The residents of all the urban areas of Chhattisgarh may have to get water meter installed in their homes from next year onwards.
Union Secretary, Urban Development ,Madhusudhan Prasad has urged all the states in the country 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, officials stated.
Meanwhile, While Chhattisgarh gears up for implementing AMRUT Mission plans, an inter-ministerial Apex Committee of AMRUT chaired by Prasad has cleared plans worth Rs.2,786.28 cr in this regard for 89 cities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan in New Delhi.
The first installment of central assistance of Rs.118.03 crore for Gujarat, Rs.91.90 crore 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 crore.
Notably, a total of nine cities selected under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Mission are set to receive a major infrastructural facelift.
The cities chosen under AMRUT Mission are—Raipur, Durg, Bhilai, Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur, Korba, Raigarh, Ambikapur and Jagdalpur.
The first high-level meeting of the management committee formed under AMRUT Mission chaired by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand was held here recently to discuss ways to develop infrastructure and bring about improvement in citizens services in the cities.
AMRUT Mission Director Dr Rohit Yadav informed in the meeting that elaborate action plan would also be prepared for improvement of drinking water supply, sewerage and drainage lines in the selected cities under the Mission. He informed that the cities would be provided better public transport, parking facilities and new centres would be established for recreation and development of new parks and green zones would be taken up. Yadav said that the Chhattisgarh government would receive Rs 290.25 crore for implementation of the AMRUT Mission. He said that the State government and civic bodies would also contribute necessary finances for the transformation of cities.
For development of Raipur city, one third funding for the implementation of AMRUT Mission would be received from the Centre while two thirds of the funding would be made by the State government and the civic bodies. In rest of the eight cities, the Centre would provide 50 per cent funding while the rest of the funds would be made available together by the State government and the civic bodies, he said.
Earlier this month, Urban Devemlopment Ministry has identified 482 cities and towns, each with a population of one lakh and above as AMRUT cities for ensuring basic infrastructure like water connections to all urban households, sewer connections and septage management, storm water drains, urban transport etc.
From the three lists firmed up so far, a clear pattern of convergence emerges, much to the delight of the government. An integrated look at the three lists bears out this pattern of clear convergence. The 9 states that have identified 305 housing cities and towns, also account for 26 of the 99 smart cities(including either Jammu or Srinagar, when the State Government firms up its choice between these two) and 136 of 482 AMRUT cities and towns as well. Of these, urban poor housing projects will be taken up in 25 smart cities and 123 AMRUT cities bringing our clear convergence that enables pooling of funds and integration of action plans. Affordable housing is an integral part of smart city initiative which focuses on inclusive development.
Identification of cities/ towns for housing projects depends on demand situation and prioritization in terms of number of poor and slum dwellers in a city. It may be possible, as Gujarat identified more cities for housing in due course, these may be covered based on demand assessment.