(a) whether according to the policy paper submitted by the Ministry at the operation and maintenance of Water Supplied System meeting in Bangalore in September, 2005, envisages water subsidies would be provided only to urban poor;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the manner in which the Government proposes to meet the operations and maintenance in the light of the low revenue that it is getting from water charges?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT ( SHRI AJAY MAKEN )
(a)&(b): This Ministry has not furnished any policy paper in
the Manual on Operation & Maintenance of Water Supply Systems
meeting at Bangalore in September,2005. A two day workshop was
organized by this Ministry at Bangalore in September, 2005 for
sensitizing Chief Engineers, Municipal Commissioners and other
officials in regard to various aspects of Operation &
Maintenance of Water Supply Systems brought out in the said
Manual.
(c): The two programmes, namely, Jawaharlal Nehru National
Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and Urban Infrastructure
Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) envisage
a set of mandatory reforms in which one of the reforms is as
under:-
`Levy of reasonable user charges by ULBs/Parastatals with
the objective that full cost of operation and maintenance or
recurring cost is collected within next seven years. However,
cities/towns in North East and other special category States may
recover at least 50% of operation and maintenance charges
initially. These cities/towns should graduate to full O&M cost
recovery in a phased manner.`
By fulfilling the aforesaid reforms, the ULBs would be
able to access the Central funds provided under the Programme.