New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- Fifty cities across 24 states have been selected under the government's PRAGATI-50 initiative to achieve higher cleanliness standards through targeted interventions, technology-based monitoring and regular outcome assessments, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) said on Tuesday.
The initiative, launched in pursuance of directions given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 51st PRAGATI meeting, will operate under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 framework.
Union minister Manohar Lal said the selected cities include major urban centres, cultural and tourism destinations and economic hubs. The initiative will focus on visible cleanliness, solid and used-water management, sanitation and increased citizen participation.
The minister said the progress of the cities would be monitored continuously through technology-enabled systems and outcome-based assessments. He will chair review meetings every two months to assess implementation.
A PRAGATI-like digital review mechanism has been established on the Swachhatam Portal, with ministry officers assigned to the selected cities for regular supervision and handholding. States and urban local bodies have been asked to prepare micro-level action plans.
Minister of State Tokhan Sahu said the initiative would help cities move towards the Garbage Free Cities goal and serve as models for other urban centres.
During the programme, guidelines for source segregation of municipal solid waste and a standard operating procedure for secondary collection centres for construction and demolition waste were released.
The ministry also launched the Swachh Bharat Test Bed and Innovation Centre at Durgapur in collaboration with CSIR-CMERI and the third cohort of 13 startups with IIT Kanpur.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.