Jaipur, July 16 -- Rajasthan has removed over 7.4 million tonnes of legacy waste from dumpsites across the state, reclaiming 729 acres of urban land under a clean-up project covering 230 cities, officials said. The initiative is being implemented by the directorate of local bodies under Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 in cities like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer, Udaipur and smaller towns. Director, local bodies, Juikar Prateek Chandrashekhar, said, "In the first phase, 138 towns were selected and the total amount of waste remediated is 74 lakh tonnes. The 729 acres of land that was freed has estimated value of Rs.1,500 crore." Overall, the project aims to process around 16.6 million tonnes of waste in 230 towns by end of 2027. In the first phase, 7.69 million tonnes of waste has been remediated at Rs.373.54 crore. In the second phase, 6.05 million tonne of waste will be cleared at a cost of Rs.305.19 crore and in the third phase, 2.06 million tonne of waste will be cleared at a cost of Rs.113.52 crore. Legacy waste refers to untreated municipal solid waste that has accumulated at open dumping grounds in urban areas over several years and can contaminate soil and groundwater. As part of the 'clean-up' programme, untreated biodegradable waste at dumpsites is segregated and converted into compost. While the non-biodegradable waste is sold to cement factories to be used as refuse derived fuel (RDF) to fire up furnaces. "The rejects which include plastic, glass cloth, fibre will be sent to landfills or used in road construction," said Chandrashekhar. Under the project, landfills will also be made by the Urban Local Bodies in their areas for proper disposal of waste, he said. The freed land is being used to create green spaces or for setting up waste processing plants or for commercial use, he said. Waste management companies are being invited through tenders to undertake remediation and operate processing facilities. The project is being funded by the Centre, State and local bodies. The towns have been divided according to the population and total cost is shared accordingly. In the second phase, which is currently underway, solid waste in 146 towns will be processed. Some towns where the waste could not be disposed of in the first phase have been included again in the second phase. The third phase will cover 59 towns and 2.06 million tonnes of waste will be processed. Work orders will be issued shortly and the project will be wrapped up by end of 2027, said Satish Chandra Agarwal, team leader for SBM (Urban) project. Regarding the processing plants to be set up in the towns, Agarwal said the plants will be set up in PPP mode. "The central and state government share will be given to the contractor as viability gap funding to set up the processing plant. The remaining amount will be provided by the contractor," he said. When the contractor begins to process the waste, they will charge a tipping fee which will be between Rs.300-400 per metric tonne. The contractor will run the plant for 20 years and recover their money in the time period, he said. Rushabh Hemani, WASH specialist with UNICEF, Rajasthan, said, "Solid and liquid waste management is an important public health intervention." While noting that there have been good examples globally and locally of waste management sites being converted into alternate use, he cautioned that it needs careful scientific ground assessment so as to avoid any toxic or leaching waste impacting the environment, humans and other living beings. He advocated that competent authorities and experts be engaged for the redevelopment in alignment with the existing waste management rules....