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Time of India
01-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Central govt official visits Jaipur waste-to-energy plant
1 2 J aipur: Secretary of the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MHUA) K Srinivas visited Jaipur's Langdiyawas-based solid waste-powered waste-to-energy (WTE) plant Friday. The facility, developed under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), is a key initiative of the Rajasthan govt and is operated under a public-private partnership (PPP) model by Jindal Urban Waste Management (Jaipur) Ltd. During the visit, Srinivas was welcomed by JMC-Heritage commissioner Nidhi Patel and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) director Juikar Pratik Chandra Shekhar. Officials presented an overview of the state's solid waste management initiatives and explained how the plant is supporting sustainability goals. Plant officials gave a detailed presentation on the plant's functioning, modern technologies used, energy generation from waste, and its environmental benefits. The secretary also toured the facility to observe the process of converting solid waste into electricity and reviewed the operational mechanisms first-hand. Following the inspection, Secretary Srinivas said, "This plant is an excellent example of how public-private partnerships can offer sustainable solutions to urban challenges. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Best Method for a Flat Stomach After 50 (It's Genius!) Lulutox Undo It not only improves solid waste management but also contributes significantly to clean energy generation and environmental conservation." The facility, operational since Feb 2025, currently processes up to 1,000 metric tonne of waste per day and generates approximately 12 megawatt-hours of electricity. The project contributes around Rs 2.5 crore in daily revenue to the municipal corporation. The initiative has helped reduce landfill dependency, promote renewable energy, and strengthen the circular economy in the region.
Economic Times
22-05-2025
- General
- Economic Times
Our smart cities are dumbing down
It's easy to launch a flashy new project. Way harder to keep it going. Despite grand makeovers and dutifully media-covered inaugurations, most cities have, to put it euphemistically, 'maintenance issues'. And as each monsoon reminds us, even so-called 'smart cities'. This week, Bengaluru and Pune, both ostensibly 'smart', were waterlogged after just a round of pre-monsoon showers, proof that smartness lies not in tech but in the dull discipline of upkeep. In 2014, GoI announced 100 smart cities envisioned to use technology as the backbone to pre-empt and solve everyday challenges - from traffic snarls to urban flooding. But somewhere along the way, the goal shifted. Smart Cities Mission (SCM) became confined to renovating and retrofitting existing cities and providing basic facilities, such as housing, clean water, power and transport. Over the past decade, roughly 8,000 projects worth ₹1.64 lakh cr were sanctioned under SCM. The mission ended on March 31, but without clear answers about the future of SPVs, including integrated command and control centres (ICCCs), the nerve centre of these smart cities. These were set up in all 100 smart cities to enable real-time, data-driven decision-making. To ensure continued maintenance of smart city assets, the parliamentary standing committee on housing and urban affairs rightly recommended that the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) frame guidelines for SPVs to keep operating beyond the mission's end. But there has been no movement on this. Public money doesn't just need to be spent, it needs to work. Without a culture of upkeep and performance tracking, we'll keep rebuilding the same cities and assets every decade. This is as unsmart as it can get.
