Eleventh Five Year Plan

Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Clean Living Conditions 175• As an incentive mechanism, the Nirmal Gramsshould be provided funds under the ARWSP forhigher service levels from 40 litre per capita per day(LPCD) to 55–60 lpcd per capita. This should bewith commitment for meeting the O&M cost fromthe society.• Specific policy directives for sanitation campaignsto include special needs of women, adolescent girls,infants, disabled, and the aged will be given.• Sufficient focus of rural sanitation should be laidon the needs of disaster-prone areas such as hills,mountains, coastal areas, etc.• The investments required in training, skill developmentfor production of low-water, low-cost sanitationappurtenances suitable for rural areas, andtraining of self-groups of women, youth, etc. asmasons and mistries for embarking on large-scalesimple toilet construction activities throughout thecountry will be made available. The communityshould be encouraged to avail soft micro creditsfrom the SHGs and for which a separate revolvingfund should be provided.• There is a need to have a monitoring system for thevillages, which received the Nirmal Gram Puraskaraward so that the success obtained is sustained.Community monitoring with women and childrenwould be the primary choice. A close monitoringmechanism to oversee the coverage of BPL householdand in SC/ST household also should be put inplace at every State level.• Schools provided with sanitation facilities shouldhave a separate rain water harvesting system tomeet the water requirement for the sanitationpurposes.• The Nirmal Gram Puraskar model of recognizingand rewarding entire village panchayats and PRIsthat have been able to bring about total sanitationin many villages through awareness, peer pressure,and local competitive spirit amongst the PRIs willcontinue to be promoted.• Segregation of degradable and non-degradablesolid waste, black and grey liquid wastewater, andholistic environmental protection and cleanlinessthrough rural sanitation, solid and liquid wasteprogrammes will be promoted as the next areaof focus.• Decentralized sanitation solid and liquid wastemanagement as business models under variousemployment and self-employment programmeswith appropriate incentives will be encouraged.URBAN SANITATION INCLUDING SWM5.63 The major issues in urban sanitation are howto expand sewerage and sanitation facility to coverall the people in all cities and towns; how to findresources to do that; how to create awareness aboutthe importance of sanitation and SWM; how to prepareand execute plans that keep up with growingpopulation; and how to finance the O&M costs ofthe facilities created?STATUS OF URBAN SANITATION ANDSOLID WASTE DISPOSAL5.64 On the basis of information furnished by the Stateagencies in charge of Urban Water Supply and SanitationSector, about 91% of the urban population hasgot access to water supply and 63% to sewerage andsanitation facilities (47% from sewer and 53% fromlow cost sanitation) as on 31.3.2004. However, adequacy,equitable distribution, and per capita provisionof these basic services may not be as per prescribednorms in most of the cities. For instance, the poor,particularly those living in slums and squatter settlements,are generally deprived of these basic facilities.5.65 As per assessment made by the Central PollutionControl Board on the status of wastewater generationand treatment in Class I cities and Class IItowns during 2003–04 (Table 5.2), about 26254 MLDof wastewater is generated in 921 Class I cities and ClassII towns in India (housing more than 70% of urbanpopulation). The wastewater treatment capacity developedso far is about 7044 MLD—accounting for27% of wastewater generated in these two classes ofurban centres.5.66 The pollution effect of sanitation is enormous.Three-fourths of the surface water resources are pollutedand 80% of the pollution is due to sewage alone.Poor sanitation conditions, particularly in slums, areoften linked to outbreaks of cholera and gastroenteritis.Water-borne diseases are one of the major causesof mortality throughout India and impose a hugeburden in terms of loss of life and productivity.