New Delhi: Being aware of the fact that big States like Bihar, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra among others have not been able to setup required Plastic Waste Management Unit (PWMU) in village blocks, the Centre ordered them to implement it in a time bound manner.
Setting up of PWMU is one of the major criteria of phase II of Swacch Bharat Mission (Gramin) to make villages ‘visually clean’. Setting up of PWMU will also ensure minimal littering, stagnation of water and no accumulation of plastic waste in the form of a dump.
“Plastic waste disposal is one of the important dimensions in bringing about cleanliness. To fulfill this objective, Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been assigned the task of arrangement for door-to-door collection of plastic waste along with other waste, segregation and storage of plastic waste at the common village shed constructed and available in the village, selling recyclable plastic waste to vendors and sending remaining plastic waste to the block level Plastic Waste Management Units (PWMUs),” a government official said.
Funding support of Rs 16 lakhs per block was provided by the Jal Shakti Ministry for setting up PWMUs.
“However, so far only seven per cent of all the blocks in the country had been equipped with PWMUs. Amongst all the States and UTs, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Ladakh had made exceptional progress in creating plastic waste management facilities with 72 per cent, 42 per cent and 48 per cent of the blocks covered respectively in these states,” the official added.
As per the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) Phase-II operational guideline, there must be one PWMU in each block, if clustering is not possible.
“This was again reiterated during the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) meeting for all states and UTs to have these units at the blocks levels. In AIP of FY 2023-24, states and UTs have planned to set up PWMUs and linkages of blocks with urban facilities in over 3,700 Blocks. As reported by States on IMIS, over 950 blocks in the country have been equipped with PWMU or linked with Urban Plastic Waste Management Facilities,” the official stated.
Government data in possession of ETV Bharat, in Assam, PWMUs have been set up in 18 blocks from a total of 244 blocks. Bihar has set up PWMUs in 54 blocks from a total of 533, Chhattisgarh one from a total of 146, Gujarat nine from a total of 248, Karnataka eight from a total of 232 blocks, Madhya Pradesh five from a total of 313, Maharashtra one from a total of 351 blocks.
In view of the growing menace of plastic wastes which create environmental hazards and also destroy the aesthetic look of the area, the ministry recommended expediting establishment of PWMUs in all the blocks of the country to realise the objective of visually clean villages.
Also, facility for door-to-door collection of waste and its segregation, being the first step, the government also aims for creating monitoring mechanisms including physical verification of such facilities at block and district level officers in those villages which had been certified as ODF plus villages. The SBM-G Phase-II is being implemented from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
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