New Delhi [India], July 21 : Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu, while responding to a question on monsoon preparedness in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, presented the government's position. He said that under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), 838 Storm Water Drainage projects worth 3022.39 crore have been taken up by the States/Union Territories.
Minister in his written reply stated, "AMRUT launched in the year 2015, inter alia, has a component on storm water drainage, which involved construction and improvement of drains/ storm water drains in order to reduce and eliminate flooding and creating green spaces and parks. 2,522 green spaces and park projects worth 1,604.13 crore have been taken up by the States/UTs under AMRUT and 5,400 acres of permeable green space area have been developed through these projects."
"Under AMRUT 2.0, projects for green spaces and parks and rejuvenation of water bodies are taken up by the States. Under AMRUT 2.0, proposals of the States/ UTs for 2,951 water body rejuvenation projects worth 6,003.34 crore covering around 1.21 lakh acres of area and 1,649 green spaces and park projects worth 1,087.12 crore covering around 12,750 acres have been approved," reads the Minister's reply.
"Besides, under AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0, sewerage and septage management projects have been undertaken, which inter alia help in evacuation of stormwater. Under AMRUT, as updated by State/UTs on AMRUT portal, 888 sewerage/septage management projects have been grounded, which has led to creation of approx. 22,539 km length of sewer network. Under AMRUT 2.0, the State/UTs have taken up 605 Sewerage and Septage Management projects covering 40,021 KM of sewer network," he added.
Although in his written reply the Minister had also mentioned that, "Water and Sanitation is a State subject and Management of urban flooding including cleaning and desilting of drains falls under the purview of the State Governments and the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)/ Urban Development Authorities, who are responsible for maintaining the drainage and sewerage system."
"Government of India supplements the efforts of the States through schematic interventions/ advisories. It provides financial and technical support to the States to strengthen the Urban Planning ecosystem.
Usually, increased incidence of high-intensity rainfall in short duration is mainly responsible for urban floods, which is further compounded by unplanned growth, encroachment of natural water bodies, inadequate sewer systems, inadequate rainwater drainage systems, etc. The pre-monsoon activities for cleaning and desilting of drains, etc. are functions of the ULBs and the details of funds allocated, released and utilised by the ULBs for these activities are not centrally maintained," he further stated in his reply.