IIT Delhi signs MoU with Lahaul-Spiti administration to provide innovative solutions for solid waste management

IIT Delhi has signed an MoU with the Lahaul-Spiti administration to prepare and execute all plans with active community participation, for segregation, collection, management, and safe disposal of solid waste generated in the district.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has come forward to provide innovative solutions for solid waste management at Lahaul-Spiti. It's the first-of-its-kind initiative at any high-altitude tribal district, which remains under the snow for five to six months. 

IIT Delhi has signed an MoU with the Lahaul-Spiti administration to prepare and execute all plans with active community participation, for segregation, collection, management, and safe disposal of solid waste generated in the district. Lahaul-Spiti is becoming one of India's most favored tourist destinations after the opening of the Atal Rohtang Tunnel --- the world’s longest tunnel at a height of 10,000 feet in Himachal Pradesh on the Manali-Leh national highway.

Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Rai, the brain behind the project, said the solid waste management drive will be part of the school curriculum.

“The children from primary standard to an elementary level not only will themselves learn new technological solutions to domestic garbage management but become powerful messengers for a larger transformation of the tribal society as role models for checking environmental pollution in the future,” Rai told Outlook.

“After the schools open (currently closed due to Covid spike in the state), the children will devote one day a week to clean up school premises and the surroundings along with the teaching staff. There will be a 35-minute class devoted only to the topic of sanitation and solid waste management as part of the curriculum,” he said.

A booklet (activity guide) on the subject, duly approved by the state’s education department and other regulatory bodies, has already been released by the deputy commissioner. There will also be audio-visual support to the curriculum on solid waste management at the secondary level.

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