Experts for new tech to make Swachh Bharat Mission a big hit

To make Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship programme – Swachh Bharat Mission – a huge success, experts have stressed on need of adoption of innovation and technology in various segments of sanitation such as cleaning of roads to management of waste.

Water Aid India Chief Executive Madhavan said that with the increasing urban population, there is an “increasing challenge” to manage the waste in sustainable manner. “Population in urban areas “continues to grow” and many of the people in the region go unaccounted because of their settlement in unauthorised settlements,” he said, while speaking at Waste and Sanitech India expo, organised by UBM India and supported by Ministry of Urban Development.

Technology needs to be adopted at various stages, including mechanical sweeping of roads, monitoring the sanitation works and processing the waste once it is collected at the landfills, said North Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner PK Gupta.

“The 1.8 crore population of Delhi generates about 8,000 metric tonnes of garbage daily and in addition there is another 3,000 metric tonnes of construction and development waste. This 8,000 MT garbage is likely to increase to 10,000 MT in another two-three years. If we simply dump that garbage, we need around 1,500 acres of land and that much of land is not available in Delhi. So we need to have more technology to process this waste to drive energy, compost and whatever is left should be minimum,” Gupta added.