• Nodal Ministry & Scheme: Launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under the aegis of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0).
• Scale & Coverage: Covers 50 selected cities across 24 States and Union Territories to be transformed into “Model Sanitation Cities”.
• Odisha’s Inclusion: Bhubaneswar (administrative and state capital) and Puri (major religious, cultural, and high-footfall pilgrimage destination) have been selected.

• High-intensity monitoring via defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), structured handholding, and periodic reviews to establish replicable sanitation models for other Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).

• Used Water Management (UWM): Safe containment, treatment, and scaling up secondary treated wastewater reuse (safely managed sanitation beyond basic open-defecation-free status).
• Solid Waste Management (SWM): 100% source segregation, door-to-door collection, automated processing, and remediation of legacy dumpsites (bio-mining).

• Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) Plants: Being established in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack (Kataka), and Puri with support from Oil India’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds.

Waste-to-Charcoal / Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF)

• Initiated in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to facilitate industrial off-take and reduce landfill burdens.
• Jan Andolan (Citizen Engagement): Driving sustained behavioural changes and public participation to ensure operations remain community-supported and self-sustaining.

Shift from ODF to Circular Urban Metabolism (SBM-U 2.0)

• SBM 1.0 focused primarily on access to toilets and Open Defecation Free (ODF) milestones.
• SBM 2.0 and PRAGATI 50 operationalise ODF++ and Water+ frameworks, focusing on complete sanitation value chains: faecal sludge treatment, circular economy (CBG, waste-to-energy), and zero untreated discharge.

Tackling High-Footfall Tourism Externalities

• Selecting cities like Puri illustrates the challenge of floating populations causing severe seasonal strains on civic infrastructure. Tailored interventions act as blueprints for religious tourism hubs (e.g.Varanasi, Tirupati, Haridwar).

Decentralised Governance & ULB Financial Viability

• Evaluates how ULBs can shift from cost-sink disposal models to revenue-generating waste streams (CSR partnerships, sale of CBG/compost, RDF linkages with cement kilns).

Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, ODF++ and Water+ frameworks, solid waste and used water management, and the financial viability of Urban Local Bodies are recurring themes across OPSC Prelims (Government Schemes & Environment) and OPSC Mains GS Paper II & III, especially for Odisha’s cities such as Bhubaneswar and Puri.

For structured notes on urban governance, sanitation, and Odisha-specific current affairs, aspirants preparing in Bhubaneswar can join the OPSC Foundation Batch at Strive Edge IAS — recognized as one of the best OPSC OAS coaching institutes in Bhubaneswar.