The Delhi Government is looking for innovative, concrete, reliable and cost friendly solutions for managing urban waste, said Delhi Cabinet Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday in an event at organised by The Associate Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM). 

“Managing waste is not a difficult task as several technologies are available for the same that do not cost much but even if there is need for funds, then Delhi Government will provide the same,” Jain said while addressing delegates at ASSOCHAM National Conference on Managing Urban Waste.

The Delhi Government is looking for simple, viable, decentralised and concrete solutions and is willing to provide funds to counter the city’s waste management problem, he said.

Questioning the will of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Delhi’s Urban Development Minister further said, “While there are companies that are willing to provide end-to-end solution for waste management, the municipal corporations do not let them take action in this regard.”

The Minister also said that while many committees were constituted by various authorities but none of them are willing to accept that the there is a solution for managing the waste.

According to Jain, in Delhi, almost 40 per cent of the waste generated is organic which is not required to be carried to a dumping site.

Making serious allegations on various waste collecting agencies, he said, “For corporations transporting trash is a business worth Rs 1,000 crore, so they do not let it to be managed locally.

Half of the inorganic waste is sand and stones which is mixed with trash because corporations get paid for waste as per weight, and the rest is a mix of plastic, polythene, metal and other things which is all saleable.”

He added, “We need to holistically look at the politics being done over trash, we need to simplify things instead of making them complex.”

Jain further said that while many landfill sites have come up in various parts of Delhi of late, but these landfill sites are the biggest contributor of pollution in Delhi where the waste is burnt down.