Modi Govt likely to scrap convergence of MNREGA with Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, set up Special Purpose Vehicle to expedite construction of toilets
As the Modi Government faces the uphill task of tripling the construction rate of toilets from the 3 per cent at present to 10 per cent, to achieve its goal of making the country open-defecation free by 2019, it is likely to scrap the UPA’s scheme of convergence of MNREGA with Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, besides setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle to expedite the construction of loos.
This, it hopes would help it to construct 4,800 toilets per day against the present 1,400 washrooms per day under the Swachh Bharat Mission, which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after he took charge of the NDA Government at the Centre. Modi has set a “clean country” deadline to coincide with Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.
While under the Swachh Bharat Mission, 8.84 crore households have to be covered with individual toilets in the next five years till 2019 at the rate of 177 lakh toilets per year through incentives, the present construction rate is 50 lakh latrines per year. In contrast, it was 125 lakh toilets annually just a few years ago.
The slowdown is being attributed to the convergence of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) and MNREGA announced in 2012, as per the action plan of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Many States have also demanded de-linking of the schemes, initiated in early 2013.
“There is a condition in the rural job scheme, which funds the NBA that 60 per cent cost of every construction undertaken must be spent on labour, with the remaining being spent on material, which is making things difficult. Since the construction of toilets is material based, it was impossible to execute the task under the scheme,” sources said.
“The convergence initiated during the UPA regime has slowed down the pace of toilet construction in the country. At this pace, we cannot reach our target of ensuring toilet facilities in each household. From the present construction of 14,000 toilets daily, the Government plans to increase it to 48,000 latrines daily,” they said.
Apart from 8.84 crore households, there are 2.27 crore toilets in non-entitled Above Poverty line category (.88 crore) plus defunct toilets (1.39 crore) categories that have to be covered by persuasion and peer pressure as well awareness and with the help of financial institutions such as NABARD and SIDBI.
The other area of concern for the Centre is poor fund absorption capacity in the States. “While an outlay of Rs 37,159-crore has been made for rural sanitation in the XIIth Five Year Plan (2012-17), the States have so far spent just Rs 4,724-crore in two years 2012-13 and 2013-14. “ The States must pick up pace and have faster implementation in order to achieve Swachh Bharat by 2019,” the sources added.
The Special Purpose Vehicle within the Swachh Bharat Mission is being proposed to be set up as a company under the Companies Act to source out Government and non-Government funds, including CSR funds, as also to process Public-Private Partnership projects having revenue streams.
To strengthen the delivery mechanism, the Government also plans to ink an agreement with States on water and sanitation in which the latter will commit to a Swachh Bharat by 2019. They will have to create a unified infrastructure at the State level for implementation of both water and sanitation, with Interchangeability of funds between water and sanitation so that funds do not remain idle. Swachh Bharat is a mass mission aimed at building around 800 million toilets and creating modern sewage systems by 2019.