The Ministry of Urban Development has approved the first batch of state level action plans under AMRUT aimed at enabling water supply as per the norm and providing water supply and sewerage connections to all urban households. An inter-ministerial apex committee of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) chaired by Madhusudhan Prasad, Secretary (Urban Development) has cleared plans over Rs 2000 crore in this regard for 89 cities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

This is for the first time that the Urban Development Ministry approved state level plans unlike the past practice of appraising and approving individual projects. The approved Action Plans have a total of 143 projects in 89 AMRUT cities in these 3 states. These include 47 schemes relating to ensuring water supply connections and augmenting water supply and 31 projects for expanding sewerage network services in identified cities and towns. The rest pertain to storm water drains, urban transport and green spaces and parks.

AMRUT Scheme

• AMRUT Scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015 for urban transformation.
• The focus of the urban renewal projects is to establish infrastructure that could ensure adequate robust sewerage networks and water supply.
• Union Government provides an assistance of 50 per cent of project cost for cities with a population of up to 10 lakhs each. It provides one third of project cost for cities with a population of above 10 lakhs each. Rest of the project cost has to be borne by the states and urban local bodies.