The State government dropped as many as 38 projects envisaged for the management of liquid waste owing to severe local protests and land issues. There were eight projects under construction, 39 in approved status, and 74 new proposals as per the report submitted by the Department of Local Self-Government before the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal on August 16, 2023.
As per the progress report on the implementation of solid and liquid waste management in the State filed on April 5, it was pointed out that a major drop had occurred in the case of new proposals due to concerns such as severe local agitation and land issues. Of the 74 new proposals, 38 were dropped while seven projects received administrative sanction.
But the State was able to identify another 41 new projects, which came under various schemes. It included sewage treatment plants (STPs), STPs with co-treatment facilities, faecal sludge treatment plants (FSTPs) and mobile treatment units, it said.
Among the eight under-construction projects, five got completed and were commissioned, and two projects are in the construction stage. The report said the State had ring-fenced about ₹2,343 crore for liquid waste management. Currently, projects worth ₹2,067 crore have been taken up for implementation. Projects have been formulated around 88% of the ring-fenced amount within a year.
An amount of ₹452.3 crore has been committed through funds from other institutional sources additionally. More than 26% of the allocated funds have been used to complete or partially establish the treatment systems. Projects worth over 24% of the funds are ongoing and progressing as planned. The remaining projects had been approved and implementation had commenced or would begin soon, it said. Projects worth ₹836.5 crore were under way under AMRUT 1.0 and 2.0 to set up STPs, FSTPs and sewer networks, it said.
