Two cities in Telangana set the benchmark by adopting digital solutions for efficient Faecal Sludge and Septage Management Services, they can become the lighthouse for other ULBs across India.

More than 60% of urban households in India rely on onsite sanitation system (OSS) such as twin pits & septic tanks but these are usually not properly designed and managed due to lack of public awareness on regular desludging and inadequate regulatory mechanisms. As a result, faecal sludge goes into natural environment due to overflow/seepages of septic tanks (or pits) or unregulated discharge by desludging trucks leading to high level pollution of water bodies and environment posing high health risks to human beings.
 
GIZ India  in collaboration with Transerve Technologies Pvt. Ltd. implemented the Smart Urban Sanitation project under BMZ's develoPPP initiative in Khammam and Bhongir ULBs of Telangana to bring transparency, efficiency, information and sustainability in the FSSM value chain.  In addition to digital applications development, IEC and capacity building initiatives and O&M support was provided by the project. The digital application integrates the stakeholders across the FSSM value chain - the citizen, FS truck operator, FSTP operator and ULB. Citizens in two cities can now conveniently book desludging service using the app at their fingertips.
 
A workshop on "Smart Solutions for Efficient Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) Services in Telangana" was organised on 10 July 2024 at The Park, Hyderabad to disseminate the digital solutions and learnings from the project. The workshop was presided by Commissioner & Director of Municipal Administration , Telangana, Sri V. P. Gautham, IAS and in his address, he appreciated the project team for the initiative and called upon other ULBs in state to adopt the digital solutions to make FSSM services more efficient.

The event featured insightful panel discussions with Municipal Commissioners of Khammam and Nizamabad, Sri Abhishek Augustya , IAS and Sri Makarandu Manda , IAS, respectively. Dr. Mekala snehalatha , Associate Professor, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) , Mr Manpreet Singh , Chief Program Officer, National Urban Digital Mission-NIUA, New Delhi, Mr Sanjay Banka , Director, Banka BioLoo also participated as panelist. Mr Singh shared the national level perspective on digital reforms in the FSSM sector, he appreciated the digital solution developed by GIZ and acknowledged the fact that Telangana can be the lighthouse for other states to follow with respect to adopting digital reforms in the FSSM sector.
 
Municipal Commissioners & Urban Local Body officials from 41 ULBs across Telangana participated in the event. The digital solutions developed were demonstrated to the participants. The workshop facilitated peer to peer learnings and knowledge sharing on FSSM challenges in India.  
 
Key takeaways

• Digital applications adoption by the state at large scale will improve FSSM services.
• Regular desludging of septic tanks in every 3 years and regulation of desludging truck operators will lead to full utilization of Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants built in cities.
• Dashboard feature of the application will facilitate informed decision making
• To sustain such significant initiative developing and sustaining enabling environment will be crucial
• Continued IEC and capacity building initiatives are crucial to strengthen FSSM in cities

GIZ India in collaboration with  partners contributes to the realization of the objectives of the Green and Sustainable Development Partnership between  #India  and  #Germany . Learn more about our project activities by visiting SUS project page: Improving faecal sludgemanagement along the value chain - giz.de . The digital applications developed can be browsed/downloaded from:
FSM (emunicipal.in) or  Link2 .