80% of central funds for Urban Swachh Bharat Mission unused by states, UTs: Govt
The states have utilised only ₹6,639.80 crore out of the total ₹32,609.99 crore of central government funding for the Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban
New Delhi: With less than a year left in the Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM-U) 2.0, 80% of the central government funds remain untapped by states and Union territories, according to information given by Union minister of state (MoS) for housing and urban affairs, Tokhan Sahu, in the Rajya Sabha, on Monday.
The states have utilised only ₹6,639.80 crore out of the total ₹32,609.99 crore of central government funding, Sahu said while replying to a question by Bharat Rasthra Samithi (BRS) member of Parliament (MP) KR Suresh Reddy.
Smaller states/UTs such as Puducherry, Delhi, Telangana, Chandigarh and Manipur are among the states with the top five utlisation with Puducherry and Delhi topping the list with utlisation around 38%. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, two top performing states in the government’s Swacch Bharat awards, have utlisation of 21% and 13%, respectively. UTs such as Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu have shown no progress under the misision.
The Union government said the underutilisation of funds under SBM-U 2.0 is “mainly attributed to delay in planning, revision in action plans by States and lack of proper technical knowhow at city level for implementing the projects”.
The MoS said the union government holds regular interaction with the principal secretaries, secretaries, mission directors of the states to review the financial progress. Field visits by the central team are also being done to support ground implementation. “Technical handholding advisories/guidelines have been disseminated with States/Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and are being followed up through regular capacity building programmes. Model Request for Proposals (RFPs) and Model Concession Agreements (MCAs) have been prepared and notified for ready use in procurement by ULBs,” he said.
Officials in the ministry could not be reached for a comment about what remedial action will be taken to ensure funds are utlised.
The mission was launched in October 2021 with an aim to ensure safe sanitation, proper waste management, and clean-up of legacy waste sites in cities across India.
In November, Union minister of housing and urban affairs Manohar Lal Khattar launched a ₹3,000-crore flagship initiative – the Dumpsite Remediation Accelerator Programme– to speed up the clearance of 245 legacy waste dump sites across the country, including 214 high-load locations.
