New Delhi Feb 18 PTI The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has approved proposals worth Rs 235 crore to Andhra Pradesh under the Garbage Free Cities vision the largest one-time approval of funds for legacy dumpsite remediation a statement said on FridayThe Centres share in these proposals will be Rs 7766 crore a ministry official said adding that rest of the amount will be borne by the stateThe housing and urban affairs HUA ministry said legacy dumpsites pose a major threat to the environment and contributes to air pollution and water pollutionIt also said that clearing these mountains of years-old waste is critical to not just transforming the urban landscape of the country but also addressing the issue of public health and environmental concernsSwachh Bharat Mission-Urban 20 was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 1 last year with the vision of creating Garbage Free Cities by 2026According to the ministry one of the major objectives under the Mission is Lakshya Zero dumpsite to remediate 16 crore metric tonnes MT of legacy waste dumpsites occupying nearly 15000 acres of city landThe Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has approved the proposal worth Rs 7766 crore submitted by Andhra Pradesh for remediation of over 42 lakh MT of waste in 28 ULBs urban local bodies the statement statedCurrently 118 lakh MT of unremediated legacy waste is present across the state locking up over 463 acres of valuable land it statedThe ministrys approval makes this the largest one-time approval of funds for legacy dumpsite remediation to Andhra PradeshThe Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs MoHUA had also celebrated Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav from January 17-31 on the theme of Smart Cities Smart UrbanisationPrioritising the issue of dumpsite remediation more than 260 cities across five states and Union territories have submitted their action plan for legacy waste remediation to the ministry signifying their commitment to the vision of garbage free cities the statement addedPTI BUN SRY

New Delhi Dec 24 PTI The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Friday launched a revised protocol of rating garbage-free cities The revised protocol -- Azadi75 Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities-Toolkit 2022 -- is aligned with priorities of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 20 with higher weightage being allotted to door-to-door collection of garbage source segregation waste processing and dumpsite remediation The ministry said in a statement that after seeing the impact star rating certification has made to improve on-ground waste management scenario of the cities the release of funds has been made conditional subject to an urban local body ULB achieving at least 1-star certification To ensure every ULB participates in the star rating exercise to get GFC Garbage Free Cities certified and get central funds it was felt necessary to revamp the existing GFC protocol and make the assessment process simpler while retaining its robustness so that every ULB is motivated to apply for the GFC certification the ministry saidUnder the revised protocols the earlier 25 componentsindicators have now been reduced to 24 of which only 16 indicators are mandatory for 1-star and 3-star levels The remaining eight indicators are aspirational in nature and will be relevant for 5-star and 7-star aspirants The multi-step calculation of the previous GFC protocol has now been changed to a single step marking which will help ULB to easily self-assess themselves for applying it said The entire process of applying for certification and subsequent assessment have been simplified and made completely digital paperless and new components pertaining to IEC capacity building revenue from sale of waste by-products have been added to encourage cities to build an ecosystem to strengthen the waste management system the statement said PTI MAH SMN