Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Kabadiwala, a startup of Bhopal, is preparing for meeting the challenge of managing waste in the holy town of Ayodhya, where millions of devotees are likely to visit in wake of consecration of Ram temple. The startup has been working with the Ayodhya Municipal Corporation for the past one-and-a-half years, segregating and recycling dry waste from households and commercial and industrial establishments in the city.
“But managing the waste that is generated routinely in a city is one thing and doing it when the number of visitors is many times over the total population of the place is another,” one of the two co-founders of Kabadiwala, Anurag Asati told Free Press. Managing the waste during and after the consecration of the Ram Temple will definitely be a huge task, he said.
The startup is running an MRF at Ayodhya, where 15 workers, including five from Bhopal, segregate and classify waste. He said that with millions of devotees expected to reach Ayodhya, it would be difficult to ensure that people separate dry and wet waste. “The municipal corporation is installing separate bins for dry and wet waste and is also putting up banners and posters for making the pilgrims aware but how far it works, only time will tell,” he added. The startup has launched an IEC (Information, Education, Communication) campaign in schools and colleges in Ayodhya to make the students aware of the need to segregate waste and its disposal in a safe and scientific manner.
“Yes, the quantity will be huge but we are confident that we will be able to manage,” he said. Founded in 2014, Kabadiwala is into waste management for the municipal bodies in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
It runs ‘Material Recovery Facilities’, where dry waste is segregated into things which can be reused or recycled and those which can be used to make compost. The idea is to reduce the waste going into landfills. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also appreciated the work of Kabadiwala in the 97th Episode of 'Mann Ki Baat'.
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