India’s ever first conference for demolition, recycling and remediation, held in Mumbai on November 13, witnessed a huge response from the demolition industry.IDA Demolition Association has been a long-time dream of Mohan Ramanathan, Managing Director of ACT, a company of 35 years standing in the Indian construction industry and dealing with demolition and recycling machinery. The dream was realised with the inception of Demtech, an IDA event. Six months of hard work went into contacting potential sponsors and contractors and he received positive responses from the majority of them, with Volvo India agreeing to be the headline sponsor. Epiroc, Hilti, Brokk, Aquajet Systems and Sennebogen supported as associate sponsors. Husqvarna, Edifice, Pentruder, Shearcore, Kemroc, Kobelco and Tyrolit as affiliate sponsors. An additional 10 companies that extended their support with table booths were Trevi Benne, Rotar International, Demarec, Schwing Stetter, Hydrotec, Philtec E&C, SDT Sanwa Diamond Tools, Indo-Spark, Terex and Wirtgen Group.Along with a huge number of Indian participants, attendees and exhibitors also came from 17 different countries, namely the US, the UK, Spain, the UAE, Japan, Singapore, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Romania, Russia, Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, China and Saudi Arabia to attend and participate in Demtech 2019.The Minister of Road, Transport & Highways, Government of India,  Nitin Gadkari, sent his best wishes to IDA and Demtech; his video message was preceded with a lamp lighting ceremony, followed by the chief guest Special Director General of CPWD, Usha Batra, giving the opening speech. Mohan Ramanathan then welcomed the over 300 delegates to the event. The conference had a series of interesting lectures and case studies presented by industry experts. It concluded with a panel discussion focussing on demolition in India and way forward.The day before the event IDA had their first committee meeting, and it was decided that the 2nd edition of Demtech will be organised in 2020 in November at Bengaluru following the success and the encouraging response from the demolition industry, details about which will soon be updated on the Demtech website in the months to come. Demtech 2019 was not only the first ever-Indian demolition, recycling and remediation conference but also the historic moment when India’s first demolition association – IDA Demolition Association – was inaugurated with the unveiling of a golden plaque. IDA is in collaboration among the European Demolition Association (EDA) and the International Association of Concrete Sawers and Drillers (IACDS), which together will bring international demolition, recycling and remediation practices and knowledge to India. Please visit the Indian Demolition website to know more about IDA Demolition Association and details of how to become an IDA member.