Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch two flagship missions of his government—the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) 2.0 and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0—on Friday. The programmes take on the ambitious challenge to make all the cities in India garbage-free and water-secure as part of the journey towards achieving sustainable development goals by 2030, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.

The SBM-U 2.0 and AMRUT 2.0 programmes signify a “step forward in the march towards effectively addressing the challenges of rapidly urbanising India”, the PMO said. The Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 envisions a plan to make all cities garbage free by ensuring grey and black water management in all cities except those covered under AMRUT. It also aims to make all urban local bodies with a population of less than 1 lakh Open Defecation Free (ODF), thereby achieving the vision of safe sanitation in urban areas. The mission will also focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilising the principles of the three ₹of reduce, reuse, recycle, scientific processing of all types of municipal solid waste, and remediation of legacy dumpsites for effective solid waste management. The outlay of the entire SBM-U 2.0 mission is around ₹1.41 lakh crore.

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The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 mission, on the other hand, is focusing on providing 100 per cent coverage of water supply to all households in around 4,700 urban local bodies by providing about 2.68 crore tap connections and 100 per cent coverage of sewerage and septage in 500 AMRUT cities by providing around 2.64 crore sewer or septage connections, which will benefit more than 10.5 crore people in urban areas.

AMRUT 2.0 will adopt the principles of circular economy and promote conservation and rejuvenation of surface and groundwater bodies, according to the PMO. The mission will promote data-led governance in water management and technology sub-mission to leverage the latest global technologies and skills. ‘Pey Jal Survekshan’ will be conducted to promote progressive competition among cities. The outlay of AMRUT 2.0 is around ₹2.87 lakh crore.

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Both the SBM-U and AMRUT missions have contributed significantly to improve India’s urban landscape during the past seven years, the PMO said, adding that the two flagship missions have augmented the capacity to deliver basic water supply and sanitation services to citizens. “Swachhta (cleanliness) has become a Jan Andolan today,” the statement read. “All urban local bodies have been declared ODF and 70 per cent of solid waste is being scientifically processed now. AMRUT has been ensuring water security by adding 1.1 crore household water tap connections and 85 lakh sewer connections, thus benefiting more than 4 crore people,” it added.

According to a statement from the PMO, the launch will take place at 11am at the Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi. Union minister for housing and urban affairs and his counterparts in states and Union territories are also expected to be present at the occasion.