The Centre has approved proposals worth Rs 860.35 crore for West Bengal under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) 2.0.

During the first phase of SBM-U (2014-19), a total fund of Rs 911.34 crore was allocated to West Bengal which has been increased by 1.5 times to Rs 1,449.30 crores in SBM-U 2.0 (2021-26).

An official release on Thursday said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has been working closely with the State of West Bengal to achieve significant advancements in waste management and sanitation. There are 118 legacy waste dumpsites in West Bengal of which only 5% waste has been remediated.

The Dhapa landfill, Kolkata’s main municipal dumping ground since 1987, has been undergoing biomining and bioremediation, the methods chosen by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for clearing legacy waste, which allows extraction of usable materials from the waste.

Cities in West Bengal generate around 4,046 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. Under SBM-U 2.0, the state has proposed projects to manage this huge quantity of waste that includes over 4800 composting plants and 4500 Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs).

To facilitate disposal of solid waste in an environmentally safe manner, 2216 Secured Landfill Facilities (SLFs) have been proposed by the state. The state has received a major push for Waste to Energy with the Ministry’s approval for 460 Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) plants. Proposals worth Rs 217 crores have been approved under SBM-U 2.0 for the remediation of legacy waste dumpsites in over 100 ULBs.

To maintain a seamless flow of funds for managing sanitation and waste management, the Government of India released an additional tranche of Rs 209 crores to fast-track the proposed projects by the state. The target is to have waste processing plants in all cities of the state by 2026 under SBM-U.