New Delhi: After achieving the target of open defecation free (ODF), India is now heading towards garbage free country, said Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi on Thursday.
"India is embarking on its next journey of Swachhata under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0. We are now targeting to go from an ODF India to a garbage-free India," said Puri while addressing the inaugural event of Swachh Shehar Samvad and Tech Exhibition.
Highlighting that India has already achieved ODF status with all 4,372 Urban Local Bodies (ULB) stating 100 percent success, Puri said, "Not only did we build over 73.45 lakh individual and community toilets, we also restored dignity and health to millions of urban poor, including the Divyang Jan."
He said that waste processing capacities of urban local bodies have increased from a mere 18 percent in 2014 to 73 percent at present. "We are now accelerating implementation to reach 100 percent saturation at the earliest," said Puri.
He said that the second iteration of the mission has been launched with an overall outlay of nearly 2.5 times of the first mission. "The increased budget is an affirmation of the confidence placed upon the government by the people of India. Continuing with the ethos of SBM (U), the overarching principle towards this next journey of Swachhata is based on the philosophy of "waste to wealth" and adopts the principles of circular economy as its core tenets."
During his address, the minister highlighted the key actions and initiatives under the SBM. He mentioned setting up material recovery facilities (MRFs) in every city for ensuring further sorting, processing, or recycling of segregated dry waste and setting up processing facilities for construction and demolition waste.
Talking about the "Lakshya Zero Dumpsite Challenge", the minister said that all legacy dumpsites containing 16 crore metric tonnes of waste, and taking up 15,000 acres of prime land, will be remediated within the mission period.
"I am proud to note that action plan for over 1,000 legacy dumpsites - including those in Delhi, containing 12.8 crore metric tonnes of waste have been approved by MoHUA, with a total project cost of more than Rs 8000 crores, of which the Centre's contribution almost Rs 3,000 crores," said Puri.
