India is moving towards a direction where Clean India is not far away; Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India

No.PR-112 June 2, 2020 New Delhi India is moving towards a direction where Clean India is not far away; Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India New Delhi, 2nd June 2020: PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) hosted an interactive session on “COVID 19: Challenges and Opportunities associated with Waste Management in India” with Shri Durga Shankar Mishra Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India deliberated about the COVID-19 is a global pandemic that has impacted every country and sector. But this pandemic has been addressed by India diligently and thoughtfully by our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji. We have increased and developed our facilities and mechanism to manage this pandemic efficiently to fight this war against this pandemic. Talking about waste management, Shri Durga Shankar Mishra mentioned that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs issued two guidelines on 21st and 26th March respectively that addressed the special case on those related to infected or suspected to be infected due to COVID-19 in the country. The Ministry has issued special guidelines and measures on how to handle and treatment of waste coming out of those households or places. Shri Durga Shankar Mishra highlighted that in the last six years, our water management capacity has increased in a multi-fold manner focusing on every aspect of waste management. The Swatch Bharat Mission or Clean India Mission paved a way for the industry to process the waste. Now, when the waste has gone up, our capacity to process waste to 65%. We are generating nearly 1,500 tons of solid waste and processing it as well. We are growing our capacity door-to-door waste pick-up and 65% of the waste is being segregated from the source of being generated. There are huge challenges to be addressed but from the last years, we are working to meet every aspect and at the same time growing and developing ourselves as well. For solid waste management, we came with a protocol on Garbage free City where the cities can be given a star rating ranging from 1-7 based on the level of cleanliness. India is moving towards a direction where Clean India is not far away. The changes we have seen in the past six years are optimistic and citizens of India have worked us in moving towards a dream set by our Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi Ji that cleanliness is godliness, said Shri Durga Shankar Mishra. Mr. Peter Rimmele, Resident Representative to India, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) shared how waste management is being done in Germany Pre and during COVID-19. He also shared how the citizens of Germany are exercising the practices of waste management on the household level to make Germany an environmentally friendly country. The other esteemed delegates who deliberated and shared their perspective were Prof. Maria Lozidou, Professor, the National Technical University of Athens in the School of Chemical Engineering and Head of the Unit of Environmental Science & Technology Greece; Mr. Prasad Moddak, Executive President, Environmental Management Centre, LLP & Director, Ekonnect Knowledge Foundation; Ms. P. Bineesha, Executive Director, International Institute of Waste Management; Mr. Manoj Sahu, Founder & CEO, R Planet Integrated Solution Pvt. Ltd and others. The delegates shared on the Waste management sector during COVID-19, types of Waste during the pandemic, challenges, and opportunities in waste management, legal framework, and much more. Dr. D K Aggarwal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in his presential remarks mentioned that waste management is one of the most important aspects because of the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The biomedical waste has increased in quantity as compared to last year. He shared that in the epi-center of COVID-19, Wuhan, China, the bio-medical waste has increased up to 6 times when COVID-19 was at its peak. So, for India, we need to be more careful and manage this waste properly in these times of COVID-19. Dr. D K Aggarwal deliberated that for the municipal waste, there needs to be a more segregated and systematic mechanism so that this waste is treated properly and it doesn’t get contaminated which can harm the environment. There is a lot of disruption in the supply, lack of workers and laborers, and others. There needs to be a mechanism in waste management so that the human contact is reduced to the maximum and fully automated plants need to be set up for this industry so that the eco-system is recovered. Mr. Vikram Singh Mehta, Chair, Water & Solid Waste Management Committee, gave an overview of industry perspective and shared the future need for waste management for environment protection. Mr. Pankaj Madan, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) delivered a formal vote of thanks to all the esteemed delegates and participants. The Webinar was moderated by Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Principal Director, PHD Chamber. The Webinar was attended by Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary-General, PHD Chamber, Mr. Naveen Seth, Principal Director, PHD Chamber along with other senior members of PHD Chamber and over 80 industry stalwarts and students around the world. Ends. Media Division PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry