In order to carry forward the objective of universal coverage of water supply from 500 cities covered under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) to all the statutory towns across the country, AMRUT 2.0 has been launched in October 2021 for a period of 5 years i.e., Financial Year 2021-22 to 2025-26. It focuses on making the cities ‘self-reliant’ & ‘water secure’ & providing universal coverage of sewerage & septage management in 500 AMRUT cities. Mission has a reform agenda focused on financial sustainability, ease of living of citizens & water sector reforms.

So far, State Water Action Plans (SWAPs) have been approved by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for 6,527 projects costing ₹1,29,636 crore (including Operation & Maintenance Cost) submitted by States/Union Territories (UTs). 148 lakh new tap connections and 33.42 lakh new sewer connections are planned to be provided through these projects. Further, 8,435 Million Liters per Day (MLD) water treatment plant capacity & 2,795 MLD sewage treatment plant capacity is proposed to be added/augmented. Further, 2,102 water bodies rejuvenation projects worth ₹3,664 crore have also been approved under SWAPs & Special tranche of SWAP to give impetus to ‘Amrit Sarovar’ under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Of the 6,527 projects approved so far by MoHUA, Detailed Project Reports (DPR) have been approved by States/ UTs for 2,058 projects worth ₹36,481.47 crore, Notice Inviting Tender have been issued for 1,025 projects worth ₹19,157.55 crore, works have awarded for 608 projects worth ₹5,422.82 crore and 29 projects worth ₹102.99 crore have been completed.

At present, SWAPs of a few States/ UTs have been approved under AMRUT 2.0 for the entire Mission period. As such, comparison of AMRUT & AMRUT 2.0 is not feasible at this stage. However, AMRUT 2.0 scheme is underway incorporating the best practices of and learnings & challenges faced in AMRUT Mission.

Under AMRUT, 500 cities were selected covering 60% of urban population of the country including all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) with a population of one lakh or more as per Census 2011, all other capital cities of States/ Uts, all Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) cities as well as identified cities on the stem of the main rivers, from hill States, islands and tourist destinations. Under AMRUT, States have been empowered to select, apprise, propose and after approval from Apex Committee of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), implement projects within the broad framework of AMRUT Mission. Mission is being implemented accordingly in all AMRUT cities and has been progressing well.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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RJ

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