Richard North of the EU Referendum reports on this bizarre twist with IPCC Chairman Rajenda Pachauri’s use of land that was designated for public use, now runs afoul of the grant terms under which the land was given. Plus a lot of water in a city that has water shortages. So much for sustainability.
Pachauri, famous for telling other how to live sustainable lives has a private chauffeur, spurns his electric cars provided for him, and once said in a newspaper interview:
‘Unfortunately, “social and environmental issues are often left without effective support when economic growth takes precedence,” he added.’
So, that’s why you charge memberships to your golf course and keep out the public from land given to you designated for public use?
It’s time for Pachauri to go. He’s dirty, deceitful, and dim witted. His personal life is hypocritical of what he preaches to the rest of the world via his IPCC position and is a public relations disaster.
![[TERI+Green.jpg]](https://i0.wp.com/4.bp.blogspot.com/_rqH4fUbko2U/S4A3PHWF_XI/AAAAAAAAQKk/nlTh6WYalX0/s1600/TERI%2BGreen.jpg?resize=162%2C249&quality=83)
“Happiness in life is based on expectations,” writes Rajendra K Pachauri on his own blog. And if your expectations include ownership of a nine-hole golf course, then Dr Pachauri must be a very happy man indeed.
The ownership is reported today by the Indian newspaper the Mail Today which tells us that R K Pachauri’s “not-for-profit” TERI – imbued with a mission to “work towards global sustainable development, creating innovative solutions for a better tomorrow” – is the proud owner of a water-guzzling nine hole golf course in Gual Pahari on the outskirts of Gurgaon a satellite town to the southwest of New Delhi.
This much is not new. It was described in glowing terms by the Business Standard in February 2007, when we were told of a “beautiful golf course” that precedes the entrance of a “completely different world from the precincts of Gurgaon”.
It is part of the “amazingly landscaped 36-hectare TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) campus at Gual Pahari.” And nestled inside this campus is an unassuming building called The Retreat, a training and recreation centre for TERI staff and executives.
Furthermore, TERI has made no secret of the facility, noting in its Annual report 2006/7 that the golf course had been created “with the intention of promoting golf amongst TERI personnel residing in Delhi and Gurgaon.” It was then that the six-hole golf course was being upgraded into a nine-hole green. A 200-yard driving range was “an added attraction” and there was a nine-hole putting course adjacent to the Retreat building.
But, it appears, TERI is harbouring a guilty “secret”. The five-acre golf course is part of the 69 acres of institutional land it acquired from Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in 1985 (below – Google Earth), for the exclusive use of TERI staff. Commercial exploitation is prohibited.
Yet the paper has found that the golf course has been opened up to selected members of the public who are being charged Rs 25,000 (£350) for membership.
According to Gurgaon’s district town planner Vijender Singh Rana, commercial activity through sports on institutional land is illegal. “HUDA gave this land to TERI for institutional or public and semi-public purpose.”
Rana said. “Though they have asked for change of land use (CLU) regularly from HUDA, permission cannot be given for any sporting activity. If TERI is selling golf course memberships, it is wrong.” Rana said the conditions for use of institutional land were clear. “If TERI uses it for its own purpose, there is no problem. But it cannot use it commercially and sell golf memberships,” he said.
…
Equally contentious is the water usage to keep the golf course green. As chair of the IPCC, Pachauri is voluble in demanding of governments around the world that they cut down on carbon emissions and save water, among other things, to sustain the environment. He is equally voluble about potential water shortages in his home country, arising from melting glaciers and all that.
TERI claims that water conservation measures on the campus include “an efficient central rainwater harvesting system in accordance with water conservation guidelines such as drip water irrigation, early morning and late evening half circle sprinkling to minimise water evaporation and loss.”
But with the golf course and environs requiring up to 300,000 gallons a day during the summer to keep the lush greenery in condition (pictured above), questions are being asked about the sustainability of the facility, which would have difficulty in meeting the volume required solely from harvested water.
more at the EU Referendum
@Andrew30
Thanks for the link. That’s very good news!
Good catch, mikelorrey.
When I wrote that originally, I thought about adding the special case of the man or woman (usually a man although still a tiny minority of men) who seem to naturally resist peer pressure and going along with everyone else in terms of thinking.
People like you, people like me.
And people like the women reading this thread who probably (and justly!) want to hit me right now.
Christoph, for me the issue is the quality of the book and who wrote it. I have not read it. But so far, the reviews, from both sides, have not been stellar. It apparently is a re-tread, in line with the rather tired “the education of…” sexual experimentation plot. If it turns out to be a good read, more power to him. But if it leaves me laughing instead of intrigued, he deserves a rotten tomato. There is a difference between a steamy novel and a badly written longer version of a Penthouse letter. Lastly, would this book have gotten any press at all if he had been just anyone off the streets who handed a manuscript to a potential publisher? Is the book riding the coattails of his climate notoriety? If yes, it is open for criticism in a blog that includes climate debate. I see no foul here.
“It’s time for Pachauri to go. He’s dirty, deceitful, and dim witted. His personal life is hypocritical of what he preaches to the rest of the world via his IPCC position and is a public relations disaster.”
Pachauri the Naughty Scientist
I personally can’t stand the idea of any life after death (so I guess that makes me kinda hinduish because they don’t like the idea either). There would be just too many people and from what I heard, we will all be equal and adoring one entity. It would be like being a clarinet player in a marching band. ‘Cept we would all be clarinet players. NOOO thanks. I’ll pass!
Pamela Gray, it would not surprise me if his book was mediocre. I am not interested enough to buy a copy.
I like pictures.
Video and sound is better.
In person, far and away best of all.
Moving forward… the point is… Anthony is criticizing him in part for being a “dirty” man because he wrote a novel featuring sex. As you say, more power to him if he wrote a good novel on said topic, which we both doubt.
It detracts from the seriousness of the topic at hand: the integrity of science, the politicization and corruption of the material taught to adults and school children around the world, and the potential destruction of wasting trillions of dollars and thousands of lives (if only those who waste their time being mislead by bad science, not counting any lost) to focus on whether one of the players happens to like sex.
Big whoop. He’s from India. They have a large population. I expect sex is popular there.
Douglas DC (13:54:12) :
Pamela- ditto too for me,did lots of trap shooting in my younger days, then
twenty eight years of aviation (Noise attenuating head sets are not that good.)
In 1988, our Flight Quack recommended I use foam earplugs in addition to my flight helmet. Best advice I ever got from him.
And after thirty-seven years of flying helicopters and five years of *not* flying helicopters, my tinnitus is nowhere near as “loud” as it was and my hearing has slightly, but measurably, improved over what it was in 2005.
Perrier Pachauri — It has a ring to it. Maybe it’ll stick.