KTR announces the setting up of Sanitation Hub

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K T Rama Rao on Friday announced the setting up of Sanitation Hub (S-Hub), an incubator to promote startups and innovations in water, sanitation, sewage water management and waste water recycling to make cities and towns livable and healthy.

Stating that this would be on the lines of T-Hub and We-Hub, the Minister said a seed fund of Rs 25 crores will be earmarked for this initiative.

Addressing delegates at the valedictory session of Ink Wash Summit here, Rama Rao said the S-Hub will be the go-to place, a lighthouse for Telangana and for India that would undertake incubation of ideas and build an ecosystem for innovations, knowledge dissemination and capacity building in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Sector (WASH).

The State government, he said, proposed to house the S-Hub at the Administrative Staff College of India for two years



and then establish a dedicated facility at the proposed Centre for Urban Excellence. “The State government has prioritised WASH and is deeply committed to achieving the set targets well ahead of the globally agreed timelines,” he said, adding that the government aims at transforming Telangana into a hub for water and sanitation innovations in the country.

The Minister said all the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the State had achieved ODF status and were forging ahead to meet ODF++ protocols through safe management of faecal sludge and septage at 71 ULBs under the PPP format. 

“The State government is striving to universalise access to individual household tap connection and safe sanitation in all its ULBs,” he said, adding that the new Municipal Act was citizen-centric and trust-based and took rights approach to water and sanitation services and other municipal services.