Down to Earth Magazine, 15 Sep 2007
JNNURM: a Nehruvian farce
Rs.50,000 crore
was meant for sustainable cities. It is extending the urban crisis in
India.
- The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was
introduced in 2005 with Rs 50,000-crore central aid. Another Rs 50,000
was to be raised from the private sector. The aim was to develop 63
cities into model sustainable areas. 226 projects worth Rs 18,728.73
crore have been sanctioned already under JNNURM till August 2007.
- Most JNNURM proposals have ignored the core problems in the cities
- In the Rs 2,732.4 crore aid to Mumbai, Rs 1,329 crore is for the
Middle Vaitarna dam project.This will bring in another 455 mld (million
litres per day) water to the city that dumps in the sea 2,567 mld of
raw sewage. With Rs 364. 47 crore allotted for sewage disposal and not
for treatment more raw sewage will reach the sea.
- Thane, where water mismanagement results in large supply losses,
plans to augment its supply by another 100 mld with allotted money of
Rs 71.18 crore. This will generate an additional 80 mld of sewage.
Currently 62 per cent of sewage goes untreated
- Nagpur, which gets water from the Pench dam, received Rs 695
crore for water supply augmentation. It has a high water supply of 200
litres per capita per day (lpcd) and faces a 30 per cent distribution
loss. It also lacks competent sewerage. Of the 235 mld of sewage
generated in the city, more than half goes untreated. There are no
plans to treat sewage
- Agra, Lucknow, Mathura, Kanpur and Meerut were given aid only for
solid waste management. Sewage was ignored
- Of the Rs 1,050 crore given to Kolkata, Rs 317 crore is for
improving water supply. This includes improving the Dhapa water
treatment plant and setting up a treatment plant to tap water from the
Hooghly. The city has a high per capita supply of 223 lpcd but faces 35
per cent loss from leakage
- In Bhubaneshwar (Rs 500 crore), Jabalpur (Rs 150 crore), Jammu
(Rs 130 crore) and Srinagar (Rs 130 crore) assistance has been provided
for sewerage while core demands like road transport and water supply
have been ignored.

- Bhopal’s existing sewer serves 30 per cent of the city’s
population but treats only 20 per cent of its waste. The lack of sewage
management has polluted the Upper Lake, Bhopal’s main water source. No
funds have been allotted for lake cleaning
- Rs 44 crore have been allotted for revitalising the Musi river in
Hyderabad. But Rs 81.20 crore is allotted for getting additional
Krishna water to Secunderabad. Already, 75 per cent of the city’s
untreated sewage pollutes the Musi.
- Bangalore has only five sewage treatment plants, dealing with 40
per cent of waste water. Rs 12.26 crore has been allotted for getting
an additional 100 mld of water from the Cauvery river. This will
increase the sewage load. There isn’t much money for sewage treatment.
But Rs 43.61 crore and Rs 50.44 crore have been allotted to upgrade
sidewalks in M G Road and Koramangala, respectively
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