Indore: Indore, which is eyeing to retain the title of the countrys 'cleanest city' for the fourth time in a row, has been increasing its earnings by putting garbage to good use, an official said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce results of 'Swachh Survekshan 2020', the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness survey, on Thursday. A total of 1.9 crore citizens across 4,242 cities of the country participated in the survey.During 2019-20, the city civic body's earnings from the processing of wet and dry garbage increased by 50 per cent to nearly Rs six crore, said Asad Warsi, the Centre's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan's adviser for Indore Municipal Corporation.
In FY 2018-19, the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) had generated about Rs four crore from garbage processing. Warsi said the IMC has set up an automated processing plant equipped with artificial intelligence for dry waste. Through this plant, materials like glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, metal are segregated.
The civic body is producing bio-CNG and compost by processing the wet waste, he said.
For the processing of wet waste, IMC is setting up a new 500 tonne capacity bio-CNG plant in Devguradiya area on Public
Private Partnership (PPP) basis, he said. A private company will invest around Rs 250 crore in the new plant, while the civic body will have to provide land for the unit, he said.
According to the agreement, the private company will pay a premium of Rs one crore every year to IMC out of the income from processing wet waste.
"We expect IMC's earnings to grow up to nearly Rs 10 crore in 2021-22 from the processing of garbage," Warsi said.
The civic body has developed the ability to safely dispose about 1,200 tonnes of waste every day in different ways. This includes 550 tonnes of wet waste and 650 tonnes of dry waste, officials said.
Talking to PTI, IMC Commissioner Pratibha Pal said, "We are confident that with the help of our hard working sanitary workers, aware citizens and public representatives of Indore, we will secure first place in the cleanliness survey for the fourth consecutive time and our slogan of hitting a four in terms of cleanliness will turn out to be true." Indore's estimated population is nearly 35 lakh.
