The downward trend in annual rainfall continuously in the last 5-6 years has been a great concern for the people of Marathwada region, especially Aurangabad. To combat the paucity of rainfall and depleting ground water table, this office has decided and achieved a milestone by installing Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting system at the Commissionerate office premises as well as residential quarters situated at three different locations in July, 2006. The technical specifications of each of them are as under.

i. Total catchment area : 12000 Sq. M
ii. Total precipitation : 84 Lac Ltrs/Annum
iii. Reservoir capacity : 25000 Ltrs.

This has greatly helped to increase the all round water table and to overcome paucity of water during this summer season since every drop of rain water was filtered & channeled back into the ground. This work has also been appreciated by Shri. Gopal Thosar, President of Vasundhara, an organization in the field of nature conservation movement.

Modern day life has resulted in many health problems. To overcome the lack of proper recreation facilities in the office, it was proposed to set up a Gymnasium and recreation facilities for 350 plus employees. In the interest of good health, development of team spirit & better social interaction among the staff members of the Commissionerate, a full fledged Gymnasium has been set up in a hall on the ground floor and has been inaugurated by Hon. Member of Parliament Shri. Rajkumarji Dhoot on 23.04.2007. The Gymnasium is fully equipped with digital treadmill jogger, exercycle, stepper, 9 station multigym, twister, abking, bench press, roman chair, cross over pulley, dumbells etc.

A Volleyball court has been developed at residential quarters at N-1, CIDCO. Facilities for indoor games viz. Table Tennis, Carom and Chess have also been started in the Commissionerate office to relieve the employees from stress and fatigue.

These facilities have been setup by getting financial assistance from the Customs & Central Excise Welfare Fund through Directorate of Logistics, New Delhi.

This milestone will certainly endeavor to keep good state of physical health and mind which in turn would improve the performance of individual employees in day to day working of office.

Canteen facility was not available for the employees and visiting taxpayers. The Canteen has been started to provide clean, hygienic and quality food and snacks to the officers working in this office & the taxpayers visiting this office. The canteen has been setup on the ground floor of the office premises in renovated hall which is airy and ambient. The canteen has been inaugurated by of Hon. Member of Parliament Shri. Rajkumarji Dhoot on 23.04.2007.

The canteen is equipped with Refrigerator, Aquaguard water purifier, Microwave oven, electric idli steamer, Faber exhaust chimney etc. This facility has also been setup by getting the financial assistance from the Customs & Central Excise Welfare Fund from Directorate of Logistics, New Delhi.

Last year, the death toll of more than 400 human lives & numerous livestock & damage to property due to lightening strikes in Marathwada region which is prone to lightning strikes was alarming, which instilled the idea of installing Lightening Arrestor in the office premises to protect human lives & national wealth. Therefore, with the help of Technical Experts from the Central Public Work Department (Electrical), this office installed a lightening arrestor system in March, 2007.

The Lightening Arrestor “PREVECTRON-2”, imported from France which is commissioned in the building is a State of the Art equipment in Advanced Lightning Arrestor category. The PREVECTRON-2 is having following technical specification.

i) It is an active type of lightening conductor.
ii) It has a protection area of approximately 70 Meter periphery.
iii) It prevents Electrical Charge Accumulation in the protection area.
iv) It gives complete protection to the property & all type of Electronic & Electrical gadgets and mobile phone users in the office premises.
v) The entire office premises & nearby area is protected from lightening strikes with the help of this equipment.

It is strongly felt that efforts should be taken to install this kind of equipments in lightening prone areas.

Large scale application of chemical fertilizers has drastically changed the structure of the soil. This office premises has a large open space & there is a sizable plantation on it. Canteen & Guest House waste & garbage formed due to falling leaves etc. will be utilized in a best possible way by installing a Vermicompost unit. This is a positive step towards conservation of environment & to keep the surrounding clean, insects & pests free. Accordingly, a Vermicompost unit has been set up in the Commissionerate office premises as a progressive step towards using bio-degradable waste fruitfully and to enrich the soil naturally. With the help of earthworms in this unit all bio-degradable waste will be converted into rich organic manure which will be useful for plantations in the office premises.

Thus what would be unseemly garbage is turned into useful manure.

The office premises has a large open space, which is not utilized. The pollution caused by vehicles and other factors has reached an alarming level in the city. To utilize this open space in the best possible way and as a step towards combating pollution, this Commissionerate has set an example by planting many fruit trees like Guava, Mango, Chiku, Fig, Custard Apple on the occasion of Central Excise Day i.e. 24th February, 2007.
This is a small gesture of the department towards greening our environment.

As a staff welfare measures the library has been started. The library has been inaugurated by Mrs. Janaki Arunkumar, Commissioner, Central Excise, Aurangabad on 04.06.2008. The library has all the latest books on Central Excise laws, Current affairs, etc. along with daily newspapers, magazines. The library is opened for all the staff members.