Hyderabad: ASCI holds summit on WASH

Hyderabad: The State government prioritises water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and is deeply committed to achieving the sustainable development goal (SDG) targets well ahead of the globally agreed timeline. Towards helping achieve this goal, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), a knowledge partner to the Government of Telangana, started the INK@WASH 2020 Summit as an endeavour to create an ecosystem for WASH. The summit aims to promote innovations through collaboration and partnerships among start-ups, innovators, governments, mentors, institutions etc.

Today polluted water, sanitation issues, hygiene concerns and waste management challenges being faced by India are daunting and are causing tremendous damage to public health and the environment. Hence, a multi-dimensional and multi-prolonged approach for implementing innovations in technology, data planning, monitoring and behaviour change is the need of the hour.

The INK@WASH Summit - 2020 with the theme "Innovation & New Knowledge in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene" made a call for innovators in October 2019 and received over 155 entries from start-ups and innovators. The shortlisted 25 showcased their ideas at the summit which received overwhelming participation by the world's leading expert from corporates, incubators, government, academics, NGOs, etc.

Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy, Chairman of Ramky Group, emphasised on efforts taken by Ramky Enviro for more than two decades on realising the Sustainable Development Goals.

"We were a start-up in the waste management space almost 20 years back and today we are a multibillion-dollar company. We have always focused on bringing innovation and scientifically treating waste in India at an economical price. We still charge $10 per tonne in India, which otherwise costs $50 to $ 100 globally. We are working very closely with the Government of Telangana to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and a platform like INK@Wash is a great effort in developing an ecosystem of start-ups and innovators in this space."

Other speakers like M Dana Kishore, MD, Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Dr T K Sridevi, Commissioner & Director of Municipal Administration, S K Pattanayak, former Director General of ASCI, V Srinivas Chary, Director of Centre for Energy, Environment, Urban Governance and Infrastructure Development at ASCI, Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General of National Mission for Clean Ganga, spoke on important topics like water management, innovations in decentralised waste management and need for centre of excellence for urban transformation. Padma Shri Dr. Anil K Gupta, founder of Honeybee Network, National Innovation Foundation, spoke about the 5 key principles for sustainability of any innovation in the field of WASH.