The Status Of Sanitation And Water Supply Under Jnnurm In Uttar Pradesh:A Case Study Of Allahabad, Lucknow And Varanasi

Abstract

Cities are the hubs of much of national production (they contribute 56 per cent of India's GDP) and consumption, economic and social processes that generate wealth and opportunity. But they also create disease, crime, pollution, poverty and social unrest. Never before in history has the world witnessed such a rapid growth of urbanization. No doubt migration is largely responsible. This applies equally to India. We have already added 65 million persons to our urban population in the decade of the '90s alone. We are having nearly fifty per cent of India living in our cities by the beginning of this century. The lack of substantial new investments mean that existing infrastructure is outdated, inefficient and highly stressed, leading to high degrees of unaccounted supply for water and poor sanitation. Limited metering and efficiency incentives, unviable pricing (does not even cover O&M costs), poor revenue recovery rates, high unfulfilled investment needs lead to inadequate service coverage; unreliable and poor quality service provision. Commercially unviable urban local bodies mean that fresh investments by external agencies and the private sector will not be forthcoming. Keeping this in view the United Progressive Alliance (U.P.A.) Government launched Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in 2005. The programme is based on the premise that for cities to work, it is essential to create incentives and support urban reforms at the city level, develop appropriate enabling frameworks, enhances the creditworthiness of municipal governments and integrates service delivery system.