NEWSCAN
Indian ULBs lead the way to organic pollutant filtration Best ULB in East Zone under Best City in ‘Innovation and Practices’ was awarded to Birgaon, Chhattisgarh (more than 50,000 to 1 lakh) and Jugsalai, Jharkhand was awarded in cities with more than 25,000 to 50,000 population. Birgaon used ‘Mushroom Compost Absorption’ method for treating heavy metals. Mushroom Mycelia is used as a membrane for filtration of pollutants such as heavy metals using microorganisms present in mushroom and slit. Jugsalai Nagar Parishad came up with the idea of using tea leaves for processing it into highly nutritious compost. This initiative is managed at the ULB level with the help of a Self-Help Group (SHG) named Prerna Mahilla Samiti. Tea leaves are a rich source of nitrogen compound for plants and soil in the form of compost. These tea leaves are collected from approximately 50 tea stalls around Jugsalai. This has also resulted in the reduction of wet waste.
Petland working to achieve responsible waste segregation, recycling In West Zone, the award for Best City in ‘Innovation and Practices’ was given to Petland ULB of Gujarat(more than 50,000 to 1 lakh). Petland Municipality Area has deployed Yellow E-Rickshaw for on-call collection of bio-hazardous wastes such as sanitary pads, diapers, personal protective equipment, gloves, masks etc. They have also set up a fertilizer plant for recycling the wet waste collected from households and businesses across the city. The manure is then used for revenue generation by selling it in the markets as well as in municipal gardens and plantations. Thus, the innovation not only works well as an environmentally friendly practice but also helps the municipality in generating extra revenue to use in other developmental activities.
Adopting smart solutions for better SWM at grassroot level
Vita Municipal Council (VMC) won the award for the Best City in ‘Innovation and Practices’ in the West Zone in the ‘more than 25,000 to 50,000 population category. VMC has installed twin bins in the prominent areas. These bins can compress the waste collected to 1/5th of its original size with the help of a preinstalled mechanised motor. This motor is powered by the way of solar sheet installed at its top cover. It automatically sends a Wi-Fi signal to authorities when it gets filled. It serves the purpose of saving time and power, waste reduction and also offers a space for advertisement. This is not only a technologically smart initiative but also makes the people more responsible towards their duty of keeping their city clean.
released by theMoHUA, almost 59,900 toilets across more than 2900 cities have been made live on Google Maps. Civic authorities have also worked very hard for the tremendous success of SWM-U. Nearly 97 per cent of the wards in India have door to door collection of waste, 77 per cent have source segregation with almost 67 per cent of the waste being processed. Data shows that waste processing has witnessed an almost four-fold jump since 2014 (18 per cent). As per MoHUA’ Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free Cities, six cities (Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Rajkot and Mysuru) have been awarded 5-star rating. Besides this, almost 86 cities are 3-star and 64 cities are 1-star rated by the Ministry. The last edition of Swachh Survekshan 2020 conducted by MoHUA witnessed the participation of 12 crore citizens. This means that the Mission has evidently transformed this government program into a mass movement. A true “Jan Andolan”, according to MoHUA, the mission has emphasised on providing decent living places to all sanitation workers and informal waste collectors. The mission has brought around 84,000 waste pickers in the mainstream, in line with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of equality and inclusion for all sections of society. Over 5.5 lakh sanitation workers have been successfully inducted into various welfare schemes of the central government. Capacity building of the ULB officials has been a vital part of the program. In this regard, the Ministry has successfully conducted around 150 workshops across India with almost 6,000 people participating from 3,200 ULBs. These workshops were organised with the help of NIUA. SBM aimed to achieve the vision of Narendra Modi, Prime Minister, Government of India, of having a “Clean India” by October 2, 2019. The urban wing of the mission was implemented by MoHUA to make urban India ODF with modern and scientific waste management techniques.
www.urbanupdate.in | October 2020
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