Five states account for more than half of the 1,080 “legacy landfill sites” for which authorities haven’t yet proposed remediation plans under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, which aims to get rid of all legacy dumps by 2026, according to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry’s SBM-U dashboard.
“Legacy” dump sites are ones with waste that’s been dumped for more than three months.
By the end of the mission’s five-year cycle, the second version of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban aims to make “garbage-free cities” and 100% recycle all legacy landfills.
Dashboard updates are happening as and when cities submit action plans to the ministry through their respective state governments. There were 1,854 sites across the country, covering 47,456.66 acres, with 18.67 crore tonnes of waste, that weren’t remediated as of 4.30 pm on December 6. Five states have yet to propose remediation for 1,080 sites: Karnataka (136), Rajasthan (128), Andhra Pradesh (115), Madhya Pradesh (111), and Telangana (101).
There were 91 sites in Maharashtra that needed remediation, according to the dashboard.
Delhi, where the three legacy landfills at Ghazipur, Bhalswa and Okhla became a debate topic in last week’s election, has approved action plans for all three. The dashboard shows 84% of the 2.80 crore tonnes of legacy waste haven’t been remediated.
According to a ministry official, the government increased Delhi’s funding from Rs 436 crore to Rs 1,180 crore to clear legacy landfills. According to the official, the money has been transferred to the MCD.
As part of the mission, municipalities have to submit action plans for the bio-remediation of legacy landfills. According to its composition, waste is broken down into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for waste-to-energy plants, construction and demolition (C&D) waste for recycling, and biosoil for filling road gaps.
After clearing the dump sites, municipalities have to make plans for alternative uses of the land, which, according to the dashboard, is nearly 47,000 acres.
