New Delhi: To eliminate mountains of garbage in cities, the central government had started a scheme of more than three thousand crore rupees and expected from the states that if they also cooperated equally, then these mountains could be eliminated, but this scheme has also become a victim of slow start due to the laxity of the states.

Most of the garbage heaps have become mountains

A major goal of the Swachh Bharat Mission is to eliminate the age-old garbage heaps, most of which have become mountains. An important milestone in the Swachh Bharat Mission, which began on October 2, 2014, came on October 1, 2021, when with the launch of SBM-2.0, the goal of eliminating these mountains of garbage was set and it was envisioned that such a problem would never be allowed to arise in the future.

This means that along with disposal of existing garbage, such sites had to be developed as green zones. According to the data of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, only 15 percent of the area has been cleaned so far and the garbage disposed is around 35 percent.

There is no facility for disposal of solid waste in many cities

There are 2424 garbage dumps in the country where more than a thousand tons of solid waste is collected. Out of these, only 470 sites have been cleaned completely. 730 dump sites have not been touched yet. In fact, cities do not have any facility for disposal of solid waste. For them, cleanliness means collecting garbage from the houses and dumping it at a place outside the city. Many such sites have now come up within the cities.

One and a half lakh tons of solid waste is generated every day in the country

The ministry estimates that about 15 thousand acres of land is trapped in these mountains of garbage and a total of 16 crore tons of garbage is deposited in them, which needs to be disposed of. According to the report released in 2023 on the state of the environment, one and a half lakh tons of solid waste is generated in the country every day, but urban development experts talk of three times this, i.e. about five lakh tons of garbage being generated every day, of which not even one-third can be disposed of properly.

According to the dashboard of the ministry, the plan to start waste disposal facilities at 1250 dump sites has been approved and work has already started in them.

Except Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, no other state has shown any desire to work on this scheme on a war footing. These two states are on the way to achieving the target with three-fourths of the success achieved. Apart from this, the condition of almost all the states - Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Punjab - is the same.

143 lakh tons of garbage has accumulated in Bengal

Bengal has 143 lakh tons of garbage accumulated and only 9 lakh tons have been disposed of in three years. The same is the case with Karnataka, which has not even touched its garbage mountains. Delhi should look towards Gujarat, which has disposed of almost the same amount of garbage in just three years.