The Mission

Providing basic services (e.g. water supply, sewerage, urban transport) to households and build amenities in cities which will improve the quality of life for all, especially the poor and the disadvantaged is a national priority. An estimate of the funds required over a 20 year period, at 2009-10 prices, was made by the High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) during 2011. The Committee estimated that Rs. 39.2 lakh crore was required for creation of urban infrastructure, including Rs. 17.3 lakh crore for urban roads and Rs. 8 lakh crore for services, such as water supply, sewerage, solid waste management and storm water drains. Moreover, the requirement for Operation and Maintenance (O&M) was separately estimated to be Rs. 19.9 lakh crore. Learnings from the earlier Mission have shown that infrastructure creation should have a direct impact on the real needs of people, such as providing taps and toilet connections to all households. This means that the focus should be on infrastructure creation that has a direct link to provision of better services to people and this was explicitly stated by the President of India in his speeches to the Joint Sessions of the Parliament on 9 June, 2014 and 23 February, 2015. Therefore, the purpose of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is to:

• ensure that every household has access to a tap with assured supply of water and a sewerage connection;
• increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open spaces (e.g. parks); and
• reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-motorized transport (e.g. walking and cycling).

All these outcomes are valued by citizens, particularly women, and indicators and standards have been prescribed by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) in the form of Service Level Benchmarks (SLBs). However, the pursuit of better outcomes will not stop with the provision of taps and sewerage connections to all (universal coverage). Other benchmarks will be targeted following a step-by-step process after achieving the benchmark of universal coverage. Such a gradual process of achieving benchmarks is called “incrementalism”. This does not mean that other SLBs are less important, but that in the incremental process SLBs are achieved gradually according to National Priorities. In the case of urban transport the benchmark will be to reduce pollution in cities while construction and maintenance of storm water drains is expected to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, flooding in cities, thereby making cities resilient. Earlier, the MoUD used to give project-by-project sanctions. In the AMRUT this has been replaced by approval of the State Annual Action Plan once a year by the MoUD and the States have to give project sanctions and approval at their end. In this way, the AMRUT makes States equal partners in planning and implementation of projects, thus actualizing the spirit of cooperative federalism. A sound institutional structure is the foundation to make Missions successful. Therefore, Capacity Building and a set of Reforms have been included in the Mission. Reforms will lead to improvement in service delivery, mobilization of resources and making municipal functioning more transparent and functionaries more accountable, while Capacity Building will empower municipal functionaries and lead to timely completion of projects.

Thrust Areas

The Mission will focus on the following Thrust Areas:

• Water Supply,
• Sewerage facilities and septage management,
• Storm Water drains to reduce flooding,
• Pedestrian, non-motorized and public transport facilities, parking spaces, and
• Enhancing amenity value of cities by creating and upgrading green spaces, parks and recreation centers, especially for children.

Coverage

Five hundred cities will be taken up under AMRUT. The list of cities will be notified at the appropriate time. The category of cities that will be covered in the AMRUT is given below:

• All Cities and Towns with a population of over one lakh with notified Municipalities, including Cantonment Boards (Civilian areas),
• All Capital Cities/Towns of States/ UTs, not covered in above ,
• All Cities/ Towns classified as Heritage Cities by MoUD under the HRIDAY Scheme,
• Thirteen Cities and Towns on the stem of the main rivers with a population above 75,000 and less than 1 lakh, and
• Ten Cities from hill states, islands and tourist destinations (not more than one from each State).

List of Towns covered in UP AMRUT

State Level

A State level High Powered Steering Committee (SHPSC) chaired by the State Chief Secretary, shall steer the Mission Programme in its entirety. An indicative composition of the SHPSC is given below.

• Chief Secretary Chairman
• Pr. Secretary (PHE) Member
• Pr. Secretary (Finance) Member
• Pr. Secretary (Housing) Member
• Pr. Secretary (Environment & Forest) Member
• Representative of MoUD Member
• Mission Director (if different from viii below) Member
• Pr. Secretary (UD) Member Secretary

The SHPSC may co-opt member(s) from other State Government Departments/Government organisations and may also invite experts in the field to participate in its deliberations. There would be a State Mission Director who will be an officer not below the rank of Secretary to the State Government, nominated by the State Government, with a Programme Management Unit (PMU) and a Project Development and Management Consultant (PDMC). With the establishment of PDMCs, the AMRUT will not support the PMUs and Project Implementation Units (PIUs) set up under earlier Mission. Moreover, the States will ensure that there is no overlap in the functions of these Mission support structures. In case a PMU has already been established under the CCBP, another PMU will not be supported from the Mission funds. The functions of the SHPSC are:

• Identify the gaps in infrastructure based on SLBs, need for individual and institutional capacity building, ways and means to achieve urban reforms, finalisation of the financial outlays, etc. of the Mission Cities/Towns.
• Prepare the SAAP based on the SLIPs of the ULBs of the State prioritising cities and projects based on available resources each year, as prescribed in the Mission Statement and Guidelines.
• Approve the projects after they are technically appraised and sanctioned by the State Level Technical Committee (SLTC). All project approvals shall be accorded by the State HPSC provided these projects are included in the approved SAAP. No project shall be referred to the MoUD for sanction. In the entire project approval, procurement and execution process, the State HPSC shall ensure that all the provisions of State Financial Rules are followed.
• Plan the fund flow in short, medium as well as long term. Explore innovative ways for resource mobilization, private financing and land leveraging for funding of projects.
• Fix the State and ULB share of contribution towards the projects in addition to the Central Government Grant specified in para. 5 of these Guidelines.
• Look into complaints of poor quality, lack of supervision and other violations. Monitor the quality of work and reports of appraisal by third party assessors and others and take action at their end.
• Recommend proposals for release of instalment of funds for on-going projects to the National Mission Directorate.
• Follow-up action to establish a Financial Intermediary, allocate and release the Central and State share of funds in time for execution of projects.
• Recommend a roadmap and milestones for implementation of Reforms in the State/ULBs for approval of the Apex Committee. Review the progress of committed Urban Reforms at the State and ULB level.
• Monitor the progress of implementation of the Mission, including project implementation in ULBs.
• Monitor outcome and O&M arrangements of projects sanctioned and completed under the Mission.
• Periodically, review the progress of capacity building and training activities.
• Organise timely audit of the funds released and review the Action Taken Reports on various Audit reports relating to the earlier Mission and the new Mission and on other reports including that of third party, Project Development and Management Consultants and the elected representatives of the ULBs.
• Bring about inter-organisation coordination and collaboration for better planning and implementation of the Mission Programme.
• Any other matter relevant for the efficient implementation of the Mission or referred by the National Mission Directorate.
• Monitor the legal issues/cases in courts, if any.

City Level

At the City level the ULB will be responsible for implementation for the Mission. The Municipal Commissioner will ensure timely preparation of SLIP (para. 6 & Annexure 2 of the Guidelines). The ULBs will develop DPRs and bid documents for projects in the approved SAAP. The ULBs will ensure city level of approvals of DPRs and bid documents and forward these to the SLTC/SHPSC for approvals. Urban local bodies will procure implementation agencies as provided in the financial rules and regulations and after award of work, ensure its timely completion. For this, the ULBs will take support from PDMCs to perform these activities as given in section 8. The ULB will also develop a road map for Reform implementation and capacity building as given in Annexures 2 (Table 5.1) and 7 of the Guidelines, respectively. The ULB will also be responsible for building coordination and collaboration among stakeholders for timely completion of projects without escalation of project cost.

For more detail please click on…………. www.amrut.gov.in