02/08/2012
A cryptic comment about waste management in my piece about the Indian
grid failure led a reader to draw my attention to
this report, published via the
Guardian.
This article features a report by the
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), Delhi, based on surveys of wastewater profiles of 71 Indian cities. It highlights lack of infrastructure and neglect of sewage with less than 30 percent of the country's officially recorded sewage being treated in proper facilities.
The CSE survey shows that 70-80 percent of India's wastewater is ending up in its rivers and lakes. "We are drowning in our excreta", says Sunita Narain, director of CSE.
This is exactly what one would expect from a corrupt, inefficient, over-populated third world country. But what makes it relevant to us is fakir Rajendra Pachauri, who jets around the world and presumes to lecture us on how to manage our environmental affairs.
Methinks Pachauri would be better expending his energies on cleaning up his own stinking back yard.
