Mohini Bhosekar bags third prize for thesis on river tourism for socio economic development in a village in Beed District
Pune: Two students of MKSSS’s Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture for Women ( BNCA ) were shortlisted in the final ten at the National Student Thesis Competition STC Season 2 – Reimagining Urban Rivers was organised by National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and National Mission for Clean Ganga – Namami Gange (NMCG).
‘Re-imagining Urban Rivers’ was a national level thesis competition being undertaken by NMCG and NIUA to promulgate river-sensitive development of cities and engage young minds to research and bring out solutions for urban river issues that was conducted from September 2021 to July 2022.
The preliminary thesis proposals of Mohini Vikas Bhosekar and Sanika Prashant Upasani from BNCA who were working under the eminent guidance of Dr. Prof. Kavita Murugkar, were sent as an entry and were shortlisted out of 1500 entries nationwide – 10 for UG category. They both were given a research grant of 50,000/-
Dr. Anurag Kashyap, Principal BNCA said that it is heartening and reassuring to see students working on real life issues and presenting tangible and workable innovative solutions to address these.
An online workshop and an offline workshop of three days was conducted by NIUA NMCG at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
Mohini Bhosekar’s project ‘Pragati Setu – bridging the socio-economic gaps using river tourism as a catalyst’ was a case of river Vincharna and Shinde Wasti in Sautada village of Beed district in Maharashtra. After identifying key issues through participatory approach, she presented a design which was a grand celebration of the river – aiming to be socially inclusive, economically beneficial and environmentally responsible.
Her proposal consisted of Agro-tourism in Shinde Wasti and Visitor’s centre for Rameshwar Temple and Waterfall. The Agro-tourism intervention was a holistic design consisting of agro-experience, fishing, wellness zones and accommodation for tourists along with a bridge, medical facility and training zone for villagers, with native landscape policy for preserving the existing ecology of the river. She bagged the third prize in the student thesis competition in UG category.
The project by Sanika Prashant Upasani ‘ METAMORPHOSIS’ was on Ecological Restoration and Development of an abandoned quarry, a case of ARAI Stone Quarry. The thesis presented a plan on ecological restoration of the quarry hole including plantation of herbal garden, Butterfly Park, plantations of water lilies and water chestnuts, introduction of pisciculture, etc along with enhancing the biodiversity, and building environmentally responsive public infrastructure.
