The toughest phase in addressing waste management issues in Kerala has been completed, Minister for Local Self Governments and Excise M.B. Rajesh has said. Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, he said that the remaining targets are relatively easy to achieve. “As many as 38,355 Haritha Karma Sena volunteers are collecting non-biodegradable waste from 95.99 lakh houses across the State. The numbers of material collection facilities have increased drastically to 22,838, compared to the situation a few years ago. The first Compressed Biogas (CBG) in the State has opened at Brahmapuram, while a few more are getting ready at various cities across the State. The work on four double chamber incinerators for sanitary waste processing is ongoing and expected to finish in a few months. Seventy acres of land have been recovered by clearing legacy dump sites,” he said. Mr.Rajesh spoke at length on the various key initiatives under both departments over the past five years, including the declaration of the State as free from extreme poverty and fully digitally literate. He said that the KSMART application, which made service delivery through local bodies available digitally, has till now handled 1.11 crore files, out of which 1.04 crore files have been disposed of. As many as 24.74 lakh files were cleared within 24 hours of the application submission. The LDF government has since 2017 completed 5 lakh houses under the LIFE project. The total spendings for housing during this period was ₹20,831.60 crore, out of which the State government has spent ₹18,342.70 crore, while the remaining was from the Union government, he said. “The State government’s share of funds to local bodies was ₹29,500 crore from 2011-12 to 2015-16, while it was ₹52,648 under the previous LDF government’s term and ₹70,526 crore in the current term,” said Mr.Rajesh. Published - March 04, 2026 09:00 pm IST