Rs 6,000 crore to clean the mess

The state’s SAD-BJP government is banking on BiPaSa (Bijli, Paani and Sadak) to help it stake a third chance at forming the government. For this, the state government has earmarked Rs 6,000 crore, only for regeneration of its cities. However, even as the Punjab Government was giving a final shape to its urban regeneration proposals, the ranking of 476 cities in the country for cleanliness was released by the Union Urban Development Ministry. Of the 17 cities surveyed for cleanliness under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Punjab, seven are ranked in the bottom 100. Of Punjab’s cities, Hoshiarpur is the dirtiest (447 rank), followed by Barnala (439) and Malerkotla (431). The other four are Amritsar (430), Abohar (420), Muktsar (384) and Ludhiana (381). According to the status report on Municipal Solid Waste Management of the Central Pollution Control Board, Punjab has two waste processing plants (as in 2010-11). There is just one sanitary landfill in Adampur and the total municipal solid waste generated in the state is 2793.5 metric tonnes per day. The solid waste generated in Ludhiana is the highest – 850 metric tonnes per day, followed by Amritsar – 550 metric tonnes per day. With the Akali-BJP leadership now banking on urban regeneration as their poll plank — a brainchild of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal —efforts to mop up adequate resources for effectively managing solid and liquid waste and providing basic civic amenities, including good quality roads and finding vendors to start the work, have been increased. The state is raising a loan from banks for getting the money, while Rs 4,500 crore is being raised through the new cess being imposed on fuel, electricity duty and transfer of immoveable property. “Some big names like Shapoorji Pallonji and Co and Triveni Industries have already been roped in for the water supply and sewerage management in Amritsar and Bathinda. Tenders for starting work in 160 towns have also been floated and by the end of this financial year, the urban regeneration in most cities will be initiated in earnest,” says Badal. He added that even rural areas would see a complete makeover, as Rs 4,000 crore will be spent for providing basic civic amenities in villages. Last year, while accepting that management of solid and liquid waste occupy a major issue confronting the government, Punjab withdrew the job of waste management from the urban local bodies (ULBs)and panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and created a separate department of solid and liquid waste management, through a special legislation and dedicated funding. The idea is to have qualified professionals for the secondary and tertiary tasks of collection, aggregation and processing of waste. What now remains to be seen is whether the new push being given in this regard will actually yield the desired results of having clean cities in the state.