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National Urban Sanitation Policy

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 16:56 IST 

    Government has identified 100% sanitation as a goal during the 11th Five Year Plan. The ultimate objective is that all urban dwellers will have access to and be able to use safe and hygienic sanitation facilities and arrangements so that no one defecates in the open.

               The vision of the policy is that all Indian cities and towns become totally sanitised, healthy and liveable and ensure and sustain good public health and environmental outcomes for all their citizens with a special focus on hygienic and affordable sanitation facilities for the urban poor and women. The focus of the Policy is on Awareness Generation and Behavioural Change by generating awareness about sanitation and its linkages with public and environmental health amongst communities and institutions and also promoting mechanisms to bring about and sustain behavioural changes aimed at adoption of healthy sanitation practices;

               In order to achieve this goal, the following activities shall be undertaken:

Promoting access to households with safe sanitation facilities (including    proper disposal arrangements); 

·         Promoting community-planned and managed toilets wherever necessary, for groups of households who have constraints of space, tenure or economic      constraints in gaining access to individual facilities;

Adequate availability and 100 % upkeep and management of Public Sanitation facilities in all Urban Areas, to rid them of open defecation and environmental hazards;

Integrated City Wide Sanitation

Re-orienting Institutions and mainstreaming Sanitation by

Mainstreaming thinking, planning and implementing measures related to sanitation in all sectors and departmental domains as a cross-cutting issue, especially in all urban management endeavours;

Strengthening national, state, city and local institutions (public, private and community) to accord priority to sanitation provision, including planning, implementation and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) management;

Extending access to proper sanitation facilities for poor communities and other un-served settlements;

Sanitary and Safe Disposal

100 % of human excreta and liquid wastes from all sanitation facilities including toilets must be disposed-off safely. In order to achieve this goal, the following activities shall be undertaken:

Promoting proper functioning of network-based sewerage systems and ensuring connections of households to them,  wherever possible;

Promoting recycle and reuse of treated waste water for non-potable applications, wherever possible, will be encouraged.

Promoting proper disposal and treatment of sludge from on-site installations (septic tanks, pit latrines, etc.);

Ensuring that all the human wastes are collected safely confined and disposed-off after treatment so as not to cause any hazard to public health or the environment;

Proper Operation and Maintenance of all Sanitary Installations:

Promoting proper usage, regular upkeep and maintenance of household, community and public sanitation facilities;

Strengthening Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to provide or cause to provide, sustainable sanitation services delivery

               For achievement of the above goals, the government will support the following:

 States will be encouraged to prepare State Level Sanitation Strategies within a period of 2 years. Cities will be urged to prepare model City Sanitation Plans within a period of 2 years.  Each state shall formulate its own State Urban Sanitation Strategy taking into account its local urban context. Cities will operationalize the state strategy by preparing and implementing City Sanitation Plans. The states will also be encouraged to formulate State Reward Schemes. A state level apex body will monitor the implementation of the state strategy, and a nodal agency will be appointed for planning and implementation.  Each state and its cities would need to devise effective institutional arrangements at the city level.  However, the ULB's (or their equivalent structures) must be at the centre of all urban sanitation activities.

Providing assistance for the preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) as per city sanitation plan as and when requests for funding are received;

Promote public-private partnership in respect of key projects/activities identified in the city sanitation plan;

Provide technical assistance and support for awareness generation and capacity building to states and cities within this financial year;

Periodic rating of all Class 1 cities (423) in respect of Sanitation and recognition of best performers by instituting a National Award within this financial year; The award scheme will take into account output related parameters such as complete elimination of open defecation, elimination of open scavenging and personal protection to sanitary workers, safe collection and disposal of total human excreta, recycling and reuse of treated wastewater for non-potable applications, efficient and safe management of storm water and solid waste management, process related parameters such as monitoring and evaluation, observance of proper O&M practices, clear assignment of institutional responsibilities, sanctions for deviance on the part of polluters and outcome related parameters such as improved quality of drinking water, reduction in water borne diseases etc. On the basis of the rating scheme, cities will be classified as Red, Black, Blue and Green which would denote and increasing level of achievement of good environmental and health outcomes. 

               A National Advisory Group on Urban Sanitation (NAGUS) will be convened by the Ministry of Urban Development.  It will be broad based and will include representatives of the Ministries of Health, Social Justice and Empowerment, Housing and Urban Poverty alleviation, Water resources, external experts and representatives of State Governments National Advisory Group on Urban Sanitation will assist the Ministry of Urban Development in implementing the National Policy.Ministry of Urban development will set apart resources to the extent of Rs 50 crore over a five year period for activities such as National awareness generation campaign, Rating and National award scheme, Capacity building and training ,State level strategies and sample City Sanitation Plans (CSPs) and the National Advisory group on Urban sanitation

               The year 2008 has been declared the International year of Sanitation by the United Nations. The focus will be on raising awareness of the importance of sanitation and its impact on achieving the millennium development goals from three perspectives i.e hygiene, household sanitation and waste water, encouraging state governments and districts to promote and implement policies and actions for meeting the sanitation target and mobilising communities towards changing sanitation and hygiene practices through sanitation and health education campaigns.

               30.66 million urban households which form 35.49% of the urban households suffer inadequate access to sanitation facilities. 7.87% households defecate in the open, 5.48% use community latrines and 19.49% use shared latrines. More than 37% of the human excreta generated is unsafely disposed. The percentage of notified and non-notified slums without latrines is 17% and 51% respectively.  The National Urban Sanitation Policy approved by the Cabinet on last Friday has been conceived taking these factors into consideration.

TFK/Hb/46