Capital’s country cousins in better civic health

If you thought that not all was well with Delhi — as with many other large Indian cities — official data backs your claim. Urban local bodies have for the first time sent data to the Centre on services like water supply, storm water drainage, and solid waste management, and the Capital is not faring so well.

If you thought that not all was well with Delhi — as with many other large Indian cities — official data backs your claim. Urban local bodies have for the first time sent data to the Centre on services like water supply, storm water drainage, and solid waste management, and the Capital is not faring so well.

HT Image

Delhi is among 25-30 cities that have sent their data to the Centre. The Centre had asked for the data about services cities deliver, to compare them against certain benchmarks. Linked to the provision of these services would be central funding for urban projects.The good news: having the data may perhaps help our ailing cities to correct course. “Read them like a medical bulletin: how healthy are you?” said an official of the Ministry of Urban Development, requesting anonymity.

“Only when you take the test do you take the first step towards better health.” The figures: Only 4 per cent of Delhi’s households enjoy household garbage collection facility.

Meaning, most MCD areas may have no household collection, as posh NDMC areas are likely to have household collection. By contrast, Chandigarh has waste collection from 96 percent of its households.

About 29 per cent of Delhi’s households have no access to water supply. In this, Shimla is best, with 98 percent water supply, and Berhampur worst with just 29 percent water supply coverage.

52 per cent of the water supplied in Delhi is non-revenue water — meaning water that is not paid for, and that lost in leakage. For Dharamshala it is just 6 percent; for Trivandrum just 18 percent.

However, at 144 litre per capita per day (lpcd), Delhi has a good per capita supply of water, which is above the benchmark of 135 lpcd set by the Centre.

Delhi also does not have proper system of data collection on toilet coverage and sewerage coverage per household, as per the figures. The estimates of the civic agencies in these two service, however, are 78 percent and 54 percent, respectively.