AMRUT Mission

• Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is the new avatar of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
• But, in a significant departure from the earlier mission, the Centre will not appraise individual projects.
• The Mission will focus on the following Thrust Areas:
  1. Water Supply.
  2. Sewerage and septage management.
  3. Storm Water Drainage to reduce flooding
  4. Non-motorized Urban Transport.
  5. Green space/parks.

• Five hundred cities have been selected under AMRUT. The category of cities that have been selected under AMRUT is given below:
  1. All Cities and Towns with a population of over one lakh with notified Municipalities as per Census 2011, including Cantonment Boards (Civilian areas).
  2. All Capital Cities/Towns of States/ UTs, not covered in above.
  3. All Cities/ Towns classified as Heritage Cities by MoHUA under the HRIDAY Scheme.
  4. Thirteen Cities and Towns on the stem of the main rivers with a population above 75,000 and less than 1 lakh.
  5. Ten Cities from hill states, islands and tourist destinations (not more than one from each State).

Implementation:

1. AMRUT adopts a project approach to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to water supply, sewerage, storm-water drains, transportation and development of green spaces and parks with special provision for meeting the needs of children.
2. Under this mission, 10% of the budget allocation will be given to states and union territories as incentive based on the achievement of reforms during the previous year.
3. States will only submit state annual action Plans to the centre for broad concurrence based on which funds will be released.
4. Central assistance will be to the extent of 50% of project cost for cities and towns with a population of up to 10 lakhs and one-third of the project cost for those with a population of above 10 lakhs.
5. Under the mission, states will transfer funds to urban local bodies within 7 days of transfer by central government and no diversion of funds to be made failing which penal interest would be charged besides taking other adverse action by the centre.

AMRUT 2.0

• Under reforms agenda of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0), reforms on water conservation envisages recycle of treated wastewater to meet 20% of the total city water demand and 40% of industry water demand in aggregate at the state level.
• Government of India has launched AMRUT 2.0 on 01 October 2021 for 5 years from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
• AMRUT 2.0 is designed to provide universal coverage of water supply to all households through functional taps in all statutory towns and coverage of sewerage/septage management in 500 AMRUT cities.
• Making the cities ‘water secure’ and thereby enhancing ease of living of citizens is major objective of the Mission.
• AMRUT 2.0 has been envisaged topromote circular economy of water through development of city water balance plan for each city focusing on recycle/reuse of treated sewage, rejuvenation of water bodies and water conservation.
• Under Sewerage component of the AMRUT 2.0 for 500 AMRUT cities, tertiary treatment with end-to-end reuse plan (preferably in Public Private Partnership mode); provision/ augmentation and rehabilitation of sewerage systems with end-to-end treatment and reuse; tapping of used water for recycling; identifying the bulk users of recycled used water and facilitating sale of used water to potential users (e.g. industrial clusters such as textile/ leather/ paper/ power plants/ railways, etc.) are admission components.

The highlights of AMRUT 2.0 are as under:

• Universal coverage of water supply from 500 cities to about 4,800 statutory towns.
• Focus on making the cities ‘self-reliant’ and ‘water secure’.
• Universal coverage of sewerage and septage management in 500 AMRUT cities.
• Target to provide 2.68 crore drinking water tap connections and 2.64 crore sewer connections.
• Focus on financial sustainability of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) through enhanced credit worthiness and market borrowing.
• ‘Pey Jal Survekshan’ will be undertaken in cities to promote healthy competition among them and function as monitoring tool and Mission accelerator.
• Technology sub-Mission under AMRUT 2.0 will help in identifying proven and potential global technologies in water sector.
• Entrepreneurship/ start-ups involved in low-cost indigenous equipments and processes will be encouraged.
• All the cities of Uttar Pradesh including Firozabad arecovered under SBM (U) 2.0 and are eligible to avail all components as per operational guidelines.

Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS)

What is Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS)?

• The national capital region (NCR) is a multi-state region with the National Capital as its centre. This region, spread over an area of about 35,000 km2, comprises the entire National Capital Territory of Delhi and some parts of the neighbouring states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
• The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB), in order to enhance the connectivity within the NCR, has proposed to connect urban, industrial (SEZs/industrial parks), regional and sub-regional centres through a fast rail-based Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS).
• The objective of this system is to reduce the dependence of commuters on road-based transportation.
• The NCRPB conducted a study on Integrated Transportation Plan for NCR projecting figures for 2032 and has identified eight rail-based rapid transit corridors to enhance the efficacy of the transportation system in the NCR.
• In addition to the rail system, there will also be provisions made for facilities including road network enhancements

The eight identified RRTS corridors are:

• Delhi – Gurgaon – Rewari – Alwar [DGRA - Project Corridor]
• Delhi – Ghaziabad – Meerut
• Delhi – Sonipat – Panipat
• Delhi – Faridabad – Ballabhgarh – Palwal
• Delhi – Bahadurgarh – Rohtak
• Delhi – Shahadra – Baraut
• Ghaziabad – Khurja
• Ghaziabad – Hapur

The NCRPB has decided to implement RRTS in the following three corridors on priority:

• Delhi – Gurgaon – Rewari – Alwar;
• Delhi – Sonipat – Panipat; and
• Delhi – Ghaziabad – Meerut.

Benefits of RRTS corridors

• The proposed corridors radiate from National Capital Territory Delhi (NCTD) across the NCR area and terminate at the Rest of NCR (RNCR) towns which are the exit nodes of NCR.
• The RRTS network is expected to provide fast, safe and comfortable commuter systems at a reasonable fare for intra-regional movement of passengers.
• NCR is experiencing the flow of nearly 3.5 lakh passenger cars commuting every day and RRTS will help reduce travel delays and congestion created by movement of these vehicles.