NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, launched the operational guidelines for the implementation of the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission and AMRUT on Wednesday, October 27. These flagship programmes of the governments aims to free up 15,000 acres of land, which is currently used as dumping sites, and provide 24*7 water supply to households in 500 cities across the nation.
Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of MoHUA, said during the launch that the second phase of both the missions have the objective of transforming the whole country into a ‘Swachh’ country. He quoted that India has increased its waste processing capacity from 17% recorded in 2014 to 70% now. The Ministry is looking forward to make that percentage 100. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA, said that 3500 acres of the 15,000 acres of land under dumpsites have already been freed across the nation. The objective is to free up the entire such areas and convert them into green zones.
The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Mission in its first phase covered only 60% of the country, whereas, in its second phase, it will cover all the cities of the nation. Moreover, under AMRUT 2.0, the government will give incentives to all the local bodies for work towards providing tap connection to each household. The Mission has set the aim of providing close to three crore tap connections. Official statement from MoHUA said that the mission will strive to make 4700 cities/towns of India water secure.