Gurgaon, July 19 (IANS) An eco-friendly building near the Indian capital Sunday got a big thumbs-up from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who equated it with well-known monuments like the Taj Mahal and India Gate.
“We know that there are wonderful monuments throughout India from the India Gate to the Taj Mahal. The ITC green building may not be a regular stop on the tourist calendar but it is a monument in its own right,” said an impressed Clinton.

Called the ITC Green Centre Building, the office complex built by the ITC group that is into hospitality, tobacco and infotech, boasts of 100 percent water harvesting and zero percent rainwater runoff among other things.

Wearing a turquoise blue business suit, Clinton flew in from Mumbai Sunday after a 36-hour stay in the financial capital and went directly from the airport to the ITC Green Centre Building in Delhi’s satellite town of Gurgaon to see it and talk about climate change.

“The monument is a building to the future. The Green Centre not only represents the promise of a green economy but it also demonstrates the partnership of India and the US in the 21st century,” she added.

Pointing towards the media, Clinton said: “As you can see, other than the lights that are for the television cameras there are no lights on. There are so many features of this building that really demonstrate the viability of the kind of low carbon but very attractive and efficient approach to saving energy.”

“If all new buildings were designed in the same standards as the ITC Green Centre is, we could eventually cut global energy use and green house pollution by more than 20 percent and save money at the same time,” she said.

She said in collaboration with India, the US government and the US Green Building council were instrumental in helping to bring about this building.

“Today the Green Centre is one of the 11 buildings in India that have earned a lead partner designation, the highest designation you can get by the Green Building council,” she added.

In Mumbai, Clinton had met business leaders, victims of the November 2008 terror attack, women activists, and teachers and students of a leading college. She is on a five-day visit to India, her first since assuming office.