Smart & Sustainable Cities: Green Environment, Smart Health, Waste And Water Management Through Innovation & Technology

During BW Businessworld Smart & Safe City Conclave 2018 in New Delhi on June 29th, one of the panel discussions included panellists; Satya Prakash, Commissioner of Aligarh Municipal Corporation; BN Pani, Municipal Commissioner, Rajkot Municipal Corporation; S. Siva Ram Krishna, Commissioner, Tadipatri Municipal Corporation; Musharraf Faruqi, Additional Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad; Swapnil R. Kamble, Project Manager, Environment Division, Nagpur Smart & Sustainable City Development Corporation Ltd; Ashish Adhikari, Secure infra cloud and cybersecurity, Microsoft; Ajay Girotra, AG Dauters Waste Processing Pvt. Ltd. and Ashwani Aggarwal, Principal Consultant (healthcare advisory), PwC. The session was moderated by Sudhir Mishra, Founder and Partner, Trust Legal.

Sudhir Mishra concentrated on waste management as the core issue among others as it leads to other interconnected issues of the environment. He said that dumping of waste has become a menace and it has to be controlled.

Ajay Girotra said that waste management is very important but people have a tendency to walk out from such situations rather than finding a solution for them. It is the lack of interest in basic hygiene issues and this is a real issue. He also believes that smart waste management groups don't have huge land requirements to tackle it.

BN Pani replied to Ajay’s land requirements issue and said that waste is wealth and unless all facilities are put together, it cannot be managed fully.

Satya Prakash has also shared his journey of securing first prize in waste management and utilization of 100 per cent effective waste utilization. 

S. Siva Ram recalled that how his city generated their own garbage disposal system as segregated liquid waste, though he shared that community responsibility has played a more serious role.

Swapnil Kamble said that they use e-vehicle and green fuel in public transport in Nagpur. He also shared that his company has energy generation capacity from wastes that they sell to NTPC.

Ashish Adhikari said that natural and commodity waste is a different concept and all must think of monetisation of waste as the western world does it.

Research and innovation are essential to underpin environmental protection and management. Good quality research can provide the foundation for credible decision making. Technology and innovation can provide valuable pioneering solutions for environmental problems whilst also delivering economic potential (Green Growth). The complexity of existing and emerging environmental issues and the range of causal factors, mean that environmental policies must be underpinned by the in-depth level of knowledge that needs to be delivered through a systematic programme of environmental research.