Smart sanitation fundamentally involves high-tech solutions such as self-cleaning public e-toilets that address the challenges posed by conventional public toilets, says BINCY BABY.

Available water resources are not adequate for Indian states. But a comprehensive wastewater policy has not been implemented anywhere in India, and Maharashtra is a case in point.

Istarted my journey in the year 1968, when in rural areas and urban fringes, no house had a toilet. Women had to suffer the most. People used to go for open defecation. Girls did not want to go to schools due to the inconvenience.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) receives approx 9,000 tonnes of municipal waste on a daily basis at three locations, namely Deonar, Mulund and Kanjur. Approximately 3,000 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) are being processed using Bio-Reactor Technology at the Kanjur processing and landfill site.

At the moment, we estimate the market to be around 130 million square metres. And we expect this to potentially double within the next five to six years. So maybe we are talking about 200 million square metres. This is also the reason why we have moved into India as we see good potential in this market segment. We are aware that there are some challenges involved.

Currently, the demand is much less than the supply. We all have an installed capacity, but are not able to sort of utilise that fully because the demand still has to pick up locally.

Notwithstanding the tremendous potential to expand revenues, general lack of awareness about the benefits of using geosynthetics might delay projections set by firms in the sector. However, despite challenges, growth is eventually inevitable.

Telecom towers are critical installations on which the backbone of mobile communication rests. These are essential for realising the vision of inclusive growth. The success of initiatives like Digital India, Smart Cities and Right to Broadband, which the government intends to implement in a mission mode, will also depend on this critical and essential infrastructure.

Granting of infrastructure status to the telecom tower industry has resulted in varied financial benefits. External commercial borrowing rates have improved. However, lower import duties and accelerated depreciation benefits are yet to be realised.