NEW DELHI -- An estimated quarter-million people in New Delhi make their living by picking garbage, and they fear their lives are about to be upended.
Where they see money in trash, the New Delhi government sees electricity.
The government is experimenting with power plants fueled by garbage. One is running on a trial basis and two more are under construction.
If those plants go online, the 8,000 tons of garbage generated daily in the Indian capital would be hauled by private companies, instead of the networks of ragpickers who found opportunity by wheeling pushcarts of garbage through the streets.
It is not an easy life, but the ragpickers and their supporters say they will face unimaginable poverty if they lose their source of income.
City officials say the issue is being studied.
By GARETH CONDE, Associated Press
The Associated Press