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Govt working to introduce policy on recycling units in rural areas: Joint Secretary & National Mission Director (SBMG), DDWS, GoI
Sep 01, 2023
Innovation is key in Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM); Corporate should focus on developing low-cost replicable solutions
NEW DELHI, 01 September 2023: Mr Jitendra Srivastava, Joint Secretary, and National Mission Director (SBMG), DDWS, Govt of India today stated that Faecal Sludge Management is an area which is going to very relevant in the days to come and corporates should focus on faecal sludge management as an area of intervention as well as design replicable models. “Innovation is the key to pushing SBM and corporates should come forward by suggesting innovative solutions in resolving various issues including grey water management, bringing down water consumption, etc.,” he added.
Addressing the ISC-FICCI Workshop on ‘Why Correct Infrastructure Holds A Key To Sustainability in Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen),’ Mr Srivastava while highlighting the importance of setting up of recycling units in rural areas stated that so far, the focus has been only in the urban areas, but SBM (G) has not yet started thinking about recycling units. “Somewhere down the line we will do this course correction and we will have a policy on recycling units in the rural areas,” he emphasized.
Mr Srivastava added that the toilet story will form the base of sanitation work and with increasing prosperity, people are going to move away from single or twin pit towards septic tanks. “In the rural areas, we are going to see a resurgence of septic tanks in the days to come. The only way out for septic tanks is to connect them and mechanize desludging along with connecting the desludging operator to an existing treatment plant,” he emphasized. The Joint Secretary also stated that the current SBM program does not permit repairing of toilets, but corporates should push the concept of repair of toilets in sustaining the ODF status.
Speaking on the Light House Initiative (LHI), Mr Srivastava said that corporates should focus on developing low-cost replicable solutions for successful implementation of any project. “We, as a principle, discourage engineering solutions as sometimes they can solve the issues at hand, but are not scalable,” he added.
He further added that going forward, sustainability of the assets created will be the biggest challenge. “Corporates should identify right set of people and groups at local level in managing the assets for solid and liquid waste management. We have to encourage the community and break down their barriers to user charges,” noted Mr Srivastava.
Ms Naina Lal Kidwai, Chair, India Sanitation Coalition said that it was noteworthy to see in the last CSR survey, we had health as a sector commandeering more money than education. “We, (sanitation sector), are seen as part of the health agenda now and we must continue to work with growing group of corporates who are joining this sector. We have the India story dotted with examples of public-private partnerships and the success stories of sanitation sector are already known and these are the stories which we will share at global level as well,” she added.
Ms Natasha Patel, CEO, India Sanitation Coalition said that today, we are much wiser, experienced, and a long way down the ODF road, aptly called ODF Plus. The most important thing we have learnt in this journey is that our infrastructure must be indigenously built, to suit the habits and needs of our society and given the significant levels in our society coupled with the historic infrastructure we have developed over the years, the solutions we are looking for must be easy to install and easy to manage. If we adhere to these basic principles, we will be able to evoke the change we are looking for to make sanitation sustainable for the future, she added.
State Mission Directorates, Swachh Bharat Mission-Rural from among the Lighthouse states, shared their inputs and organizations like Aga Khan Foundation, Tata Trust, Centre for Environment Education, Ambuja Cement Foundation, Sampurn (e)arth Environment Solutions, ITC Limited, FINISH Society, Shrikant Navrekar, Nirmal Gram Nirmal Kendra, CDD Society, HCL Foundation, Primove Infrastructure shared their presentations covering the theme of the workshop.
Dr Sanjeev Sekhar Jha, Director, India Sanitation Coalition delivered the vote of thanks.