(With PIB inputs)

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on December 13, the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishore highlighted the focus areas of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0 and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0.

The two flagship missions of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, were launched on October 1, 2021, in a bid to make cities in India garbage-free and secure of its water resources during the mission period of five years from 2021 to 2026.

The minister in his written reply brought in some of the highlights of SBM (U) 2.0 which includes

• All households and premises must segregate their waste into “wet waste” (from kitchen and gardens) and “dry waste” (including paper, glass, plastic, and domestic hazardous waste and sanitary waste wrapped separately).

• Complete (100 per cent) door to door collection of segregated waste from each household/ premise.

• Proper and scientific management of all fractions of waste, including safe disposal in scientific landfills.

• All legacy dumpsites to be remediated.

• All used water including faecal sludge, is safely contained, transported, processed and disposed of so that no untreated faecal sludge and used water pollutes the groundwater or water bodies, in cities with less than one lakh population.

• A phased reduction in the use of single-use plastic will be carried out.

On describing the highlights of AMRUT 2.0, the Minister submitted:

• Universal coverage of water supply from 500 cities to about 4,800 statutory towns.

• Focus on making the cities ‘self-reliant’ and ‘water secure’.

• Universal coverage of sewerage and septage management in 500 AMRUT cities.

• Target to provide 2.68 crore drinking water tap connections and 2.64 crore sewer connections.

• Focus on the financial sustainability of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) through enhanced creditworthiness and market borrowing.

• ‘Pey Jal Survekshan’ will be undertaken in cities to promote healthy competition among them and function as a monitoring tool and Mission accelerator.

• Technology sub-Mission under AMRUT 2.0 will help in identifying proven and potential global technologies in the water sector.

• Entrepreneurs/ startups involved in low-cost indigenous equipment and processes will be encouraged.

All the cities of Uttar Pradesh including Firozabad are covered under the SBM (U) 2.0 and are eligible to avail all components as per operational guidelines.

Out of 4,372 ULBs, 4,371 ULBs of the country have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) under SBM (U). The one ULB remaining is in West Bengal, the city of Purulia. SBM (U) 2.0 and AMRUT 2.0 aims to cover all the cities in the country to make them garbage-free and water-secure.