70% of Indian sewage treatment plants dysfunctional: Javadekar

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar today said that 70 per cent of all sewage treatment plants in India do not work due to high running cost.
Through his recorded video message at 'Wastech', an international summit on waste management organised at Mahatma Mandir here today, Javadekar called for better solutions to tackle problems related to waste management in India.
"Almost 70 per cent of all sewage treatment plants in India are either not working or closed, because the cost of running these plants is high. To solve this issue, we need to make use of sludge and produce methane gas, which can generate power for these sewage treatment plants," the Minister of Javadekar, said.

He also pointed out to another major problem of irregularities by contractors involved in urban solid waste management.
"At present, 24 cities face the consequences because one of the contractors, who got a contract to handle solid waste for these cities ran away. Thus, we need reliable solutions as well as solution providers to handle solid waste," Javadekar said.
He also expressed concern about selection of methods by civic authorities to dispose off waste.

"Solutions which work in western countries may not be feasible for us. We tried many methods, but, we still don't have a waste management model. Thus, our ministry has decided to form an expert committee to evaluate every possible solution

and then suggest the best method for solid waste management in cities," Javadekar said.
During the summit's inaugural function, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Patel launched a mobile application developed by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board for industrial houses, hospitals and urban bodies to apply for clearances as well as check other updates on smartphones.