Big brother will soon be watching over garbage truck drivers in East Delhi once the local municipal corporation installs an electronic tracking system. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) plans to install global positioning system (GPS) and radio frequency identification devices (RFID) in its garbage trucks.
This will enable the EDMC to track the garbage trucks movements and monitor their work performance.
Indigenously developed honey sucker in Bengaluru (Bangalore), south India. Photo: Vishwanath Sankrathai
A new IRC paperexplores some contributions being made by honey-sucker tanker operators — that renders a small-scale sanitation service informally and within the private sector — on waste (faecal) extraction and, in some cases, reuse. Operating outside the legal framework of waste management, this paper provides preliminary insight into the limitations and potentials of the ‘honey-sucker business’ as a sanitation service model, based on selected experiences in Bengaluru (India).
Waste is a resource in the wrong place. People who have no sewer connection do go to the toilet though urban authorities seem to think differently given the neglect of the multitude of sanitation self-service models that have emerged in many cities.
During a webinar, which was organised on 2 May 2012, Joep Verhagen of the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre presented the results of a case study, which investigates a model that is based on the productive use of faecal sludge by farmers in and around Bengaluru (Bangalore), the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. This particular service has emerged without any technical or financial support.
For more IRC webinars go to: www.irc.nl/page/69625
Queuing for the Gents in Mumbai. Photo: Hindustan Times
A slum resident from Mahim in Mumbai ended up killing his neighbour whom he felt had taken too long in a public toilet. Locals feel the tragic death could have been avoided if only the civic authorities had provided sufficient public toilets.
“We have no sanitation facility. Sometimes, basic human needs take over all rationale. and that is what happened today. It’s a tragedy that two lives were destroyed over such a petty matter. The authorities must take note of this,” said a resident.
The unfortunate incident took place on Saturday evening, 28 January 2012, when Simon Lingeree went to a public toilet near Devaji Govind Chawl, the slum where he lived. With Lingeree apparently taking too long, Santosh Kargutkar (40), who was in the queue, started banging on the door and abused him
When Lingeree finally came out, the two got into a fight. Lingeree was knocked unconscious and rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. A few hours later the police arrested Kargutkar and charged him with murder.
Source: Times of India, 30 Jan 2012
Amraiwadi, a crime-prone slum area of Ahmedabad, is set for a makeover as nearly 1200 families will get one-bedroom flat with good drainage, separate toilets, a drinking water supply, a landscaped garden and a school.
This is the first project to be approved by the state Urban Development Department (UDD) under its new Slum Rehabilitation Policy [1]. Under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, UDD has contracted the Ahmedabad-based realty firm, Safal Realty Pvt Limited (HN Safal) to implement the project.
Gujarat has based its policy on the Mumbai Dharavi slum development project plan.
[1] UDD – Regulations For The Rehabilitation and Redevelopment of the Slums 2010
Source: DailyBhaskar.com, 18 Jul 2011 ; Indian Express, 15 Jul 2011
With this photo on Facebook local resident Akshay Arora asks the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to "kindly send some one and get it clean this Toilet/Urinal". One day later on 7 April 2011, MCD replied: "Your complaint reference no. is 02/0704/SP"
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) launched its Facebook page in January 2011 and an integrated SMS service in March 2011 to enable public monitoring of garbage collection sites and public urinals/toilets in areas under its jurisdiction.The first experiences were positive as illustrated by the example of 22-year-old Piyush Goyal posted his complaint of garbage spilling over from the dump in his area.
On January 8, he clicked pictures of the seven dirty ones in South Delhi’s R K Puram area and posted them on Facebook. And the next day, he says, he saw the pictures of clean dhalaos uploaded by the MCD.
“There is lot of transparency through this way. The man who actually cleans it asked me why I uploaded the pictures. So the information is going from top to the bottom,” says Goyal.
MCD additional commissioner (engineering) Anshu Prakash added:
“This system is increasing transparency, fixing accountability and putting everything under public scrutiny. And none of us like to be ashamed in public. So people have started working at the bottom”.
