The 2^nd National Cities’ Workshop: ACCESSanitation (Accelerating City to City Exchange For Sustainable Sanitation), was held in New Delhi, February 2-5. The workshop organized by ICLEI South Asia in association with Ecosan Services Foundation and Xavier University and supported by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India had the participation of various organizations and institutions: Delhi Government, ICLEI-EU, ICLEI-AS, ICLEI-SEAS, Seeconsult, Crisil, Jindal and various participating cities across India and Africa.

At the inaugural session, 2^nd February, Mr. Emani Kumar, Executive Director, ICLEI South Asia welcomed all the participants and thanked them for the support. Mr. A. K. Mehta, Joint Secretary, MoUD, Government of India, was the chief guest on the occasion. Thanking ICLEI-SA and its partners for carrying out such an initiative he acknowledged that the problem of sanitation is quite large as no adequate attention is being given to such an issue.
However, he emphasized that collective response from all the government departments – finance, health environment and forests can address the problem. “All the stakeholders: corporate, government need to bring this together for implementation with an inclusive approach, both short term and long term. Cities should take the leadership role in respect and lead their own efforts”, he said. He added that City Sanitation Plan (CSP) should be well problem thought and of good quality. It must be consistent, have a dateline and the people must see the change.

 Mr. Dharmendra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Delhi, special guest at the occasion, also raised the sanitation concerns in Delhi and sought inclusive sustainable plans for the future concern of the city. He accepted that this problem has not been able to be addresses till now. Delhi has no visual of sanitation. Highlighting some of the efforts taken by Delhi government – Yamuna Action Plan, Plant set up at the Secretariat, Okhala and Gazipur waste management plants, he said that Delhi has a lot of waste for disposal and segregation, but there’s no land. “Committees will be set up for Plants”, he said. He led emphasis on a city plan which addresses all this issues, such that the city does not face these problems.

Ms. Barbara Anton, ACCESSanitation Project Team Leader, ICLEI-ES, said that an ambitious role has been set with the project and a great progress has been made. “It has come at a right time in the city with funding from the European Union and support from the Indian government ministries”, she said. She said that intense preparations are being made for its implementation and more cities are to come in. She expressed that good solutions will be made available to all under this project. Mr. Aniruddhe Mukerjee, Commissioner cum Director, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, who has been supporting ICLEI-SA sanitation programme expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the City Sanitation Plan. Emphasizing on doing away with poverty, he expressed regret how earlier, departments were not keen and sensitive on such issues. “Now, such programmes are viable, as there has been a change in the local bodies”, he said.

Mr. Chetan Vaidya, Director, NIUA, said that not only sustainable sanitation, but also inclusive sanitation is the goal of the MoUD. He expressed that all plans – City development, JNNRUM, National urban disaster plan, National health mission should be converged to make inclusive sanitation plan. “This city-to-city plan is excellent”, he said. Mr. Emani Kumar said that new surveys,  behavioural survey, are being done to make the project more inclusive and initiatives are being made to capture focus areas. He expressed full satisfaction that the cities will carry this forward.