovation is remarkable in that no country in the world including the developed worlds China, USA or Europe have come up with anything like this. The structure is composed of wastic blocks and panaflex panels which are in turn made up of plastic, aluminum foil and cardboard residue. The structure is also portable. Following are the improved features of the innovation:

  1. Its modest, humble-looking structure has transformed into one of grandeur; it glitters in the light both inside and outside,
  2. The blocks are covered with silver panels which ensure the longevity of the structure,
  3. The improvement in the roof panel is its water-proof quality, since there is a single panel for the roof which ensures that water does not trickle into the room.
  4. The cost of the panel for the roof has gone down considerably, the roof 10X10 costs as little as rupees 1500, making it extremely attractive for the poor.

Recently the Rotary Club had asked Gul Bahao to come up with the shelter for the flood affected. In response Gul Bahao has put up one such structure in Clifton. It is extremely simple, comprising only of panaflex panels and bamboo sticks. The shelter costs as little as rupees 4000-6000.  These shelters are of the size 10X10, while a room complete with blocks and panels costs between 8000-15000. The shelters because of their low cost can be given to the flood affected on a massive scale. According to Gul Bahao, its research has yielded products which can be used by both the rich and the poor. Gul Bahao has appealed to architects, NGOs, politicians, the media and the Pakistani public to take up this innovation  (research on which has cost rupees 4 crore) as a product coming from Pakistan.

Gul Bahao CEO describes water purification technique to medical students at the P.M.A house

Yesterday Gul Bahao’s Nargis Latif spoke at a gathering organized by the Gastroenterology Association and the Pakistan Medical Association at the P.M.A house. The gathering consisted mostly of medical students and laymen. Nargis observed that this meeting is being held on the eve of the World Environment day for which Gul Bahao has a special message.

She began by saying that there is lot of hue and cry being raised at the spread of infectious diseases but little effort to find solutions. She however commended the Vice Chancellor of the Dow University of Health sciences who declared at a recent conference that “Diseases which spread through the consumption of contaminated water can be controlled by exposing water to the sun.”

Nargis said that eight years ago she was trying to find out the cure for diarrhea and other waterborne diseases using this very same principle. The challenge before her was what kind of water container to use as conventional containers like the earthenware pot, the cooler, metal utensils etc are opaque so that sunlight cannot pass through them and if their lids are removed contamination in the surroundings would freely enter the vessel. No doubt glass bottles with their corks on were available but with house holds with children, using them would be very inconvenient, she thought.

Gul Bahao’s managing trustee said that the best solution she discovered was the transparent plastic water bottle for purifying water. She said she fills these bottles up with tap water and then puts them in the sunlight for a few hours and drinks the water after cooling it. She called it Paaki Paani, meaning pure water. The advantage of the methodology is its superiority to boiling water. In this case unlike boiling water, Paaki Paani retains its mineral content while the germs are killed. After using this water, Nargis said that she who used to be patient of diarrhea was completely cured.

Later on, as part of Gul Bahao’s campaign her organization took it upon itself to spread the idea. Several people have reported good results after drinking Paaki Paani. These include individuals suffering from diarrhea; People journeying by road; little children who had to be hospitalized for dehydration and people living in “kutchi abadis”.

Someone in the audience asked what is the scientific rationale behind this technique and why no one had thought about it earlier on. To this Nargis replied that it is the ultra violet rays from the sun which are germicidal. I.e. it kills all kinds of bacteria and viruses thus making the water fit for consumption.

To the second question Nargis replied that sunshine is not available in abundance everywhere. This is the reason that people in the west have to produce ultraviolet rays of the sun artificially in their water purifying systems. We in the east and especially in Pakistan are fortunate to have plenty of sunshine of long duration most of the year. Hence Paaki Paani is a very useful method of water purification. The managing trustee of Gul Bahao appealed to the audience to propagate the idea of Paaki Paani as this will get rid of more than half the diseases our people especially our children are suffering from. She said that this is one big way of earning “sawab”.

