Aafrin Kidwai 
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched the toolkit for Swachh Survekshan 2021, the sixth edition of the annual cleanliness survey for urban India conducted by MoHUA.
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Mr Hardeep Singh Puri announced that the crucial issues of legacy waste management and remediation of landfills have also been brought to the fore in this edition of Survekshan.
The Minister also launched the ‘Prerak Daaur Samman’, a new performance category introduced in Swachh Survekshan 2021. The Prerak Daaur Samman has a total of five additional subcategories – Divya (Platinum), Anupam (Gold), Ujjwal (Silver), Udit (Bronze), Aarohi (Aspiring).
In addition to the present criteria of evaluating cities on ‘population category’, this new category will categorize cities on the basis of six select indicator wise performance criteria which are as follows:
- Segregation of waste into Wet, Dry and Hazard categories
- Processing capacity against wet waste generated
- Processing and recycling of wet and dry waste
- Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste processing
- Percentage of waste going to landfills
- Sanitation status of cities
MoHUA launched two documents prepared by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) – the ‘Advisory on OnSite and Off-Site Sewage Management Practices’ and ‘Segregated Collection and Transportation of Municipal Solid Waste’. While the first will be of immense use to States and cities in adopting integrated on-site and off-site sewage treatment technologies, the latter elaborates on various aspects of segregated waste collection and transportation systems along with case studies and best practices from different ULBs.
An integrated SBM-Urban MIS portal was also launched at the event to bring the numerous digital initiatives on a single platform thus ensuring a unified and hassle-free experience for States and cities.
All documents released at the event are available on www.swachhbharaturban.gov.in
OTHER EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
The Centre for Science and Environment released its new study on waste segregation in India titled Segregate Segregate Segregate: How to make it work for Solid Waste Management. The CSE has carried out a fresh survey of 10 ranked Indian cities. The report reveals how Indian cities are faring now as compared to the beginning of the Swachh Bharat Mission in 2014, among other issues.
Mr V.K. Jindal, Joint Secretary & Mission Director – SBM (U) outlined the Union Government’s proposed approach to SWM in the future:
- To set up MRF facilities in every ULB
- Providing waste to compost facility for every ULB
- Providing bio-methanization facilities for large ULBs (more than 3 lakh population)
- Setting up C&D waste processing facilities (more than 5 lakh population)
- Recyclable portions of dry waste given to authorized recyclers
- Non-recyclable portions of dry waste to be made into RDF, sent to cement plants, or plastic waste (specially MLP) sent for road construction
- Graded dumping fee for waste being sent to landfills
