The current water situation in the country has led the government to put its best foot forward. There has been considerable development on key government schemes and programmes in the water and wastewater sectors. Besides, the government has increased its budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs by 40 per cent from Rs 545.81 billion in financial year 2021-22 to Rs 765.49 billion in financial year 2022–23 and to the Ministry of Jal Shakti by around 25 per cent from Rs 690.46 billion in financial year 2021-22 to Rs 86,189 billion in financial year 2022-23. This would help support multiple schemes of the government.
Indian Infrastructure tracks the progress made by key missions and programmes of the government…
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation
The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched on June 25, 2015, with the aim to provide basic services such as water supply, sewerage and urban transport to households and build amenities in cities to improve the quality of life for all citizens. The mission period was earlier extended up to March 31, 2021. Now, the mission has been subsumed in AMRUT 2.0, launched on October 1, 2021 for a period of five years, till financial year 2025-26. The ongoing projects of AMRUT 1.0 will be supported under AMRUT 2.0 up to March 2023. The total indicative outlay for AMRUT 2.0 is Rs 2,990 billion, including the central government’s share of Rs 767.6 billion. This outlay also includes funding of Rs 220 billion (Rs 100 billion as central assistance) for ongoing projects of AMRUT 1.0.
Under AMRUT, till March 31, 2022, states and union territories have undertaken construction of sewage treatment plants (STPs) with a capacity of around 6,291 million litres per day (mld). Of these, STPs of around 2,021 mld capacity have already been created and around 4,270 mld of STPs are under construction. In addition, 55 faecal sludge treatment plants have also been taken up with a total treatment capacity of around 2,630 mld. Additionally, against the target to provide 13.9 million water tap connections to achieve universal coverage of water supply and 14.5 million sewer connections to enhance substantial sewerage network coverage in designated cities, as of March 31, 2022, 12.6 million new water tap connections and 9.5 million new sewer connections have been provided under AMRUT in convergence with other schemes.
Under the mission, till May 19, 2022, a total of 4,267 projects worth Rs 278.1 billion have been completed, 1,589 projects worth Rs 538.65 billion have been awarded, 55 projects worth Rs 6.9 billion have NITs issued and detailed project reports of 19 projects worth Rs 0.31 billion have been approved.
Swachh Bharat Mission
The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched on October 2, 2014 and is being implemented as a nationwide campaign, which aims at eliminating open defecation in the country through mass-scale behavioural change, construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing mechanisms for monitoring toilet construction and usage. The mission also aims to have solid and liquid waste management facilities and focus on providing interventions for safe management of municipal solid and liquid waste being generated in the country.
As of May 19, 2022, a total of 109.72 billion rural household toilets have been constructed in the country. Further, 89,196 km of drain length has been constructed in villages across the country, 75,395 villages have an arrangement of solid waste management, 52,237 villages have arrangement of liquid waste management and 39,463 villages have an arrangement of both solid and liquid waste management.
With regard to urban areas, as of May 19, 2022, 6.27 million individual household toilets have been constructed achieving a target of 106 per cent as against the mission target of 5.89 million households. Further, 0.62 million community and public toilets have been constructed, achieving a target of 122 per cent as compared to 0.51 million households under the mission target. There is 100 per cent door-to-door waste collection and 106,651 tonnes per day (tpd) solid waste is being processed as compared to 146,169 tpd being generated in urban areas. Additionally, of a total of 4,703 cities, 93 per cent of the cities (4,371) have been declared open defecation free (ODF) and 92 per cent cities (4,317) have been verified ODF.
Jal Jeevan Mission
The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on August 15, 2019. It is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. The total outlay of the mission is Rs 3.6 trillion.
As of May 19, 2022, the total rural household tap connection coverage under the mission stands at 49.44 per cent. The mission has covered 95.52 million rural households with tap connections of a total of 193.19 million households.
The Har Ghar Jal mission ensures that all households in a particular unit are provided with tap water supply. As of May 19, 2022, a total of 108 districts, 1,221 blocks, 71,376 panchayats and 150,019 villages have reported Har Ghar Jal. Further, states and union territories including Goa, Telangana, Andaman & Nicobar, Puducherry, Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli have achieved 100 per cent rural household tap connections coverage.
Namami Gange Programme
The Namami Gange Programme, launched by the government in June 2014, is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as a flagship programme with a budget outlay of Rs 200 billion. The objectives of the mission include ensuring effective abatement of pollution and rejuvenation of the river Ganga by adopting a river basin approach to promote intersectoral coordination for comprehensive planning.
As of April 30, 2022, 366 projects have been sanctioned under the programme, 138 projects are in progress and 197 projects have been completed. Further, 160 projects have been sanctioned under the sewerage infrastructure category, 64 projects are under progress and 81 projects have been completed. Additionally, 90 projects have been sanctioned under the ghats and crematoria category, 13 projects are under progress and 68 projects have been completed.
Smart Cities Mission
The Smart Cities Mission was launched on June 25, 2015 with the aim of providing core infrastructure to 100 cities, with the help of special purpose vehicles. As of April 2022, 7,884 projects worth Rs 1.93 trillion have been tendered, of which work orders for 7,674 projects worth Rs 1.82 trillion have been issued, whereas 3,789 projects worth Rs 0.61 trillion have been completed. Compared to March 2022, there has been an increase of around 14 per cent in tendered projects, around 22 per cent increase in work orders issued and around 6 per cent increase in works completed for the month of April 2022.
The way forward
The water supply and wastewater sectors have a positive outlook and offer significant opportunities for various stakeholders. Growing urbanisation and a greater emphasis on achieving 100 per cent water supply and sewerage coverage will be the two major drivers in the sector. These flagship government schemes are crucial for development as they ensure the provision of basic civic amenities to the citizens of the country.
