Ludhiana, April 1
The Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, Mr R.L. Kalsia, left for the USA on Sunday to participate in “Executive seminar on integrated water and sanitation management”, being organised by the USAID and the Asia Pacific Urban Institute in, Honolulu from April 3 to 6.
Mr Kalsia and the MC Commissioner of Indore are the two civic officials from the country to represent India in the seminar, which will be attended by mayors, commissioners, utility managers and water experts from different parts of the world. The global meet is expected to initiate a process to help develop a common plan of action to improve water and sanitation management by urban local bodies (ULBs).
The MC Commissioner will make a specific presentation at the Honolulu executive seminar on the initiatives taken by the civic body in association with the USAID FIRE (D) programme on improving water and sanitation management in the city.
Prior to leaving for the USA, Mr Kalsia told Ludhiana Tribune that the preliminary work of identification, survey, mapping and creating database for the Indo-USAID joint project to improve access of services to urban poor in the city had been completed and an action plan would be in place very soon for execution in a period of two years.
Under the two-year project, the MC would undertake implementation of new accrual accounting system, explore development of water and sewerage projects with private sector participation, develop and implement World Bank Cities Alliance Programme to ensure access by the urban poor to environmental infrastructure services, besides extending support to International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) in the development of programme to improve environmental management.
According to Mr Kalsia, the project for bringing basic services within the reach of the urban poor had been launched in about 24 cities all over India and Ludhiana was the only city to be covered under the project from this region. While the USAID provided financial help to civic bodies for technical assistance and training resources, the actual funding for the sewerage and water supply projects came from agencies like the World Bank, HUDCO and private financial institutions.
The industrial capital of the state, pointed out Mr Kalsia, like all other industrial urban area, had peculiar problems of infrastructure and environment. The fast rate of growth and corresponding demand for infrastructure had led to a serious shortfall in basic amenities. The influx of labour population, coupled with lack of proper and economical housing facilities had given rise to a situation in which slums were mushrooming. According to MC records, the city had 182 slums, covering a population of around 3 lakh.
Stressing that expansion of basic amenities for the slum population should be need based, the MC Commissioner observed that the main task before the agencies involved in the project was to address the peculiar problem of another 4 to 5 lakh population, located on the fringe of the city and further the tendency among slum-dwellers to shift from one colony, after it was developed, to other vacant areas around the city.
