Govt to convert garbage-filled lands in urban areas into green zones: PM

Indore: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the government is making efforts to free thousands of acres of land in the country's urban areas from piles of garbage, which was being dumped there for decades, and convert these places into green zones in the next couple of years.

He said the garbage disposal capacity of the urban areas in the country has increased by four times since 2014.

Batting for the use of bio-fuels to reduce India's dependence on other countries for petroleum products, he said that ethanol blending in petrol, which used to be only about two per cent eight years back, has now grown to around eight per cent.

Modi was speaking after virtually inaugurating the Rs 150 crore 550-tonne capacity 'gobar-dhan' Bio-CNG plant, which is based on the concept of waste-to-wealth innovation, in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh.

"Lakhs of tonnes of garbage stood on thousands of acres of land for decades in cities across the country, which is a major reason for the spread of diseases as it caused air and water pollution," Modi said.

Therefore, in the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission, the government is making efforts to free such lands of the piles of garbage, he said.

"The aim is that our cities should get rid of these piles of garbage in the coming two-three years and such places can be converted into green zones. The state governments are being provided all possible help to achieve this aim," he said.

Modi said the material recovery facilities are being developed in more than 1,600 civic bodies to get rid of single-use plastic. "Our efforts are on to develop such arrangements in every city of the country to give a boost to circular economy," he added.

The prime minister said that cleanliness boosts tourism as every city of the country has historical and religious places.

"If cities are clean, people from other places will prefer to visit. Cleanliness boosts tourism and it kickstarts a new economy," he said, adding that people visit Indore only to see the arrangements done for the purpose of cleanliness.

In the coming two years, work is being done on setting up such gobar-dhan Bio CNG Plants in 75 big municipal bodies of the country, he said.

"This campaign will hugely help in making India's cities clean and pollution-free and take them in the direction of clean energy, he said.

The PM said that not only in the cities but a large number of gobar-dhan biogas plants are also being installed in the rural parts and the stock breeders are getting additional income through cow dung.

"All these efforts will help India achieve the climate commitments," he said.

He said that facilities for sewage water treatment are being increased in those civic bodies, where less than one lakh population reside.

"India doesn't own oil wells and is dependent on other countries for the petroleum products. Ethanol blending in petrol used to be only 1 per cent to 2 per cent 7 to 8 years ago in India, which is now reaching around 8 per cent," he said.

Before 2014, the ethanol supply for blending was around 40-crore litres, which has now gone up to 300-crore litres. This has helped the sugar cane mills and farmers, Modi said.

The pre-2014 governments were indifferent towards the solar power generation, he alleged.