The toughest phase in solving Kerala’s waste management issues has been completed, said Local Government and Excise Minister MB Rajesh. At a press conference here on Wednesday, he said the remaining targets are relatively easy to achieve. “As many as 38,355 volunteers of Haritha Karma Sena are collecting non-biodegradable waste from 95,99,000 houses across the state. The number of material collection facilities has increased drastically to 22,838 as compared to the situation a few years ago. The first Compressed Biogas (CBG) plant in the state has been opened in Brahmapuram. Several other cities are preparing four, while several more cities are preparing four incinerators to process sanitary sewage. waste are continuing and expected to be completed within a few months, seventy acres of land have been reclaimed by clearing old landfills,” he said. Mr. Rajesh spoke at length about various key initiatives under both the ministries in the last five years, including declaring the state free from extreme poverty and fully digitally literate. He said the KSMART app, which made service delivery through local authorities digitally accessible, has so far processed 1.11 million files, of which 1.04 million have been disposed of. As many as 24.74 million files were deleted within 24 hours of the request being sent. The LDF government has completed 5 million houses under the LIFE project since 2017. The total expenditure on housing during this period was ₹20,831.60 crore, of which the state government spent ₹18,342.70 crore while the rest was from the Union government, he said. “The state government’s share of funds for local bodies was ₹29,500 crore from 2011-12 to 2015-16, while it was ₹52,648 crore during the previous LDF government and ₹70,526 crore in the current period,” Mr. Rajesh said.
Published – 04 March 2026 21:00 IST
