Report: Only 30% Urban Households Under AMRUT Have Sewerage Connection, Pg12

Key Highlights:

• A report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs indicates that only about 30% of urban households under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) have sewerage connections.
• As per City Water Balance Plans (2025), 3.44 crore out of 11.32 crore urban households have sewerage connections, while 2.84 crore use septage systems.
• States like Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Bihar show a higher reliance on septage systems compared to sewer networks.
• The committee highlighted slow progress, with only 27,418.87 km of sewerage network laid against an approved 59,261.67 km.
• Under AMRUT 2.0, only 104 out of 594 approved sewerage and septage management projects have been completed.
• The mission period for AMRUT 2.0 has been extended until March 31, 2027.

Detailed Insights:

• AMRUT is the Centre’s flagship civic infrastructure scheme, launched in 2015, covering 500 cities initially.
• AMRUT 2.0, launched in 2021, aims to cover all cities and ensure universal water supply and septage management.
• The report noted that a total of 7.4 crore urban households have been connected to sewerage and septage systems under both AMRUT phases.
• The Parliamentary Standing Committee is chaired by TDP legislator Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy.
• Sewerage and septage management projects account for only 6.79% of the total projects approved under AMRUT 2.0.
• Out of the total central assistance of Rs 66,059.53 crore committed, only Rs 22,762.99 crore has been released so far.
• The committee recommended establishing a comprehensive database of existing sewerage networks and conducting periodic assessments.
• It also strongly advised the elimination of manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.

Key Concepts Involved:

• AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation): A flagship scheme by the Indian government to improve urban infrastructure and service delivery.
• AMRUT 2.0: The second phase of the AMRUT scheme, focusing on universal coverage of water supply and septage management in all statutory towns.
• Sewerage Connection: A system that collects and transports wastewater from households through a network of pipes to a treatment plant.
• Septage Systems: On-site sanitation systems, such as septic tanks, that collect and partially treat wastewater from individual households.