The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has highlighted Depalpur’s success in clearing decades of accumulated waste through the Swachh Shehar Jodi mentorship programme. Under this initiative launched during Swachhata Hi Seva 2025, Indore Municipal Corporation mentored Depalpur Nagar Parishad to implement modern waste management practices and eliminate legacy waste that had built up over five years.
What was accomplished
Depalpur removed 1,250 metric tonnes of legacy waste from its dumpsite and introduced a four-bin waste segregation system for routine door-to-door collection. The operation recovered 4.5 tonnes of recyclable materials including plastic, metal, and glass, which were sent to authorized recyclers. Additionally, 50 to 60 tonnes of Refuse Derived Fuel were processed at the NEPRA plant in Indore and dispatched to cement factories for co-processing.
The remediation effort mobilized over 500 ragpickers from Indore Municipal Corporation alongside heavy machinery operated by Depalpur Nagar Parishad. Once the dumpsite was cleared, 200 saplings were planted at the site. Officials and the community marked the achievement with a celebratory gathering.
The Swachh Shehar Jodi scheme pairs 72 mentor cities with 200 mentee cities for knowledge sharing in urban waste management. Under this structured 100-day mentorship framework, participating cities have completed over 1,600 activities focused on best practice replication and addressing waste management gaps. Mentor and mentee cities have signed memorandums of understanding to facilitate peer learning.
What this means for you
If you live in a city participating in Swachh Shehar Jodi, your municipal corporation may adopt waste segregation and remediation models successfully tested in mentee cities like Depalpur. The mentorship programme demonstrates how organized door-to-door collection combined with proper waste processing can reduce environmental hazards from dumpsites. Depalpur’s former dumpsite is being converted into a public gathering space, suggesting similar reclaimed sites in your area could eventually serve community purposes.