Punjab government seeks Rs. 53.67 crore from GoI for three clusters of solid waste management

Chandigarh, April 22, 2015: The Punjab Government has urged the Union Government to include the three flagship Solid Waste Management Projects under the Swachh Bharat Mission and release the 20% of total Project cost of these three Projects amounting to Rs.53.67 Crore as admissible under Swachh Bharat Mission to the State Government.

Request in this regard has been made in a communiqué to M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Urban Development Joshi pointed out that it was matter of record that Punjab was the Ist State in the Country where State level Solid Waste Master Plan was prepared. He said that National Green Tribunal (NGT) while appreciating the master plan of Punjab after approving it issue directions to other States to study and replicate the similar model for their states.

Joshi pointed out that Punjab had developed an end to end solution to manage Solid Waste in all Urban Local Bodies of State within the stipulated legal framework. He said that as per the inclusive plan the entire State of Punjab had been divided into eight clusters for managing Solid Waste on scientific basis to ensure 100% coverage of urban areas. He said that each cluster has been planned to have integrated Solid Waste Management Project for all ULBs of that cluster. He said that Punjab envisioned Projects structured on PPP mode for a fixed concession period of 25 years to provide door to door collection service with scientific disposal of Solid Waste. The communiqué pointed out that out of these eight clusters, three clusters at Bathinda, Ferozepur and Jalandhar were already under implementation stage and were approved before Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on 2nd October; 2014. The total outlay of these three Projects works to be Rs. 268.39 Crore and covered almost 40% of total urban population of State.

Seeking liberal help from Union Government Joshi said that these three Projects, however, were not funded either by Government of Punjab or any other external agency and have never been part of any scheme announced earlier by any agency and concerned ULBs were providing funds from their own resources which were insufficient to meet the entire expenditure.

Seeking the inclusion of these points in the Swachh Bharat Mission Joshi requested Union Minister that in view of the above facts these three Projects should be included as new Projects under Swachh Bharat Mission and 20% of total Project cost of these three Projects amounting to Rs. 53.67 Crore as admissible under Swachh Bharat Mission be released to us to put these Projects on strong footing.

Joshi assured the Union Minister that with the helping hand of Union government Punjab would strive to become torchbearer state by becoming the first state of the country with 100% Solid Waste Management system.