Snapshot
Government of India approved Rs 250 crore to remediate over 45 lakh MT of legacy waste present in dump sites across 24 cities in Rajasthan.
In a boost to ‘Garbage Free Cities’ in Rajasthan, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) approved proposals worth Rs 250 crore submitted by the State for remediation of more than 45.5 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of legacy waste present in dumpsites across 24 cities.
The pink city of Jaipur, which is the capital city of Rajasthan holds the maximum amount of legacy waste in the State, is also preparing itself to remediate 11.9 lakh MT of legacy waste to transform their urban landscape and reclaim approximately 147 acres of viable city land.
While Bikaner Municipal Corporation is set to remediate approximately 6.65 lakh MT of waste lying in the city’s dumpsite, the heritage city of Jodhpur plans to remediate around 4 MT of legacy waste and reclaim 17 acres of prime land.
This effort to remediate decades-old waste will facilitate the recovery of over 473 acres of valuable land across the State.
“The remediation of legacy waste will take the State closer to its envisioned dream of becoming Garbage Free and will also facilitate the State to achieve ‘Lakshya Zero Dumpsite’ within the Mission period,” MoHUA said.
It must be noted that over 4,800 MT of municipal solid waste is generated per day by the 198 Urban Local Bodies in Rajasthan. While 99 per cent of wards in Rajasthan are covered by the door-to-door collection of waste, only 28 per cent of this waste is scientifically processed and the majority of unprocessed waste ends up in nearby dumpsites.
Despite exemplary work done by cities such as Dungarpur which is the Cleanest City, in 25,000 to 50,000 population category in Swachh Survekshan 2021, Rajasthan ranked 11th out of 14 States in the ‘more than 100 ULBs’ category in Swachh Survekshan 2021.
“It would therefore be critical for the State to urgently take steps in the days to come to segregate waste at source, improve waste processing capacities, and also begin the remediation of its legacy dumpsites,” the ministry added.