“Enhanced focus on scientific management of dry and wet waste,” says FM

“Enhanced focus will be provided for scientific management of dry and wet waste,” said Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, while announcing a 150-per cent hike in the outlay of the Swacch Bharat Mission, with an allocation of Rs 5,000 crore in the Union Budget 2023-24. In the 2022-23 revised estimates, the SBM(U) was allocated Rs 2,000 crore.

The FM said cities will be encouraged to undertake urban planning reforms to make cities more sustainable. The government will establish an Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) of Rs 10,000 crore per year to build infrastructure in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

The Smart Cities Mission was allotted Rs 8,000 crore as against Rs 8,800 crore in the revised estimates for the last fiscal.  

Industry leaders welcomed the budget’s focus on sustainability. “As a result of this budget, we should see significant progress in our energy transition journey including, but not limited to, scaling up of bio-energy/ CBG and Green Hydrogen. The sustainability sector has much to celebrate. Sustainability has clearly taken center stage in the government’s development agenda, possibly for the very first time”, said Mr. Masood Mallick, CEO, ReSustainability Limited.