Sustainability Initiatives in association with Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon organised the 7th GRIHA regional conference on the topic Smart cities and Smart Building- Traditional Wisdom and Technology for Sustainability. This 2 day conference on 4-5 December 2015 was a successful event with participants more than 150 from in and out of Jalgaon. It took place at Jain hills at Jalgaon.
Mr. Bhavarlal Jain ( Founder,Jain Group,Jalgaon) was the keynote speaker.Chief Guest for the conference was Mr. Rajan Kop, Director, Town Planning Department, Maharashtra and Guest of Honour were Ms. Rubal Agarwal, Collector Jalgaon, Mr. Sanjay Kapadnis, Commissioner, Jalgaon Muncipal Corporation, Mr. Bhvarlal Jain and Mr. Ashok Jain, Jain Irrigation, Ms. Mili Majumdar, Director, TERI, Delhi. Mr. Girish Mahajan. Minister of Water Resources, Govt. of Maharashtra, Mr. Kishor Patil, MLA, Jalgaon, Mr. Sanjay Kapadnis, Commissioner, Jalgaon Muncipal Corporation, Mr. Atul Jain, Jain Irrigation, Jalgaon were the dignitories at the closing session of the conference.
The 2 day conference focused on imparting information about smart city and sustainable buildings. The objective was to provide knowledge regarding smart technological solutions for building services and infrastructure. The sessions of the conference provided information on achieving sustainability through planning, design and technology, primarily looking at the issues of small cities.

It discussed policy intervention and implementation mechanism to achieve the goals of creating a platform for making smaller cities like Jalgaon a ‘Smart sustainable City’. The event provided an opportunity for a healthy interaction amongst all stakeholders determined to make their city sustainable through smart solutions.
The conference was held at Jain hills which a unique project shortlisted for prestigious Aga Khan award for the successful experimentation in watershed development transforming a barren hill into green cover.