Sanitary workers' strike turns Delhi into a dumpyard

As sanitary workers refused to budge, East Delhi resembled an open dump yard with waste accumulating in complexes and garbage strewn all over the streets. As a result, the Public Works Department deputed workers to remove garbage from the streets to ease out the mess a bit. North Delhi was better off as the Corporation officials had outsourced the task of clearing out the garbage to a private concessionaire. The overall situation is expected to remain more or less the same as the government as well as the three corporation refuse to give up their respective stands.

Data has revealed that just about 30% of all the sewage from towns and cities is currently being treated in STPs while the rest is let off into rivers and streams without any treatment whatsoever. To put it in numbers, out of the 62,000 MLD of sewage generated by 377 million people, a paltry 18,883 MLD of sewage is being treated. With operation and maintenance of existing treatment plans below par, the situation is expected to get only worse with time.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has set March 31 as the deadline for Chennai restaurants to install bio-gas plants to prevent food waste from entering landfills. 130 restaurants in the Teynampet zone will initially be taken up for the exercise, while the requisite technology will be provided by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. Food refuse constitutes nearly 16% of all waste that ends up in landfills.

The Jaipur Development Authority has prepared a detailed drainage and sewerage master plan for the city. This is the city’s first sewerage master plan and covers all 91 wards of the city divided into 19 zones. Implementation in the zones will be split between the Jaipur Development Authority and the Jaipur Municipal Corporation. Drainage lines are expected to be laid across the city at a cost of Rs. 3,260 crore. 

The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation has launched toiletfirst.in, a crowdfunding platform that brings together interested individuals, corporates and NGOs to help fund construction of individual household toilets as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. While the government will provide Rs 8000 for the construction of every toilet, the rest is expected to be raised through crowd funding.