Around us we have seen agricultural land being sold off and highrises coming up in their place. In such instances, the farmers are often at a loss. But Satish Magar with a clear understanding of his community and their needs, decided to bring all the 120 Magar families together and formed a private limited company to build a township that we now know as Magarpatta City.
The move helped the farming families, including Magars, Bhosales, Tupes and Mates, to plan their investment properly. Says Sandeep Magar, one of the residents of the township, “If each family or landholder had given his plot to a separate developer or builder, then the development of this area would have been haphazard. There are a few such examples in the city. Therefore all the farmers came together so that we could ensure proper development and also be benefited in the long term.”
Sharing the history of the families with us, Magar said that most members grew sugarcane on their land and their area of residence was right opposite to their fields. Magar, a tax consultant, however spent his growing up years in the Peth area, attending school and college.
After moving to the township, he said that their lifestyle has improved and their finances have been taken care of. His wife Smita, who came to live in the township after her marriage, says, “We hardly need to step out into the city. We have everything here — school, hospital, shopping area, playground for kids, swimming pool and temples.”
She says that the residents are like one big family coming together to celebrate their small and big joys and this togetherness just amps up the festivities like Ganesh Utsav, dandiya-garba and Diwali. “All the residents of Magarpatta City come together to celebrate the Ganesh Utsav. We have many programmes for children like dances, bhajan, and orchestra. Then, we also have our own dhol-pathak. Our immersion procession is nearly 4-km long, very disciplined and impressive. Then during Diwali, on Dhanteras, we have Deepotsav. We light up the diyas near the main circle. There is a Mahalakshmi temple where we celebrate Navratri,” she adds.
The fact that the township has been planned and organised well, has made the lives of the residents easier. “Spread over 450 acres are 7000 units comprising flats, row houses etc. Since we are farmers, we are well versed with how to conserve water. So the water utilised in bathrooms and kitchens is not drained off. It’s refiltered and used to water the plants. Some of it is directed to increase the groundwater level. We also have a Magarpatta Property Management Services, which takes care of maintenance. We have a separate garage system — dry and wet garbage is separated at source. It is composted and the manure is used for the trees. We have planted many indiegnous and exotic trees and in the intervening years, the greenery has increased. The temperature in the township is a degree or two lower than the outside temperature,” adds Magar.
