TS plans S-Hub with ₹25 cr. seed fund

Incubator to promote start-ups, sanitation and waste water recycling

An S-Hub or the sanitation hub, on the lines of popular T-Hub incubator, for promoting start-ups and innovations in water, sanitation, solid waste management and waste water recycling is to be set up by the Telangana government in Hyderabad.

Announcing this here on Friday, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K.T.Rama Rao said a seed fund of ₹ 25 crore is being earmarked for the initiative. He also urged MA&UD Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar to “make sure the incubator is started immediately.”

Addressing the valedictory of INK@WASH summit in which a few senior officials, including Mr. Kumar participated, the Minister said the objective behind handholding the start-ups and promoting innovations in the space is to make cities and towns livable as well as healthy.

“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, capacity building in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector,” he said.

The State government proposes to house S-Hub at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) for two years and then establish a dedicated facility at the proposed Centre for Urban Excellence. The centre, he said, is coming up on 15-20 acres and expected to be up and running next year.

Mr. Rao also announced that the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board is also planning a hackathon shortly on waste water and sensor technology.

Listing out several measures initiated by the government in the areas of WASH, the Minister said urban local bodies (ULBs) in Telangana have achieved ODF (open defecation-free) status and are forging ahead to meet ODF++ protocols through safe management of faecal sludge and septage at 71 ULBs under the PPP format. There are also plans to set up 3,000 new public toilets in the next two months.

INK@WASH, an initiative of the Telangana government with the support of ASCI and other organisations, is aimed at promoting collaboration and partnerships among the start-ups/innovators and cities, funding agencies, CSR units of companies in the identified areas. ASCI chairman K.Padmanabhaiah highlighted the role of the government in handholding the start-ups working in WASH areas.