AKITDA president criticizes government's policy on e-waste management

James Joseph, president, All Kerala IT Dealers Association raised questions on government's policy of reducing the inadequate disposal mechanism of e-waste. In a state-level meeting conducted in Kollam on September 25, 2013, Joseph voiced concerns on the growing possibilities of health problems due to the mismanagement on part of the government for the disposal of e-waste products.

While talking to the The DQ Week, Joseph said:"Discarded products contain hazardous chemicals and improper disposal can prove to be a potential threat to human health and environment. Government must provide adequate awareness to people and educate them for proper disposal of e-waste products."

According to a study, besides the domestic e-waste generated every year, an additional 50,000MT is illegally imported into the country, which proves that the government lacks in providing efficient tools to dispose e-waste.

Joseph pointed out that in India, the significance of e-waste management is at much higher level beacause of the generation of its own e-waste coupled with the dumping of e-waste from developed countries. "Adding to the woe, its the incompetency of the government for providing inappropriate infrastructure and methods for e-waste disposal and recycling," Joseph said.

Asked about the measures taken by AKITDA in this direction, Joseph said,"We are doing our part of creating awareness among people by eductaing them on health hazards caused by improper disposal of e-waste products and by conducting conferences, workshops across the state.

Talking further on the measures taken by the association, he added that the association is also planning to collect money from everyone and utilize it in the welfare activities for people. He further added, "This is a serious concern for the country as many people get affected by the hazardous results of e-waste disposal and it is not only the responsibilty of the government to create awareness but citizens should themselves be updated with probelms the IT sector is facing."