EMN
Dimapur, October 23
The Ministry of Urban Development has approved the first batch of state level Action Plans under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) aimed at enabling water supply as per the norm and providing water supply and sewerage connections to all urban households.
Two towns in Nagaland are included among the 89.
An inter-ministerial Apex Committee of AMRUT chaired by Madhusudhan Prasad, Secretary(Urban Development) cleared plans worth Rs.2,786.28 crore in this regard for 89 cities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan yesterday.
This is for the first time that the Urban Development Ministry approved state level plans unlike the past practice of appraising and approving individual projects.
The approved Action Plans have a total of 143 projects in 89 AMRUT cities in these 3 states. These include 47 schemes relating to ensuring water supply connections and augmenting water supply and 31 projects for expanding sewerage network services in identified cities and towns. The rest pertain to storm water drains, urban transport and green spaces and parks.
Sewerage projects got a lion share of Rs.1,471.07 crore followed by Rs.1,225 crore for water supply related schemes.
The Apex Committee of AMRUT approved State Annual Action Plans (SAAP) for the three states for 2015-16. Gujarat proposed SAAP entailing an investment of Rs.1,204.42 crore followed by Rajasthan –Rs.919 crore and Andhra Pradesh proposing an investment of Rs.662.86 crore.
Under the SAAP approved, Gujarat will take up sewerage projects in 25 AMRUT cities at a cost of Rs.916 crore and water supply schemes in 11 cities with an investment of Rs.233.65 cr.
Rajasthan will take up sewerage schemes in 6 cities at a cost of Rs.555 crore and water supply projects in 10 cities at a cost of Rs.344 crore.
Andhra Pradesh will focus on water supply in 26 AMRUT cities at a cost of Rs.646.29 crore and provision of green spaces and parks in 30 cities at a cost of Rs.16.57 crore.
Under AMRUT, Central Government will provide an assistance of 50% of project cost for cities with a population of up to 10 lakh each and one third of project cost for cities with a population of above 10 lakh each. Rest of the project cost has to be borne by the states and urban local bodies. As per these norms, central assistance for the approved projects in three states comes to Rs.1,356.23 crore.
The Apex Committee approved SAAP of the three states after a 3 hour long deliberations and scrutiny of Plans proposed by the states. SAAP of each state is an integration of all city level Service Level Improvement Plans (SLIP) of all Atal Mission cities in respective states.
City level SLIP is formulated based on detailed assessment of gaps in the availability of infrastructure pertaining to water supply, sewerage network services, storm water drains, urban transport etc.
Ensuring water supply of 135litres per capita per day in urban areas besides providing water supply and sewerage connections to all urban households is the national priority, which Atal Mission seeks to achieve.
Madhusudhan Prasad, Secretary (UD) has urged all the states to ensure water meters for all consumers in urban areas for efficient management of water supply and reducing supply of water without collecting fee (Non-Revenue Water). States have been asked to focus on this from next year onwards.
First installment of central assistance of Rs.118.03 crore for Gujarat, Rs.91.90 for Rajasthan and Rs.66.29 crore for Andhra Pradesh under Atal Mission will be released shortly.
The states made a detailed presentation on implementation of a set of 11 reforms including time lines for the same. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan will also undertake capacity building of urban local bodies at a cost of Rs.22.23 cr.
The AMRUT cities
So far, the ministry has identified 482 cities and towns each with a population of above one lakh under AMRUT which was launched on June 25, 2015.
Uttar Pradesh with 60 cities, West Bengal with 59 cities, Maharashtra with 43 cities, 32 cities from Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 31 cities each from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan with 28 cities, Karnataka with 27 cities, Bihar with 26 cities, Haryana with 20 cities, Punjab with 16 cities, Telangana will 11 cities, 9 cities each from Chattisgarh and Odisha, 7 cities each from Kerala and Jharkhand, Uttarakhand with 6 cities, 4 each from Assam and Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir with 3 cities, 2 cities each for Nagaland and Puducherry, one each from the A&N Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Lakshdweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.
