Swachh Bharat Mission yet to take off in Bengal, Bihar, Assam

Construction of toilets in urban areas under the ambitious ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission is yet to take off in 14 states and Union Territories including Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal. The other states and UTs, found to be lagging in construction of toilets under the Centre’s flagship sanitation programme are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Nagaland, according to a senior Union Urban Development Ministry official.

Besides, according to the UD Ministry data, 10 states and Union Territories are still to start processing of solid waste, an essential component of the ‘Clean India’ drive. These are Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Daman amd Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Sikkikm, Tripura and West Bengal. Taking a serious view of the lack of initiative on the part of these states and UTs, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has directed the Ministry officials to convey the concerns of the Ministry to the representatives of these states/UTs to find out reasons for the same and to ensure necessary momentum.

Swachh Bharat Mission’s targets in urban areas include construction of 1.04 crore individual household toilets, over 5 lakh community and public toilet seats and 100 per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste, its transportation and disposal, to be achieved by the year 2019. The mission in urban areas is being implemented at a cost of Rs 62,009 crore. Bihar has been given Rs 8.14 cr for construction of toilets out of the total grant of Rs 37.72 cr while West Bengal has got Rs 21 cr for toilets out of total Rs 64 cr grant under the mission. According to the ministry data, for Kerala, Rs 16.6 cr has been allocated for toilet purpose out of the total Rs 19.18 cr, and Rs 4 cr has been allocated to Jharkhand out of its total Rs 15 cr grant under the drive. Assam has got Rs 20 lakh out of total Rs 23 lakh under the mission.

Over four lakh individual household toilets have been constructed in urban areas of the country since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October last year, according to the official. Apart from 4,35,805 toilets constructed in urban areas till July this year, 22,419 toilet seats were made available and the number of municipal wards reporting 100 per cent door-to-door collection of municipal solid waste was also increasing. Delhi has reported waste generation of 8,590 tonnes per day and processed 52 per cent of it during the last month as against the target of 75 per cent for March next year.

100 per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste has been reported by Chandigarh in all of its 26 wards, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands in all 18 wards. Chandigarh reported municipal waste generation of 340 tonnes per day and 100 per cent processing of the same. Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported waste generation of 70 tonnes per day and recycling of 30 per cent of it as against the target of 60 per cent processing by March next year. While total solid waste generation during July this year in urban areas was reported to be 1,42,580 tonnes per day, 15.33 per cent of it was processed as against the target of 32 per cent for March next year.

During July this year, 52,473 household toilets and 3,786 community and public toilet seats were constructed in urban areas. Cent per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste has been achieved in 2,562 wards during the last month, according to a senior Urban Development Ministry official involved with the Swachh Bharat Mission. Lead performers in building household toilets during the last month included Gujarat which constructed 33,670 toilets, accounting for 64 per cent of the total toilets built in urban areas of the country, followed by Madhya Pradesh (7,244), Punjab (5,677), Karnataka (1,845), Haryana (1,829), Chattisgarh (1,676), Mizoram (300), Rajasthan (167), Manipur (41) and Uttarakhand (22).

Haryana, Mizoram and Manipur have reported for the first time, construction of household toilets during July this year. In construction of community and public toilets in July this year, Madhyra Pradesh led the effort with 1,550 toilet seats, followed by Rajasthan (640), Tamil Nadu (600), Telangana (530) and Odisha (420). As far as Delhi is concerned, the official said, it has reported repair and renovation of about 4,500 dysfunctional community and public toilets till July.

With regard to progress in solid waste management in July, Jammu and Kashmir led others having reported 100 per cent door-to-door collection of municipal waste in 989 wards, followed by Andhra Pradesh (777), Rajasthan (215), Haryana (196), UP (184), MP (110) and Maharashtra in 76 wards. Out of the 78,003 municipal wards in the country, 31,470 wards have so far reported 100 per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste, including the progress achieved before the launch of the ambitious mission.

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