Hygiene matters: Minister for Urban Development S. Suresh Kumar (second from right) at the workshop on city sanitation, Bangalore. Photo: K. Gopinathan / The Hindu
Speaking at a workshop on the ‘City Sanitation Plan’ in Bangalore, the Adviser to Karnataka state Chief Minister on Urban Affairs A. Ravindra said:
“We need a sanitation revolution in the country. There is a need to create public awareness and use innovative and low-cost technologies for better sanitation”.
Adding to this, at the inauguration if the workshop, the Karnataka state Minister for Urban Development S. Suresh Kumar stated:
“It is unfortunate that we have not made sanitation our priority. This is evident as according to a recent report, there are more mobile users than toilet users in the country. Sanitation does not only mean using toilets; it also includes efficient solid waste management, underground drainage network, and keeping our cities and towns clean”.
Karnataka is looking to rank first in the second round of the National City Rating under the National Urban Sanitation Policy to be announced on 8 December 2010. In the first round in May 2010, Mysore secured the second place, while the eighth, 12th, 15th and 22nd positions went to Bangalore, Mangalore, Mandya and Bidar respectively.
“We must strive to secure the first position next year. We must work towards this end without mixing politics. The election results in Bihar has sent out a strong message. People want elected representatives to solve their problems,” he added. Mr. Suresh Kumar said the Directorate of Urban Development has taken two important initiatives with regard to improving sanitation standards. Under the Nirmala Ganga scheme, all city corporations must take steps to provide free underground drainage and water connections to all the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families. “Also, to put an end to manual cleaning of manholes, mechanised cleaning has been introduced in all the eight city corporations,” he said.
Source: The Hindu, 26 Nov 2010
Children of over 400,000 construction workers at the Commonwealth Games sites are deprived of basic rights like sanitation, schooling and healthcare, said a report released by NGO Child Relief and You (CRY) on 4 August 2010.
“We found children living in the workers’ temporary camps living without quality food, safe water, sanitation, quality formal schooling or daycare, healthcare and a safe environment – basically without a childhood,” CRY director Yogita Verma said.
Children are dropping out of school due to poverty-linked migration to work at the construction sites, the NGO said.
A woman greets her children as she arrives at her temporary tent dwelling after a day's work. Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending a US$ 35 million loan to help Indonesia rehabilitate and expand sanitation facilities in the cities of Medan and Yogyakarta.
Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, and Yogyakarta, the capital of Yogyakarta province, have a combined population of around 4.5 million people.
The loan will be used to build around 280 communal sanitation facilities in poor areas in the two cities, as well as two wastewater treatment systems for low-cost housing development projects in Medan. Sewerage systems will be rehabilitated and expanded with up to 28,000 additional household connections. The Metropolitan Sanitation Management and Health Project will also provide support to mobilize community involvement in the planning, operation and maintenance of communal facilities, and will ensure women are strongly involved in the process.
After the bilateral Strategic Dialogue meeting in Islamabad on 19 July 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced a multi-year Signature Water Program for Pakistan to improve Pakistan’s ability to increase efficient management and use of its scarce water resources and improve water distribution. The first phase of the program will cover seven projects costing over US$ 270 million, including:
Four other projects focus on irrigation while the 7th project on Expert Consultations involves the funding of a professional exchange visit by Pakistani experts in water management to the U.S. to meet with counterparts and to examine cost recovery and policy mechanisms that incentivize private sector investment in the water sector.
The Signature Water Program is one of a series of new US-funded aid projects in Pakistan worth US$ 500 million. The projects are part of a five-year US$ 7.5 billion aid package agreed by the US Congress in 2009.
Correspondents say the deal is part of Washington’s attempts to counter anti-US sentiment in Pakistan.
Source: U.S. Department of State, 19 Jul 2010 ; BBC News, 19 Jul 2010
Posted in Financing, Pakistan, Water supply
Tagged irrigation, Signature Water Program, urban sanitation, urban water supply, USA
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