Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched on 25thJune 2015 in selected 500 cities and towns across the country. The Mission focuses on development of basic infrastructure, in the selected cities and towns, in the sectors of water supply; sewerage and septage management; storm water drainage; green spaces and parks; and non-motorized urban transport. A set of Urban Reforms and Capacity Building have been included in the Mission.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has approved State Annual Action Plans (SAAPs) of all the States/Union Territories (UTs) amounting to ₹77,640 crore for the entire Mission period, which includes committed Central Assistance (CA) of ₹35,990 crore. So far, States/UTs have taken up 5,873 projects worth ₹82,222 crore, of which 4,676 projects worth ₹32,793 crore have been completed, contracts have been awarded for 1,197 projects worth ₹49,430 crore and projects are at various stages of implementation. Further, overall works worth around ₹66,313 crore have been physically completed and expenditure of ₹59,615 crore has been incurred.
Against Central share of ₹35,990 for projects, ₹31,198 crore has been released so far. Overall, ₹37,533 crore has been released under various components of AMRUT such as projects, Administrative &Office Expenses, Reforms incentive, JnNURM (erstwhile) projects and sub schemes of Geographical Information System (GIS) and Local Area Plan & Town Planning Scheme (LAP-TPS).
Till date, 134 lakh water tap connections and 102 lakh sewer connections (including households covered through FSSM) have been provided through AMRUT & convergence against targeted 139 lakh water connections and 145 lakh sewer connections respectively.
Total Sewage treatment capacity of 6,340 MLD is being developed through AMRUT projects. Of which, 2,840 MLD sewage treatment capacity has been created, & 1,437 MLD capacity has been developed for recycle/reuse.
AMRUT has led to development of 2,299 green parks adding 4,480-acre of green space. Additionally, 951-acre of green space will be added through ongoing park projects.
666 Storm Water Drainage projects have been completed under AMRUT. This has resulted in elimination of 2,434 water logging points and another 1,307 water logging points are in progress of elimination.
More than 250 Green Mobility projects have also been completed to promote environment-friendly mode of transport and infrastructure.
ACHIEVEMENTS THROUGH REFORM COMPONENT OF AMRUT:
Urban reforms are a core agenda under AMRUT spread over a set of 11 reforms comprising 54 milestones. ₹1,884.86 crore has been awarded as incentive to 25 States/UTs for reform implementation.
For promoting energy conservation, 97 lakh out of 101 lakh identified conventional streetlights have been replaced with energy efficient LEDs leading to energy savings of 212 crore units per annum and reduction in CO2 emission by 16.93 lakh tons per annum.
To make cities credit worthy, Credit rating work has been completed in 470 cities. 164 cities have received Investible Grade Rating (IGR), including 36 cities.
₹3,940 crore has been raised through municipal bonds by 11 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) namely Ahmedabad, Amravati (AP), Bhopal, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Lucknow Pune, Surat, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam. ₹227 crore has been released as incentive to these ULBs for bonds issuance.
Online Building Permission System (OBPS) has been made operational in 2,465 towns including 457 AMRUT cities to facilitate online issuance of construction permits. This has resulted in improvement of India’s ranking in Ease of Doing Business (EODB) in construction permits to 27 from 181 in World Bank’s Doing Business Report (DBR) 2020 in the year 2018.
GIS based Master Plan will be prepared for 461 AMRUT cities which will result in efficient urban governance through various layers such as property tax, water and sewage coverage etc. Final plans have been prepared for 148 towns and draft plans are ready for another 135 towns.
To improve the capacities of States/cities in urban planning to promote land use efficiency and prevent urban sprawl, pilot scheme on implementation of Local Area Planning and Town Planning Scheme (LAP/TPS) has been taken up in 25 cities. Of these, 12 cities have completed their draft LAP-TPS.
Till date in 485 AMRUT cities, 134 lakh water tap connections and 102 lakh sewer connections [including households covered through Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM)] have been provided through AMRUT & convergence against targeted 139 lakh water connections and 145 lakh sewer connections respectively considering base year 2011.
AMRUT has been extended to achieve its objective & subsumed under AMRUT 2.0 till 31stMarch 2023. State/UTs have to complete AMRUT projects by 31stMarch 2023.
Urban Development including urban planning and urban water supply is a State subject. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs supplements the efforts of the States/ULBs in these sectors through its various flagship programmes.
Under AMRUT, priority is given to assured water supply by the State/UTs while selecting projects. To ensure quality of water the water supply component includes new, augmentation and rehabilitation of water supply system; rejuvenation of water bodies for drinking water supply and special water supply arrangement for difficult areas, hills and coastal cities, including those having water quality problem.
In addition, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) - 2.0 scheme has been launched on 1st October, 2021 for the period of 05 years i.e. from the financial year 2021-22 to 2025-26. AMRUT 2.0 envisages to make all notified statutory towns & the cities of the country ‘water secure’. Sustainability of quality of water supply is an admissible component of project. Also continuous (24x7) pressurized water supply systems with
‘Drink from Tap’ facilities shall prevent the contamination of drinking water in the pipelines and make the water fit for consumption. AMRUT 2.0 Mission promotes this (24x7) water supply with ‘Drink from tap’ facility in the selected wards which will be evaluated on parameters of quality, accessibility and availability of water. Through Pey Jal Survekshan ULBs are being assessed for compliance of service level benchmarks with respect to quality, quantity and coverage. Further, Mission will create awareness through community participation and Information, Education &Communication (IEC) activities with respect to quality. Concerted efforts will be made to train women to test water quality in all the cities and women Self Help Groups (SHGs) will also be involved in water quality testing.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
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RKJ/M