West Bengal Receives Major Boost for Waste Management Under Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0

The Union housing and urban affairs ministry has sanctioned Rs 860.35 crore for West Bengal under the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission. Various projects, including 4,800 composting plants and 460 bio-gas plants, aim to manage the state's 4,046 tonnes of daily municipal solid waste by 2026.

The Union housing and urban affairs ministry has approved Rs 860.35 crore for West Bengal as part of the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), according to a statement issued on Thursday.

Over the first phase of SBM-U (2014-2019), a total of Rs 911.34 crore was allocated to West Bengal, which has now been raised to Rs 1,449.30 crore in SBM-U 2.0 (2021-2026). The ministry states that the main challenge lies in the 118 legacy-waste dumpsites, where only 5% of the waste has been remediated so far.

Kolkata's Dhapa landfill, the city's principal dumping ground since 1987, has been undergoing biomining and bioremediation, techniques endorsed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to clear legacy waste and extract usable materials from it. West Bengal generates approximately 4,046 tonnes of municipal solid waste per day. The state has proposed comprehensive projects for waste management, including over 4,800 composting plants, 4,500 material recovery facilities (MRFs), and 2,216 secured landfill facilities (SLFs).

The ministry also approved Rs 217 crore under SBM-U 2.0 for legacy-waste remediation in over 100 urban local bodies. An additional tranche of Rs 209 crore was released by the Government of India to expedite these sanitation and waste management projects. The goal is to establish waste-processing plants in all cities of West Bengal by 2026 as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban initiative.

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