‘Focus on enhancing processing capabilities and bio-remediating of legacy dumpsites,’ says Puri

Speaking on the occasion of the Swachchata Diwas, Minister of State – MoHUA, Mr Hardeep Singh Puri, underlined the importance paid to urban spaces by the Modi government. Mr Puri said the greatest success of the PM’s Swacch Bharat scheme is the transformation from a government-led project to a people’s movement. “We have systems in place to ensure waste is turned to wealth and the PM has personally devoted so much time to the Swacch Bharat Mission. Apart from this, I would like to express eternal gratitude to those who provide services on the ground, including swachgrahis, a term that resonates with the satyagrahis in the freedom movement.”

Here are some of the key statistics related to SWM shared at the event:

  • 97 per cent wards across India currently have door to door waste collection in 2020. By 2022, the Mission aspires to achieve 100 per cent door to door collection.
  • 77 per cent wards have source segregation currently and the Mission aspires to achieve 100 per cent source segregation by 2022.
  • Waste processing capacity has increased to 67 per cent in 2020 from 18 per cent pre-2014. By 2022, SBM (U) hopes to achieve complete waste processing in all 500 AMRUT cities.
  • Capacity building of cities was emphasized wherein 1.3 lakh elected representatives were trained through various platforms.
  • 20 crore people involved through direct engagement in SBM (U)
  • 765 legacy waste dumpsites remediated in 2020
  • Over 100 lighthouse cities which have become an inspiration for other cities in their respective region
  • Swachchata App has 1.7 crore users
  • 84,000 waste pickers have benefited through SBM (U)
  • Focus on innovation and swachchata entrepreneurs as part of SBM (U) is noteworthy

Summing up the way forward for the Mission, the Minister said, “In the area of SWM, we will focus extensively on curtailing the use of single use plastic to the extent possible, enhancing our processing capabilities along with efficiently managing our Construction and Demolition waste, and bio-remediating of legacy dumpsites.”

The event also saw select states and cities such as Uttarakhand, Kerala, Imphal, Dungarpur, Khargone etc their experiences of the past six years and and chalking out the next steps towards a Swachhatam Bharat. Participants also got the opportunity to listen to the experiences of SBM-U’s development partners that include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), GIZ, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

A series of key publications were also launched by the Ministry. While the document ‘Frontline Stories of Resilience: India’s Sanitation Champions’ compiled by the National Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (NFSSM) Alliance presents inspirational stories of sanitation workers from across the country, the ‘COVID Diaries: Responses of Indian Cities to COVID-19’ by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) documents a range of actions and initiatives taken by Indian cities during the first four months of lockdown period of Covid-19 and provides a Resilient Urban Sanitation Response (RUSR) Framework, which can be applied by cities in responding to the pandemic situation.

Along with this, the Minister also released the ‘Almanac of Waste Management Practices’, a compendium of best practices and innovative case studies in SWM.  Capacity building of officials and staff of ULBs has been an integral part of the Mission. As part of this endeavor, the Ministry, with the help of National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) has conducted over 150 workshops across India witnessing the participation of over 6000 officials representing over 3200 ULBs since 2016.

The interactive SBM-U portal developed by NIUA documents the learnings from these workshops. In an effort to sensitize ULBs for taking immediate interventions to reduce vulnerabilities of sanitation workers and safeguard their rights, the Ministry also released a Ready Reckoner for Ensuring Safety of Sanitation Workers prepared by the Urban Management Centre (UMC).

The documents can be downloaded from the Swachh Bharat Urban website under the Knowledge Management website (sub category: Book releases 2nd Oct 2020)

A recording of the event can be viewed here.

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