In another statement on the occasion of environment day Nargis Latif has appealed to the Pakistan media to take up the issue of Paaki Paani. Clean water is one of the biggest health issues in Pakistan and this simple technique provides an excellent solution. Moreover Gul Bahao has for the last thirteen years being working on different aspects of the environment and has come up with systems and products, which provide answers to several problems. Research is the key to our problems and by the grace of God Gul Bahao has spent more than six crore rupees in its research program. Only in 2002 its expenditure was around 1 crore and 20 lacs. Despite the spending the innovations are very simple and cheap. These include “Safai/Kamai bank”, “City Farms”, “Instant Compost”, “Chandi Ghar” and “Fuel Pack” and the list keeps on increasing.

Gul Bahao CEO urges recycing efforts during lecture at Karachi University’s Botany Departement

Yesterday, Dr Irtefaq Ali, former V.C of Karachi University and well known Pakistani scientist introduced Nargis Latif, managing trustee, Gul Bahao to a gathering of senior professors and research scholars of the botany department of Karachi University. Describing Nargis Latif as an old student of the botany department, Dr Irtefaq highly appreciated Nargis’s research work in waste management. The professors said they were acquainted with Nargis’s research work as described in the media and said that trials on an organic fertilizer devised by her were conducted in the department by a former professor, Dr Swaliha Ahmed. Nargis said that research in waste management was a very exciting subject due to the sheer variety and volume of wastage one could experiment with. Nargis said that her “laboratory” was the real world with its problems and markets.

Nargis was informed by the head of the department Dr Zafar Iqbal that work was being done on the recycling of sewage water. Nargis said that she was campaigning for aforestation or greening of the sewage drains so that the dirty water does not enter the seas. She reminded that there is real danger to Karachi’s ports if factory effluents continue to be poured into the seas.

In the meantime Nargis spoke to a gathering of counselors of S.I.T.E and orangi towns who had gathered at the S.I.T.E association auditorium for a seminar arranged by the architecture department of the N.E.D University. Nargis Latif said that it was a rare occasion to see research workers addressing people’s problems. Our universities she said are by and large degree manufacturing factories only. According to her research is not a luxury. It is the need of the hour. Especially in waste management. She said “We cannot stop new kinds of wastage from coming up. Just as we cannot stop industrial progress”. She gave the example of her organization, Gul Bahao, which after years of research has come up with alternative blocks made from plastic waste.

Nargis Latif said that the approach to waste management should be recycling or commercial use of waste. The conventional method of collecting mixed garbage and taking it to land sites is unaffordable, outmoded and unnatural. The situation has become explosive because we are ignoring the agricultural or green aspect of the city as well as its informal cottage industry sector. She regretted that we have a very negative approach towards cattle pens. What is needed is a scientific and hygienic use of organic waste as fodder for livestock. Organic waste she said is ideal for rearing livestock and nurseries where apart from ornamental plants expensive medicinal plants can also be grown.

She said that aforestation needs to be done along the big nullahs of the city and its wood grown commercially to be used for growing furniture or fuel so ultimately less and less sewage water goes into the sea. She said an integrated approach is required to connect the U.Cs and recycling work. A system needs to be evolved where by the U.Cs may charge fees or rentals for the use of organic wastage separated at source. For instance cattle or sheep may be allowed to graze near Kachra Kundis where organic waste is separated. This grazing may be done for limited time that is from five o’clock to seven in the morning or late in the evening from six to nine. Similarly nurseries may be bound to buy organic waste for use as natural fertilizer. Also for dry or recyclable waste, junk shops may be encouraged to buy wastage from homes. She said that this will result in the withering away of the Kachra Kundis. According to her all these measures.

Nargis Latif said that the informal sector no doubt is playing a big role in recycling but it needs to be upgraded and managed and organized in scientific way. Scavenging she said is not the ultimate answer. Instead an integrated approach involving Kabaris, Counselors, research workers, livestock owners, nursery owners, house keepers and media should be taken.